One... two... three babies?! New mother gets shocking surprise in ultrasound

Imagine hoping for one child, and being told you're pregnant with triplets; this was the case for British mother of now four, Melanie Thornton.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Melanie had a happy life with just her 13-year-old daughter and husband. Her husband, however, wanted another child and together they decided they'd try for one.

At five weeks, Melanie's ultrasound revealed only one baby, but when she went back at 12 weeks, her scan revealed triplets.

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Doctors warned the family of the added dangers in carrying triplets, and feared the smallest baby, Hope, would not survive.

"It was stressful," recalled Melanie to Daily Mail. "We'd have to go for scans every two weeks, and they would constantly warn us of the death and mortality rates for triplets. They said Hope wasn't going to make it to birth. Every day onwards from then I was almost waiting for her to die."

"I was depressed for about a week and then I realized that while I was doing that she was just kicking harder and harder. I could tell where each one was," she continued. "I thought, you know what, if she's not going to give up, then I wasn't either."

The babies were born at 32 weeks and four days on August 25 by C-section.

Boe and Mika stayed in the hospital for five weeks, and Hope joined them at home two weeks later.

"I'd looked up pictures of premature babies before so I expected them to look a bit weird, but they weren't they were perfectly formed tiny little babies."

The Thorntons now go through 100 liters of baby formula, 250 dirty diapers a week and traded in their Peugeot car for a second-hand VW Transporter.

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"When I'm feeding and burping them it is a lot of balancing, and juggling and holding bottles, but of course it is worth it."

"They love to cuddle. They put their arms around each other and love to hold hands. Their favorite way to be is with Mika in the middle, and she holds both hands," expressed Melanie to Daily Mail. "They are such content and happy little babies."

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