Triplet didn't meet his sisters for three YEARS – and now they're helping him in biggest challenge yet | The Sun
A TRIPLET waited nearly three years to meet his two sisters – and now they are helping him in his biggest challenge yet.
Dexter Hoyle was conceived at the same time as his sisters Uma and Monica after their parents went through IVF treatment.
Dexter's embryo was implanted first – with the girls' following three years later.
The boy was born with Downs Syndrome and had developmental delays, with the tot struggling to walk on his own.
But Uma and Monica, now 21 months, are helping their big brother by holding on to each side of his walking frame and he tries to copy their steps.
Mum Anjali, 39, a GP, said: "It’s really helping Dexter having his sisters there to copy. They all have such a great bond.
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"Now that they are walking properly themselves, it gives him something to aim for. It’s the best physiotherapy he could have."
Anjali and husband Simon, 41, a retail manager, wanted to start a family after they got married in 2015, but Anjali suffered two miscarriages.
So in February 2018, they underwent a course of fertility treatment at the Spire Hospital in Portsmouth.
Doctors put one embryo back into her womb and froze the remaining embryos.
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The pregnancy was successful and she gave birth to Dexter at 31 weeks in November that year.
The couple were thrilled to have their son, and wanted to try again for another baby, but they had a couple of goes that were unsuccessful – and then the Covid pandemic stopped all IVF treatment.
Anjali said: "It was heartbreaking that our attempts had failed – we didn’t know if we were ever going to have a sibling for Dexter.
"Luckily we were able to start IVF again in September that year, and had another try, but that didn’t work. So we had another go a month later, and this time from the day of implantation I felt different.
"I was starving hungry all the time, so I knew it had worked and that I was pregnant again."
Blood tests a few weeks later showed her hormone levels had tripled – a sign of a multiple pregnancy, and a scan showed that she was pregnant with twins.
She said: "We were thrilled, but shocked too. Technically they were triplets with Dexter as they were all conceived at the same time.
"I was just pregnant with them nearly three years apart from each other."
It wasn’t a smooth pregnancy, as Anjali developed gestational diabetes and had to have iron infusions too.
Then a membrane around one of the twins ruptured at 30 weeks, and they had to be delivered early at 34 weeks, Uma weighing 4Ib13 and Monica weighing 3Ib15, at St Richards Hospital in Chichester.
Anjali, who has been supported by the Portsmouth Downs Syndrome Association said: "It was amazing when the twins were finally born.
"Monica looked so like Dexter. We were finally able to bring them home after two weeks in hospital, and it was fantastic to be a family together after all this time. Dexter was thrilled to meet them."
The triplets all have an amazing bond – and because of his developmental delay, it means that the threesome enjoy playing with the same toys together, and are hitting milestones at the same time.
Experts say that they are the only known set of triplets in the UK where one triplet has Downs Syndrome.
Anjali said: "It’s great to see them all together and now that the twins have started walking a few months ago, they held onto his walker side by side for the first time last week, and it really encourages Dexter to try and walk too.
It’s the best thing for him, having his triplet sisters by his side after all this time.
Clare Kassa, Chief Executive of SIBS, said: “Today (April 10) is National Siblings Day which recognises the relationship between disabled children and their brothers and sisters.
“Dexter, Uma and Monica’s unique bond highlights that special connection perfectly.
“It can be challenging to come second to the needs of another – even if you are technically triplets – because your parents have to share their time.
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“At Sibs we support people who grow up with or have grown up with a disabled brother or sister. It is the only UK charity representing the needs of over half a million young siblings and over one and a half million adult siblings.”
National Siblings Day is an opportunity to shine a light on the value of sibling relationships, to highlight what an important role siblings play in the lives of their disabled brothers and sisters and to celebrate siblings in their own right too.
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