A mum who gave her triplets away has shared how she met them two decades later in an emotional reunion.
Brooke Martin, 56, from the US, spent years trying to have a family of her own with her husband Chris, but sadly ran into problems with conceiving naturally.
After undergoing surgery to get her fallopian tubes unblocked, Brooke managed to get pregnant - but was dealt a further blow when she experienced a tubal pregnancy, a common type of ectopic pregnancy.
Fearing for her health, Brooke and Chris then turned to IVF after exploring their options.
She eventually gave birth to twin boys, Christopher and Matthew, 22, after two implanted fertilised embryos proved successful.
In her early days of motherhood, Brooke then began getting calls from the IVF clinic asking her what she would like to do with the other eight fertilised embryos.
She decided to donate the embryos as she wanted to give them a chance at life - though was prevented by law from knowing what had happened to those which resulted in births.
Speaking to the Daily Star, Brooke said it was an "easy" decision to make as she only ever wanted two children - but she admitted she did "wonder all those years" if she had more through any of the donated embryo.
A whole 19 years, nine months and seven days later, Brooke received an email that would change her life forever when one of the children finally got in touch.
Her cousin Tod had received a message on DNA testing site 23andme from a stranger who claimed to be related to him, and mentioned a donated embryo.
After he told Brooke about the surprise contact, she passed on her email address, and would later learn that she was speaking to her son, Thomas Monroe.
But some of the biggest shock was yet to come when she learned her son belonged to a set of biological triplets, with the other two children named Peter and Lauren.
Describing how she found out, Brooke said: "So we started talking on email and on about the third email he told us he has two siblings and the three of them are triplets.
"I said 'does that mean you're biological triplets' and he said 'yes' – they're all ours.
"That was the biggest moment."
Brooke admitted she was "worried" at first about the relationship between the triplets' parents and her own family as she "didn't want to get in the way", but decided to make the approach after some careful consideration.
The parents then made contact with Trey, the 20-year-old triplets' dad, where they sadly learnt that mum Becky had passed away a year before.
Brooke says her only "regret" about the whole experience is not meeting her.
After Thomas started to speak to the mum-of-five in January 2021, the triplets were invited to her son Christopher's wedding in the summer.
Though Peter stayed at home for the wedding, Lauren and Thomas attended and instantly bonded with the family.
The 'blended family' met together as an entire for the very first time in summer 2022 during a reunion with extended relatives.
While keeping in contact can prove difficult, as the children live in a number of different states in the US, Brooke and Chris try to see the triplets as much as possible and are in regular contact online.
The twins and the triplets also enjoy a strong relationship of their own, and keep in touch with each other on social media.
Reflecting on how everyone has adapted to the new family dynamic, Brooke said: "My boys [the twins] have been great, they just accepted it and they've been wonderful,"
"Lauren calls them her big brothers.
"The definition of family is all new now, for sure.
"There's no rule book, I think we are writing it."
Brooke is currently writing a book about the extraordinary story and family's experience. You can follow her on Instagram here and on Facebook here.
