Donna Carter, 34, was told she had ‘won the lottery’ when doctors revealed she was pregnant with triplets. The triplets weighed 4lb 9oz, 4lb 8oz and 4lb 5oz respectively, and are now doing well, weighing in at 7lb each.

Donna, The care worker, who is from Warsop, near Mansfield. She had been living abroad for four years with her Egyptian boyfriend, Mahmood, who is a policeman. She only discovered she was pregnant when she returned to the UK. She said : “I was told at the age of 24 that I wasn’t able to have children and now I’m blessed with three at 34. When I came back I found out I was pregnant and at five weeks I was told there were three heartbeats. It was such a shock. They told me it was a chance in a million, like winning the lottery and I could do with winning the lottery now for the money.”

She was referred to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham where she was given a scan every other week. At 32 weeks pregnant, Donna, became ɪʟʟ and was diagnosed with ᴘʀᴇ-ᴇᴄʟᴀᴍᴘsɪᴀ and was rushed into hospital. She said: “I was very large, I swelled up like a balloon. A week later and the boys decided to come into the world. I put into an induced ᴄᴏᴍᴀ for 15 hours and the triplets were delivered by caesarean section. When I woke up I was confused, everything was so loud. I came to in intensive care and all I wanted was a cup of tea. I didn’t realise they had been born.

I saw a photograph of my children and thought, ‘They’re not mine! How can they be my children because they must be stɪʟʟ inside me?’. I was so big I thought I was stɪʟʟ pregnant. Then they took me down to see them. It was amazing and I was so overwhelmed and the most content feeling I have ever had.