Meet the miracle triplets home in time for Christmas - after arriving two months early and spending five weeks in hospital.
Little Emil, Ava, and Alba Wise, now six weeks, were able to finally leave the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth after arriving at 32 weeks on November 1.
Their proud parents Hannah Gurney, 36, and her partner, Chris Wise, 38, a sports broadcaster, had planned a c-section at 34 weeks but Hannah went into labour a fortnight early.
Ten hours later, they welcomed Emil, Ava, and Alba - weighing 3lbs 3oz, 3lbs 2oz and 3lbs 1.5oz respectively.
After spending five weeks in intensive care gaining strength and growing, the babies were discharged on December 5, 2023.
Hannah and Chris have now brought their triplets home and are ready to spend a quiet Christmas as a family of five.
Hannah, head of media at Action Aid, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, said: "It was amazing to find out I was pregnant with three babies.
"I did struggle at the beginning, it took a long time to get my head around the fact that there would be three babies in my stomach.
"Physically it was really difficult at the beginning, then I felt really good within myself in the final few weeks.
"Their due date was originally Christmas Day but there was no way we would have been able to deliver them on time.
"it is absolutely amazing to have them home, it was so emotional bringing them out of the hospital.
"It is so hard to have them in NICU and to have them here we are finally getting to know their little personalities.
Hannah was visiting her parents, Mike, 76, and Vicky Gurney, 74, in Castel, Guernsey, when she found out she was expecting and called Chris to tell him the news.
Once Hannah got home, she did another pregnancy test to be certain.
Chris said: "I got a call at 6am, it was amazing.
"Hannah was coming back that day and we did another test to make sure it was as it seemed.
"We had been trying for two months, but it had been something more than a year in the planning to get to the point where we knew we wanted to become parents."
At eight weeks, the couple decided to have a private scan as Hannah's parents were visiting and they wanted to tell them in person that they were going to be grandparents.
They also were keen to break the news to Chris' parents - Mary, 65, and Mark Wise, 64.
During the scan, the sonographer's hands started to shake and Hannah and Chris immediately thought the worst but she revealed the pair were expecting triplets.
Hannah said: "We didn't know what to expect at the scan - it felt like the specialist was taking ages.
"When the sonographer stopped she turned to us and she was shaking, we were expecting bad news.
"She had never been in the position before that she found triplets, it was a big moment for her and an even bigger moment for us.
"I had a nervous laugh, I started laughing right away. She turned to the screen and pointed out the different places where the babies were.
Little Emil, Ava, and Alba Wise, now six weeks, were able to finally leave the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth after arriving at 32 weeks on November 1.
Their proud parents Hannah Gurney, 36, and her partner, Chris Wise, 38, a sports broadcaster, had planned a c-section at 34 weeks but Hannah went into labour a fortnight early.
Ten hours later, they welcomed Emil, Ava, and Alba - weighing 3lbs 3oz, 3lbs 2oz and 3lbs 1.5oz respectively.
After spending five weeks in intensive care gaining strength and growing, the babies were discharged on December 5, 2023.
Hannah and Chris have now brought their triplets home and are ready to spend a quiet Christmas as a family of five.
Hannah, head of media at Action Aid, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, said: "It was amazing to find out I was pregnant with three babies.
"I did struggle at the beginning, it took a long time to get my head around the fact that there would be three babies in my stomach.
"Physically it was really difficult at the beginning, then I felt really good within myself in the final few weeks.
"Their due date was originally Christmas Day but there was no way we would have been able to deliver them on time.
"it is absolutely amazing to have them home, it was so emotional bringing them out of the hospital.
"It is so hard to have them in NICU and to have them here we are finally getting to know their little personalities.
Hannah was visiting her parents, Mike, 76, and Vicky Gurney, 74, in Castel, Guernsey, when she found out she was expecting and called Chris to tell him the news.
Once Hannah got home, she did another pregnancy test to be certain.
Chris said: "I got a call at 6am, it was amazing.
"Hannah was coming back that day and we did another test to make sure it was as it seemed.
"We had been trying for two months, but it had been something more than a year in the planning to get to the point where we knew we wanted to become parents."
At eight weeks, the couple decided to have a private scan as Hannah's parents were visiting and they wanted to tell them in person that they were going to be grandparents.
They also were keen to break the news to Chris' parents - Mary, 65, and Mark Wise, 64.
During the scan, the sonographer's hands started to shake and Hannah and Chris immediately thought the worst but she revealed the pair were expecting triplets.
Hannah said: "We didn't know what to expect at the scan - it felt like the specialist was taking ages.
"When the sonographer stopped she turned to us and she was shaking, we were expecting bad news.
"She had never been in the position before that she found triplets, it was a big moment for her and an even bigger moment for us.
"I had a nervous laugh, I started laughing right away. She turned to the screen and pointed out the different places where the babies were.
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FunTranscript
00:00 I'm Chris and I'm Hannah and we had triplets at 32 weeks called Emil, Ava and Alba.
00:10 So we found out that we were expecting triplets at about eight and a half weeks and I would
00:14 say that it was just a really challenging six months of being really physically and
00:20 emotionally exhausted.
00:22 We were having fortnightly scans with the consultant and every time we would go there
00:27 there might be something that they were monitoring so it was just really stressful and really
00:32 anxious and just probably the hardest period of my life.
00:37 And then obviously as you get near the end you're physically massive and having to carry
00:42 three babies but I'm just so grateful that they're all here safe.
00:46 I never expected to be a father of three, I think that's fair to say, that was never
00:51 really on the agenda for us so it has been a period of adapting to our new life but since
01:01 the moment they've arrived you have this immense feeling of wealth really in your heart and
01:11 our hearts have grown considerably in these first few weeks already and suddenly it's
01:17 like this is always how it was meant to be for us and we know it's such a strange and
01:25 surreal experience but it's a miracle and we're so pleased that it's happened to us.
01:32 Having them home for Christmas is just amazing, we weren't expecting it, we also weren't sure
01:37 at one stage if we would have two babies home and one would still be in hospital so to be
01:41 able to walk out of the hospital with all three babies and be here for Christmas and
01:46 spend it as a family of five is just amazing, so magical and we just didn't know what to
01:52 expect when they were delivered and went into hospital.
01:56 We've got amazing support around us which I think just means that we can manage, I think
02:02 without that support it would be really tricky particularly for the first few weeks and months
02:06 because when they're all crying at once and you don't know who to feed first it is very
02:12 stressful so the fact you can have more people around helping it just has taken the pressure
02:17 off.
02:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]