Becoming the parents of quintuplets takes some getting used to.
Jeanette and Arthur Fardelin have had longer than most. Their fabulous five – all conceived through IVF on the same day – were born six years apart.
The children, all sharing the same auburn hair and blue eyes, have fulfilled the couple’s dream of a large happy family. And they have staggered their arrivals beautifully.
Millie was the first in 2006, while Adam, now four, came along two years later. They were followed by Matthew, now two, and last month twins Isaac and Lulu were born.
Experts say they know of no other case where five siblings have been born at different times from the same round of fertility treatment.
‘We can’t thank the doctors enough for what they have done,’ said Mrs Fardelin, 42. ‘We didn’t dare dream we would ever have one healthy child, let alone five, and all from the same batch of eggs. It’s truly amazing.’
The couple married in 1994 and, after three rounds of unsuccessful IVF, suffered the heartache of losing a daughter, Hattie, who was still-born at 38 weeks in 2003.
Two years later they embarked on their fourth IVF attempt but hardly dared hope again.
But this batch of embryos would be the bumper crop which has given them the family they so desperately wanted.
They paid for the treatment themselves and Mrs Fardelin was soon pregnant while extra embryos were frozen and stored.
Millie was born in February 2006, weighing a healthy 7lb 11oz.
‘We were delighted, over the moon,’ said Mrs Fardelin, who lives with her transport manager husband, 43, in West Derby, Liverpool.
Then, when Millie was 15 months old, staff at Liverpool Women’s Hospital agreed they could try for a sibling.
Adam was born in January, 2008, three weeks early, weighing 8lb 12oz.
‘We had a son and a daughter and we were thrilled,’ Mrs Fardelin said.
Eighteen months later the couple decided to try for number three.
Matthew was born in February 2010 by Caesarean section, weighing 8lb 9oz.
Then, last year, Mrs Fardelin became pregnant again with Isaac and Lulu. They were born weighing 7lb 3oz and 6lb 7oz, respectively, on June 28.
