The contraceptive pill is the most effective form of Contraception (preventing birth). There are very few (one in a million) reasons where there is failure of contraception. In a strange case, a woman on the pill delivered triplets.
Triple whammy: Three little girls born to mum who was on the Pill
28th December 2008
Learning that she was pregnant was something of a shock for Kirsty Hale since she was on the Pill at the time.
But that was just the beginning of the 22-year-old’s surprises.
A scan revealed that she was expecting triplets, and her identical daughters arrived two months early.
Gabriella, Lily and Alicia faced a battle for survival when they were born in September, weighing less than 2lb each.
But they were allowed home in time for a family Christmas their mother and her fiance Toby Wilson could never have dreamed of at this time last year.
The odds against a woman having triplets without fertility treatment are estimated at anything up to 200million to one, while the chances of a woman on the Pill giving birth at all are around 100-1.
This means that Miss Hale’s daughters could be said to have defied odds of an astonishing 20billion to one.
‘It was fantastic bringing them back from hospital,’ said Mr Wilson, 28, at home in Ringwood, Hampshire.
‘We have to keep stopping andd reminding ourselves how lucky we are to have three healthy babies, especially considering how early they were.’
It was in March that Miss Hale discovered she was pregnant despite, she says, having been careful about taking the Pill.
She found it was triplets after going for a scan following a suspected miscarriage.
‘I got this hysterical phone call from Kirsty,’ said Mr Wilson. ‘It was a mixture of tears and laughter. When she told me I was so gobsmacked I just said, “What?”.
‘She was expecting the worst and came out with the news she was expecting three babies. I was shocked and a little bit terrified.’
Miss Hale was told she would probably give birth at around the 34-week mark, but went into labour even earlier and gave birth by caesarean section on September 20.
Neither parent was able to see the girls, who weighed 1lb 14oz, 1lb 11oz and 1lb 13oz, before they were whisked away to the special care baby unit.
The couple then began making daily visits to Southampton Hospital to visit their daughters, spending up to six hours a day with them.
‘At first there wasn’t a great deal we could do,’ said Mr Wilson. ‘They were so small I thought they might break. But the nurses were fantastic-and got us involved straight away.’
The couple have a three-bedroom home, but it is rapidly filling up with three cots, three Moses baskets, three bouncing chairs and two buggies
