I thought I couldn't have babies – this Christmas I've got four!

Vickie had only just become a mum when she discovered she was expecting triplets

- LYDIA STEPHENS

For years, childcare assistant Vickie O’Donnell, 28, from Abercynon, Wales, believed she was infertile. Then she found herself with four babies under one! Now she and her husband Jamie, 30, are preparing for their first Christmas as a family of six

Hanging up the four tiny stockings above the fireplace, I pop in the little gifts I’ve wrapped for the children – personalised teething rings for the triplets, Thomas The Tank Engine toys for their older brother.

Life is hectic with three babies in the house and an energetic 16-month-old toddler, and I have to be ultra-organised. I’ve had all my Christmas presents wrapped for weeks.

Becoming a mum was a dream I’d almost given up on; being a mum of four is just perfect in every way.

For as long as I can remember, I’d wanted children. Mum used to joke that I’d be a teenage mum and everyone said I’d be the first of my siblings to have a family.

I started going out with my husband Jamie when I was 13 and he was 15. We lived in the same street – soulmates then, just as we are now. Jamie loved children too and wanted his own.

I got a job working in childcare – what else? – and hoped it wouldn’t be long before babies arrived. I’d decided I wanted to be a young mum, definitely by the age of 20.

But there was a problem. My periods had always been erratic and I was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries [PCOS], which meant it might be difficult for me to conceive.

I was devastated and more than once I told Jamie, “You don’t have to stay with me.”