A mother defied the odds by giving birth to naturally conceived identical triplets, tripling the size of her family in an instant.

Shocked Katie Craw, 26, from Pentre Maelor, Wales said she and partner Rob Ellis almost fainted when they were told their second child was actually three at their 12-week scan.

Triplets are usually non-identical and result from the 𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 of two eggs, one of which develops into twins. But Katie is one of just a handful of women in Britain to have identical triplets – known as monozygotic – where the 𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 egg splits into three after 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

It makes miracle tots Tommy, Joshua, and Eddie – born by 𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑛 – genetically identical.

Katie and Rob initially had to leave the tots’ hospital tags on in order to tell them apart.

She said: ‘When I found out I was pregnant with three I thought “We can’t afford a big car or a bigger house.” It was a lot to take in.

‘But my nanna said to me things happen for a reason and these are the cards life has dealt you.

‘And now they’re here, I just feel like I’m in a bubble of happiness. They’re absolutely smashing.’

Jacob, the couple’s four-year-old son, was born in 2015, and they wanted him to be in school when they started trying for a second child. He is pictured with his younger brother’s scans

Katie saw her midwife weekly and was scanned every two weeks to make sure the babies were developing normally. However, around 26 weeks, the Wrexham specialists began to be concerned.

Tommy, who was the presenting triplet closest to the birth canal, looked like he wasn’t gaining weight.

Katie was given a steroid 𝑖𝑛j𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 and booked in to see an expert in multiple births at Liverpool Womens’ Hospital 35 miles away.

There, docs said they thought it was unlikely the triplets would be identical and thought the Welsh hospital had made an error.

Katie added: ‘Before the doctor scanned me he had a look at my notes and he said ‘I don’t want to rain on your parade but the chances of you being pregnant with identical triplets are minuscule – I’ve never seen it myself – so the team in Wrexham have probably got it wrong.’

‘He was convinced he’d find two separate 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎s that had fused together. We were resigned to the fact we were having triplets by this point so I wasn’t really bothered about how they got there – we’d already got over the 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑐𝑘.

When he realized they were identical, even he was amazed.

‘He said he’d eat his words as it was something he’d never seen before. He said it was textbook stuff that he was seeing.’

The kids continued to develop at an incredible rate, and Katie was scheduled for 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑦 at 32 weeks, which is standard procedure for multiple deliveries.

Katie, a former prison worker, started having 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛s at 28 weeks.

She spent five days back in Liverpool as they tried to stop them and was then sent home for bed rest.

However at 30 weeks and one day, they started up again and she was rushed by ambulance to a hospital in Wrexham.

Welder Rob, 29, was at her bedside as she had an 𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑛 on February 9, with Tommy born at 17.50 weighing 2lbs 11.5oz, Joshua at 17.51 weighing 3lbs 4.5oz, and Eddie at 17.52 at 3lbs 3.5oz.

‘I was so scared but it was like a bubble of excitement, people were making jokes, making me smile, the whole team was amazing.

‘Tommy came out and took a big breath and 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚ed and the whole of the theatre cheered. And it was the same with Joshua and Eddie. I was full of adrenaline.’

It meant she and Rob had to spend the next eight weeks juggling work and childcare for Jacob while visiting the tots.

Thankfully Josh and Eddie only spent almost seven weeks in hospital and Tommy came home ten days after them on April 10 – with the family together for the first time.

Overjoyed Katie added: ‘It was difficult not having us all together. There were times when I felt really lonely and I could never see this day.

‘None of them have really had any issues and a lot of other mums do so I feel really lucky.

‘I keep thinking I’m going to 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑠ℎ or have an emotional day but I’m just so happy we’re all home and cracking on.’

She further claims that the generosity shown to the new family of six by people of their neighborhood has overwhelmed them.

Neighbors have anonymously brought diapers and other items to their doorstep to assist the young couple financially.

Katie and Rob describe their babies’ arrival as a beam of sunlight in the midst of C.o.v.i.d-19’s gloom.

‘We really do feel so lucky. They say it takes a village to raise a child and it’s so true,’ Katie added.