BRINGING a new baby home from hospital is a happy day for any parent – but for one couple their joy is threefold today.Triplets born to couple Simon Andrews and Pat Mitchell-Andrews are now settling into their new home.

BRINGING a new baby home from hospital is a happy day for any parent – but for one couple their joy is threefold today.

Triplets born to couple Simon Andrews and Pat Mitchell-Andrews are now settling into their new home.

All boys, the triplets have seen the couple's family double from three to six.

Already parents to three girls, Simon and Pat now have the three boys as well.

Reece, Kieran and Trey were born at Ipswich Hospital on March 10 and spent a month being cared for at the Special Care Baby Unit.

Now all a healthy weight and able to feed from a bottle, the boys are getting used to life at home in Trimley St Mary.

Mum Pat, 42, said she is slowly getting used to the new additions to the family.

"When I had a scan they said they weren't sure at first if there was two or three, I said 'you're joking!' and then cried with the shock. I was worried about it and how we'd cope – the family were in shock too and I had to show them the scan picture or they wouldn't believe me. But you could see there was three little boys."

The couple were surprised to be expecting triplets multiple births do not run in either family.

"They said it could be because of my age," said Pat.

"You are more likely to have a multiple birth as you get older, but it was still a surprise."

Born six weeks early, the boys were kept in hospital until they were able to use a bottle and Pat and Simon have been able to practice feeding all three.

"They are doing really well, I haven't liked leaving them at the hospital but they had to stay there.

"It takes a while to get used to having three, I gave them all a bath and got their bottles ready at the hospital – I started at two and didn't finish until ten to five."

The couple already have a daughter, two-year-old Saffron and both have daughters from previous relationships, Abbie who is 12 and Sacha who is 21.

Pat said the girls are looking forward to helping look after the triplets.

The smallest of the three is Reece, who weighed 3lb 12 oz when he was born. Reece is identical to Kieran, who was the biggest at 4lb 4oz.

Trey was the last to arrive and weighed 4lb. His name was chosen because it means the third born.

The couple are now finding ways to accommodate their family in their two-bedroom council home and are hoping to find a bigger house soon.

"It is pretty hard getting all the cots in, but we are trying to move things around and we are nearly there now."

There is around 9,000 multiple births in the UK every year.

The highest number of triplets born to one woman was 15 sets – the 45 babies were born to Italian woman Maddalena Granata between 1839 and 1886.

The most premature set of triplets to survive are Haven, Jey and Sean Aponte-Tucker who were born in New York on April 16, 2002 after just 24 weeks.

The heaviest total birth weight recorded was in England on November 18 1914, when the three babies weighed a combined 24lbs.

The oldest woman to have twins without any fertility treatment is 54-year-old Arcelia Garcia of Washington, USA. She has eight other children and 15 grandchildren.