We married in July 1999 and tried for a baby immediately. After a year of trying we decided to go for some tests and it was found that both my tubes were blocked and Massimo's sperm count was too low and slow for us to get pregnant naturally. We started IVF treatment immediately and it worked on the first attempt. We were told that there was only a 3% chance of triplets but we were lucky enough to hit the jackpot.

The babies were born on 8th July 2001, 2 boys and 1 girl (Tommaso, Alessandro and Giorgia). They were born at 35 weeks and 2 days and weighed 1.9 kilos, 2.4 kilos and 2.6 kilos. My pregnancy was fantastic, no sickness, absolutely nothing to worry about. The day before they were born I was out shopping to get the last few bits for the babies - I think that's what caused my waters to break the next morning. When they did break I went into denial as my cesearean wasn't booked until the following week, and immediately went back to sleep for another hour. When I woke again I had a shower and put my make-up on before waking my husband, I was so calm but now when I look back I must have been temporarily insane.

Triplets are not as common here as in America. We even had a television crew come to visit us in the hospital and two newspapers when they were born.. I had a nightmare with the local hospital however. My pregnancy was not treated any differently to a single pregnancy - I honestly wasn't worried about this until I read a few horror stories and lots of mentions of 'bed rest' and 'cerclage' on the internet! We decided to go private after one hospital doctor (female) looked at my notes and said 'triplets? Oh my God!' while looking at me like I was some kind of freak. The private doctor was much better and I had more ecographs but he was still very casual and 'bed rest' was never mentioned. I had to ask to have the cerclage! There were no prenatal classes or trips to see the neonatology unit, no advice on diet - absolutely nothing. On the day they were born by cesearean (I had an epidural, so I was awake) my husband was not allowed to stay with me, I was absolutely gob-smacked as I'd taken it for granted that he would be there (in England it's the norm). There was no time to argue although I really wished I had insisted but I don't think it would have made any difference - things are soooo different here - Italians treat doctors like gods! When they took me up to the theatre, the doctor about to do the epidural said 'your baby must be very big' - I had to inform him there were three!

As soon as they were born I asked the surgeon if I could see them. A nurse brought Tommy over and I asked to see the other two. The nurse said 'They are all the same' before rushing off. All three babies were taken straight to neonatology and I was told I couldn't see them until the following morning. They were born at 10 am so it meant I had to wait until the next day. Luckily my husband had a digital camera so was able to take some pictures to show me. The following morning the doctor refused to let me go and see the babies until the evening - as you can imagine I was so upset. I was fine and able to get out of bed and be taken in a wheelchair but the doctor just said 'can't you wait just a few more hours?' Luckily Giorgia was moved to the normal maternity ward at midday the day after she was born so I at least was able to hold and feed one of them! When I was finally allowed to go and see the boys I had to wait for my husband to take me as they said they were 'too busy' when I asked if there was a member of staff who could push my wheelchair. Unfortunately the neonatology unit is quite a distance from the maternity ward (about half a kilometre along winding corridoors) despite repeated requests during my time in hospital there was never anyone available apart from my husband to take me to neonatology.

The neonatology was very good but not one nurse or doctor came and introduced themselves or offered any information about my children. We had to ask for any information we wanted. When I asked the main doctor when he thought it might be possible to bring the boys home he said 'when they are ready' before turning round and walking off. Fortunately all three were in very good health.

I was in hospital for five days and was not allowed to eat anything for three days after the ceserean! I had to resort to stealing bread rolls from the food trolly (a nurse tried to snatch one back from me but I had a good hold). Luckily I managed to convince my husband that I was literally starving and this rule was ridiculous so he brought me the best tasting McDonalds I've ever had. After five days of feeding Giorgia in the nursery and going to see the boys three times a day in Neonatology, I was so exhausted. During the five days I was in hospital I shared a room with a woman who was breastfeeding on demand. In the hospital we were woken at five o'clock to take our temperature and then at 6 by the cleaning lady, then at 7 for breakfast! I had to get out and begged them to let me go home - took a lot of persausion but they finally allowed me to go home with Giorgia. Four days later we took Alex home and the next day we took Tommy home.

The children are now 21 months. They sleep through the night (from 8.30 pm until 9.00 am) and sleep every afternoon from 2.00pm until 4.30pm. Fortunately we have not lost one nights sleep since they were born. Giorgia is by far the most advanced of the three, she walked at 12 months despite our best efforts to keep her down! She is very blond and pale skinned - very English looking, Alex is my little latino, very dark hair and skin, Tommy is a mixture of the two. All three have completely different personalities. Giorgia is very independent and very sweet. Alex loves cuddles and is very generous. Tommy, on the other hand has the nickname 'Tommy terrible' plus a few other names I won't mention. I know it sounds awful but he is such hard work. A small example it that there could be three of the same toy and Tommy would have to have all three! The colour coding that we were told would be a good idea really didn't work for us - it was much easier all having the same colour - less fights. Their second year is by far more difficult than the first. Oh how I miss putting them in their triple pushchair and going into town safe in the knowledge I had four hours of peace until their next feed! Now they hate being in the pushchair, have absolutely no fear of anything or anyone (trips to the local park on my own with them is much harder now). Unfortunately we live on the fourth floor of an apartment building with a lift (elevator) the size of a postage stamp and no garden - we are having a house built but this being Italy it won't be ready until at least two years! We have only two bedrooms a kitchen and bathroom plus lounge. Every day it seems to get smaller. Sending them to nursery would cost an absolute fortune as you get no discount for triplets here in Italy, we would pay full price for all of them - it's free from the age of 3. There is no such thing as part-time nursery, and no mum and baby groups exist locally as Italian mums are not really into that kind of thing unfortunately! Luckily our apartment looks just like a nursery and friends love bringing their kids here.

Hope you like the pictures! The first shows them at two months old (I laugh at this picture now when I see the glass topped table, candles and ornaments - all gone now including the sofas that were replaced by mattresses on the floor)! The second picture shows how I managed to take them up and down in the elevator before they could walk! The bike was customised by a friend of Massimos. The pushchair (stroller) was also customised. We originally bought a Peg Perego triple pushchair (the only triple pushchair available here in Italy - and I really had to search for it). Unfortunately after a year they were too big for the clip on car seats and we had to use the pushchair seats, the frame started bending and it was almost impossible to push it further than the end of the road due to the weight. We bought a Graco Duo Sport double pushchair and Massimo strengthened it and we attached a bike seat to the central bar. Much much lighter, you get less attention and there's loads of shopping space! The bike seat is easy to remove so the pushchair can be fully folded for the car - isn't it amazing how inventive you become when you've got triplets? The final picture was taken this Christmas (we had to take about 50 photos just to get one good one) it's put us off trying for a photo of them all together for a while.
Liz & Massimo (everyone calls him Mupsi)