Mother is expecting two sets of identical twin girls
Paul and Carla Crozier wiped out their life savings trying for a sister for Darcie. Ms Crozier, now 34, suffered two heartbreaking miscarriages over three years. Took out £8,000 loan for one last try and gave up alcohol in new fitness regime. Mrs Crozier is now five months pregnant with two sets of twins from two eggs.
After two heartbreaking miscarriages and several failed cycles of IVF, Carla and Paul Crozier knew it was their last chance to complete their family.
The couple, who had wiped out their savings trying for a little brother or sister for daughter Darcie, took out a £8,000 loan for one last roll of the dice at fertility treatment.
Against all odds, estimated to be in the region of 70 million-to-one, they were thrilled when scans revealed that she was pregnant with quadruplets.
More miraculous still was that this was the result of just two fertilized eggs – the four girls they were expecting were, in fact, two sets of identical twins.
‘I was in absolute shock when we found out. I still am,’ Mrs Crozier, 34.
‘It’s just crazy to think this has happened to us when we’ve had so much trouble just having one baby.’
The couple, who met when she was just 16, spent five years trying to conceive naturally before embarking on IVF in 2013.
This initially brought joy in the form of their three-year-old. But the next three years would be marred by heartache and disappointment when they tried for a sibling from the same batch of embryos.
In January 2015, Mrs Crozier became pregnant, only to suffer a miscarriage at five weeks.
Her next IVF ended up also negative.
Devastated, it was another 12 months before she and her husband, a builder, would summon up the strength to give it their ‘last go’.
They took out an £8,000 loan and embarked on a healthier lifestyle to maximise their chances of success, eating well, cutting out alcohol completely and each going to the gym five times a week.
Their new fitness regime paid off when, last September, tests revealed she was expecting again.
The couple were astounded when an early ultrasound revealed three heartbeats, before a 12-week scan picked up a fourth baby.
It was quickly apparent that the girls were identical twins because only two embryos had been implanted at the fertility centre, meaning both eggs had to have split in two.
But their excitement was tinged with worry after doctors warned that the likelihood of all four surviving was low.
A ‘selective reduction’ of two foetuses was suggested, to give two babies the best chance of flourishing.
But despite the increased risk of miscarriage, early labour and other complications from twin pregnancies, the couple were adamant they were keeping all four.
Now five months into the pregnancy, the couple go for fortnightly scans at Southend University Hospital, while bracing themselves for the life-changing new arrivals, who are due in spring.
‘I don’t know where they are all going to go or how we are going to cope, but I’ m not even thinking about that at the moment,’ said Mrs Crozier, adding: ‘All I want is for them to get here safely first.’
