Lina Sapia and husband Fabio had been trying to conceive their first baby for three years but doctors told them that as it had not worked, they would need to use IVF.
The Surrey couple, from Walton-on-Thames, used the procedure to welcome their daughter Alba, who is now one, and had always intended to grow their family by using one of the four remaining frozen embryos.
But last year, they were shocked when a pregnancy test showed that they had conceived naturally.
And there were even more surprises when they went for a scan at six weeks and found out they were having triplets.
Lina, 35, and Fabio, 37, beat the staggering one in 200 million odds by naturally conceiving the babies – something she thought wasn’t possible after needing IVF to conceive her firstborn Alba, one. And they welcomed their three identical boys on 12 March.
Lina said: ‘We were trying for three years before we decided to have IVF with Alba which was successful first time.
“After receiving a diagnosis of unexplained infertility, “we always knew we wanted to have another baby and expected we would need to go through IVF again.”
“We booked in for an early scan at six weeks to check the baby was healthy and the nurse kept asking me questions such as have I been feeling sick?’ Lina added.”
“I said no but I did feel slightly bigger than before – I constantly looked bloated like I had eaten a huge plate of pasta.”
“We assumed two, not three,” she explained after seeking a second opinion, “since there’s more than one heartbeat.”
“We were in total shock and couldn’t believe it – Fabio, who is a risk analyst, was nervously laughing in the corner.”
“We felt like we had won the lottery – neither of us have multiples in the family!”
“Due to the increased possibility of miscarriage in triplet pregnancies, doctors braced the couple for the worst.”
Thankfully, there wasn’t any complications and Lina gave birth at 32 weeks to Luis who weighed 2lb 8 oz, Piero, 3 lb 6oz and Remi, 3 lb 12oz.
The couple admits they still get confused with who is who at times and the 13-week old triplets still wear velcro wrist bands with their initial on to ensure they are not mixed up.
The triplets were born on March 12 shortly before lockdown, allowing their parents to greet them. However, after limitations were put in place, only Lina was permitted to visit the triplets in the hospital, and Fabio could only communicate with them via FaceTime.
Lina added: ‘The triplets were like super-stars at St. Peters, Chertsey, Surrey as many of the staff hadn’t seen identical triplets before.
“Alba absolutely adores them – she gives them a kiss every morning and night before bed.”
