A gay couple could be the first in the world to have triplets using a surrogate.
And in a rare case of shared parenthood, their son and two daughters share the DNA of both men.
Babies Joshua, Zoe and Kate defied all odds to survive, having been born at just 31 weeks, while doctors
had advised new dads Christo and Theo Menelaou to terminate two of the babies.
However, all three are safe and well and have returned to the couple’s home in Pretoria, South Africa.
Christo told Sky News: ‘When you are gay, there is always the thought that it just may not be possible to be a parent no matter how much you would love to be.
‘It’s very hard to be accepted for adoption and we were told we would always come after heterosexual couples.
‘And then we just never thought we’d ever find a person who would want to be surrogate to a gay couple.’
But they did meet a surrogate – who they met, strangely, through Oscar Pistorius.
The couple and their surrogate were all neighbours of the disgraced athlete, and met when a group of neighbours got together after his trial.
Two embryos – one fertilised with Christo’s sperm and one with Theo’s – were planted in the woman’s womb.
But 10 weeks into the pregnancy, a scan showed one of the embryos had split and the surrogate was bearing triplets, two of which would be identical twins.
On arrival, Joshua weighed 4lbs, Zoe 3.1lbs and Kate just 2.9lbs.
And in a rare case of shared parenthood, their son and two daughters share the DNA of both men.
Babies Joshua, Zoe and Kate defied all odds to survive, having been born at just 31 weeks, while doctors
had advised new dads Christo and Theo Menelaou to terminate two of the babies.
However, all three are safe and well and have returned to the couple’s home in Pretoria, South Africa.
Christo told Sky News: ‘When you are gay, there is always the thought that it just may not be possible to be a parent no matter how much you would love to be.
‘It’s very hard to be accepted for adoption and we were told we would always come after heterosexual couples.
‘And then we just never thought we’d ever find a person who would want to be surrogate to a gay couple.’
But they did meet a surrogate – who they met, strangely, through Oscar Pistorius.
The couple and their surrogate were all neighbours of the disgraced athlete, and met when a group of neighbours got together after his trial.
Two embryos – one fertilised with Christo’s sperm and one with Theo’s – were planted in the woman’s womb.
But 10 weeks into the pregnancy, a scan showed one of the embryos had split and the surrogate was bearing triplets, two of which would be identical twins.
On arrival, Joshua weighed 4lbs, Zoe 3.1lbs and Kate just 2.9lbs.
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