A grandmother-of-eight is preparing to give birth to quadruplets in a few short weeks. Defying all odds, 50-year-old Londoner Tracey Britten – a mother of three adult children in their 30s and 20s – is 30-weeks pregnant with three girls and one boy and is set to become the UK’s oldest mother of quadruplets after she delivers her children.
Tracey, who had her three oldest children – aged 32, 31 and 22 – with her first husband, told the press that she broke up with her first husband in 2003 and met her second husband two years later.
Having married her second husband in 2012, Tracey longed to have more children especially since she regretted aborting a child 11 years ago. With some inheritance that her deceased mother left her, Tracey was able to make her dreams come true by having four embryos implanted in her womb in one go via IVF treatment.
Surprisingly, all four embryos developed into successful pregnancies and Tracey has since defied doctors’ predictions that she would not hit the 30-week milestone. Revealing that he late mother “always wanted twins” in the family, Tracey said that she feels the babies are a gift from her mother.
Revealing that she declined to reduce the number of babies she is carrying through selective abortion, Tracey said that she “doesn’t care” and indicated that she is excited to raise all four infants with her husband.
Tracey is due to deliver the children via a c-section that has been scheduled for early November although her doctors have warned her that the babies could come “anytime now”.
The expecting mother, who is presently on bed rest, told the press that her delivery will be quite unusual since the babies will have to be split up into different hospitals right after birth due to a shortage of specialist incubators and since she has been given steroids to ensure her quadruplets form fully:
“I had my scan last week and they have booked me in for a c-section in around two or three weeks time. The consultant said he doesn’t think I’ll get to that stage, but then they all said I wouldn’t get to 28 weeks.
“I’m on weekly scans now. I’m taking each day as it comes. It’s really at the point where every day counts, and the longer they can stay in the better chance they have of being healthy when they are born.
“But they have said that the babies won’t all get to stay in the same hospital. Two will stay where they are born, but two will be taken to another hospital – hopefully quite nearby.
“He said it’s because they only have two specialist incubators in my hospital. I said ‘can’t they bring them to me’ and he laughed. It’s more complicated than that, and he said they only have two, so two of the babies will be split off and taken in a special ambulance with an incubator as soon as they are born.
“I’m going to be here, there any everywhere, but of course what will be, will be. In my last scan last week and all is very well, but the doctor said ‘put your feet up as much as you can’. I’m supposed to be on bed rest.
“But the babies are all fine and healthy. I had two steroid injections at 28 weeks.That’s because I could go into labour at any time and it gives their lungs a boost.
“The doctor said to me that they are all ok, but he said he can’t make any promises when they are born. But that’s the case for any baby – even if you are having just one.”