A COUPLE have welcomed a third baby in a set of IVF triplets - each born TWO years apart.
Karen and James Marks had their first child, Cameron, four years ago, followed by their second child, Isabella, two years ago.
And they welcomed their most recent child, Gabriella, last month.
The three youngsters are considered triplets as they were conceived at the same time on the same day - through IVF, from the same batch of embryos.
After Karen gave birth to Cameron on September 1, 2018, the couple kept their viable embryos frozen so they could add to their family, with Isabella born on September 15, 2020, and Gabriella born on July 3, 2022.
Karen, who lives with company director James and their three children in Taunton, said: "It feels so great to have all three of our children now, we feel so incredibly lucky.
"Some people go through IVF and sadly don't even get to have one baby, and we've managed to have three, so we just feel so lucky.
"Gabi was our last embryo, so she's our last baby now.
"I knew I wasn't done before Gabi, so I told my husband if it didn't work, then we better get saving so we could have another one.
"I feel complete now, I'm so happy. My heart is very full."
The couple, who married in 2014, feared they might never have a child of their own after Karen was diagnosed with fertility issues.
She said: "We tried for a year to conceive naturally and nothing happened, so we went to the GP and they ran some tests.
"There's no specific reason. I don't ovulate regularly so that's the main thing, but other than that, there's no reason - we don't have any conditions.
"We had five embryos made up. We've lost two - I miscarried one in 2019, and then one in September last year, a month before we fell pregnant with Gabi."
Karen received funding for one round of IVF on the NHS in 2017 at the Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine which proved successful and she gave birth to Cameron, with Isabella and Gabriella following later on.
Karen feared losing Gabi after experiencing bleeding early on and then catching Covid, but Gabi was born last month, weighing a healthy 7lbs 5.5oz.
Karen hopes her experience will encourage others to try IVF if struggling to fall pregnant.
She added: “If you’ve exhausted all other options, then crack on and go for it. IVF is fine."
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