Chloe Dunstan is a mom of six who was once faced with an impossible choice: risk the lives of three of her babies for the chance to save one, or allow her ailing daughter to die in order to make sure the other two would live.
Doctors presented the Australian mom with this conundrum when she was midway through her pregnancy with triplets in 2015. At the time, Chloe was only 22 years old, and her husband, Rohan ("Ro"), was just 26.
Chloe — who maintains an Instagram account and a YouTube channel for her large family — documented her entire triplet pregnancy online. Today, she has 356,000 Instagram followers and nearly 130,000 YouTube subscribers, many of whom first learned of Chloe's family by following the incredible journey of her three youngest babies.
Scroll through to read Chloe's amazing story and to find out how all three of the triplets are doing today — over two years later!
Thumbnail Photo: Instagram / @chloeandbeans
[H/T: Shareably]
Chloe and Ro are a young couple from Perth, the capital city of Western Australia.
The two were already parents to three young sons — Evan, Otto, and Felix, all age 3 and under — when they decided to try for a little girl.
They wanted just one last child.
So you can imagine the couple's surprise when they naturally conceived triplets, with no help from fertility treatments whatsoever!
"We had our first scan at 6 weeks and got the shock of our lives when they told us that what was supposed to be our 'fourth and final' baby is actually our fourth, fifth and sixth," Chloe wrote alongside a photo of her six-week scan.
She uploaded the image to Instagram on February 11, 2o15.
"I'm still so completely shocked to be honest. I'm scared, excited, overwhelmed, overjoyed and every other emotion known to man."
At the time, Chloe informed her followers that she was due in September but expected to give birth a month or two early, as is typical with triplets.
Though the triplets were unexpected, Chloe and her husband quickly became excited about adding three babies to their growing family.
A few weeks later, the Dunstans found out that they had indeed successfully added a little girl to their brood — the triplets were two boys and a girl.
Unfortunately, not all three babies developed the same way in utero — and doctors told Chloe and Ro that their little girl was in serious trouble.
In a second trimester 3D scan, doctors said that baby Henry (the largest of the triplets) was measuring above the 80th percentile, and his brother Rufus was jus above the 50th — both great measurements for multiples.
But little Pearl was struggling to survive.
To Chloe and Ro's horror, they were told that Pearl was below the 10th percentile for size and a couple of weeks behind in development. She was deprived of oxygen and nutrients and not growing as she should.
"My doctor was a little more concerned about her today. Talking about the possibility of her dying, and how I'll have to carry her until the boys are ready to be born because they wouldn't want to risk them all by delivering them too early (i.e 24 weeks)," Chloe revealed. "I know it's what would be best for them, but it's scary. I don't want to lose her."
Knowing that Pearl's only chance was to deliver all three babies three months early, at 28 weeks, Chloe decided to take the risk.
All three babies, though tiny, survived the birth.
Henry, the largest baby, was just over 3 pounds, and Rufus was 2.6 pounds. But Pearl was roughly half of Henry's weight, at just over 1.5 pounds.
"I feel guilty for having the boys delivered when they were growing so well in the womb. But Pearl would have died if we didn't deliver early, so I will never regret that," Chloe told Daily Mail Australia.
"I do remember briefly considering the alternative of letting her go so her brothers could continue to grow strong and healthy and have the best start in life, but now that she's here, my heart hurts at the thought of not having her in our lives."
Though Pearl experienced health problems associated with her underdevelopment in the womb and premature birth, all three babies wound up thriving and becoming perfectly healthy.
After nine weeks in the hospital, Henry and Rufus were able to come home. Only two weeks later, baby Pearl joined them, completing the Dunstans' family of eight.
All three babies made it home before their September 22, 2015, due date, and the new additions quickly bonded with their older brothers.
Today, over two years after their miracle birth, the triplets are happy and healthy toddlers!
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