- After a miscarriage and years of believing PCOS would make pregnancy difficult, Beth Pettigrew conceived naturally and discovered she was carrying rare identical triplets
- Her high-risk pregnancy ended with the girls arriving eight weeks early before spending 47 days in NICU
- Now raising four daughters under five, Beth says the busy household is everything she and her partner ever dreamed of
Here Beth Pettigrew, 29, Toowoomba, Qld tells her own story in her own words.
‘I’m pregnant!’ I cried, waving the positive test around in the air.
It was October 2024, and my hands shook as I relayed the news to my partner Dana, then 28, who wrapped his arms around me. Already parents to our daughter, Alethea, then three, we were overjoyed.
Our journey to starting a family hadn’t been smooth, though. Years earlier, a doctor told me I’d have trouble conceiving after being diagnosed with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), formerly known as PCOS.
I’d always dreamed of becoming a mum, so the news left me heartbroken. Incredibly, just two months after stopping birth control, I fell pregnant.
Born in May 2021, Alethea was everything we dreamed for.
When she was a toddler, I was elated to learn I was expecting again. But sadly, it resulted in miscarriage at five weeks. Dana and I were devastated.
Although I’d been hesitant to try again, in fear of another heart-wrenching loss, I longed to give Alethea a sibling.
Now, an at-home test revealed that dream had come true.
In the first few months I suffered severe morning sickness and fatigue. But hearing our bub’s heartbeat during our first scan made it all worthwhile.
At another scan when I was eight weeks, the sonographer turned to us.
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‘Do you have multiples in your family?’ he asked.
We both shook our heads, confused.
‘Well, it looks like you’re having triplets,’ he smiled, pointing out the three tiny beans on screen.
In shock, I was lost for words as Dana kissed my forehead.
We held off telling Alethea, not wanting to get her hopes up yet, but shared the news with our immediate family, who could hardly believe our luck. As carrying multiples increased the chance of pregnancy complications, such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia and preterm labour, I was referred to a specialist obstetrician.
I’d need regular scans every two weeks and was advised to monitor for any bleeding or unusual signs.
Thankfully, each scan showed the babies were growing as normal.
At 20 weeks, we learned we were having three girls, and we told Alethea.
‘You’re going to have three sisters to play with!’ Dana said, as our girl clapped with joy.
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At 28 weeks along, I felt incredibly sick, suffering a fever and nausea.
Dana rushed me to hospital while my mum Charlotte, 62, watched Alethea. But when they learned of my high-risk pregnancy, I was sent to Mater Hospital in Brisbane, about two hours away from our home in Toowoomba.
There, a doctor revealed my blood pressure was off the charts – a sign of preeclampsia – and I’d need to be kept in to be closely monitored.
‘If it gets any higher it could lead to a stroke,’ he warned.
I was petrified for myself and my babies.
Thankfully, around a week later, once my blood pressure stabilised, I was sent to stay at Ronald McDonald House.
Mum had driven up to stay with me, while Dana went home with Alethea.
During another scan at 31 weeks, the doctor noticed one of the babies was growing very slowly.
I had a caesarean scheduled for 35 weeks, but the doctor suggested the bubs needed to come out sooner, booking the procedure in for three days time. Sharing the update with Dana, he and Alethea came to stay at the house.
The next day, my waters broke naturally. ‘We need to go!’ I told Dana.
Mum and my stepdad Ron, 70, took Alethea back home, while we raced to the hospital. Unfortunately, an epidural wasn’t working, so a general anaesthetic was administered.
Sad I’d miss the birth, I was willing to do whatever it took to get our girls out safely.
When I came to, I was desperate to see my babies.
‘They’re all healthy,’ the surgeon said, revealing our girls were identical.
Incredibly rare, naturally conceived identical triplets occurs roughly once in every 60,000 pregnancies.
As they’d been born eight weeks early, our daughters had been taken to NICU to be monitored.
Two days later, I was well enough to be wheeled down to meet our girls. Our smallest, who we named Ada, was born first, weighing 1.2 kilos, followed by Marceline at 1.7 kilos. Our biggest bub, Willa, came out last, weighing 1.8 kilos.
Struggling to breathe, they were placed on oxygen and fed through tubes.
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Dana brought Alethea to meet her sisters. She was so excited to hold their tiny fingers through a hole in their humidicribs.
After a month in NICU, the bubs were transferred to Toowoomba Hospital to continue being monitored.
At 47 days old, my girls were finally healthy enough to be discharged, and we were over the moon to be together.
Adjusting to life as a family of six took some getting used to due to the baby’s sleeping and feeding schedules, so we were grateful when my mum stepped in to help.
Going through more than 100 nappies and bottles each week, the cleaning is never-ending!
Now 14 months old, my girls are thriving. It’s been fascinating to watch their personalities develop.
Ada is adventurous and was the first to crawl at 10 months, while Marcie has the cheekiest smile I’ve ever seen. We call Willa our ‘watcher’ because she sits and watches her sisters before she copies and follows along.
Alethea, five, is the proudest big sister, and often volunteers to look after the triplets while they’re falling asleep or being bottle-fed.
We never imagined that when we tried for one more, we’d end up with four, but we wouldn’t have it any other way!
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