A mum has told how she 'shouldn't be here' after almost bleeding to death while giving birth to triplets.

Brittany Riding, 34, gave birth to non-identical triplets Maisie Grace, Luca James, and Arlo George on July 30, 2024 in a planned c-section at 34 weeks.

While her babies were completely healthy, Brittany, from Burnley, Lancs., suffered major complications – losing more than nine litres of blood and having to have an emergency hysterectomy.

She said: "I basically lost all my blood and more, they had to do the hysterectomy in the end to stop it all."

"My body was pushed to the extremes. They were having blood rushed from all the different hospitals, the hospital went on standby because it was very touch and go."

"When I was told how much blood I lost, I thought they were just being a bit dramatic, you don't even have that much in your body."

"I'd completely lost all my blood and more."

Following her recovery, Brittany said a doctor at Burnley Hospital came up to her and started crying.

It was up to fiancé Matthew Plummer, 37, to explain the emotional response to the shocked new mum.

Brittany said: "She said ‘you've got God in your pocket'."

"I just turned to Matt and I was like ‘why is she crying?'"

"He said ‘Brit, you shouldn't be here.' I was like, ‘oh, OK.'"

The new mum thanked the ‘unreal' NHS staff for their work, and says she still can't get used to having three babies nearly nine months on.

She added: "Even now sometimes when we're driving, we'll look in the back seat and we're like ‘we've got three babies!'"

"It's just nuts, it's amazing. Whenever we go anywhere people are like ‘oh my God, can we look?'"

"It's a good crazy, but sometimes we're still just like ‘it's actually happened!'"

Now, the new parents are hoping to raise awareness of the importance of donating blood.

Dad and Rolls Royce manager Matt has been raising money for NHS Blood and Transplant alongside his friend Nathan Penman.

Together, the pair has already raised over £2,200 through JustGiving.

Having completed the Manchester Marathon on Sunday, April 27, the pair also plan to take on the 50-mile long Pennine Barrier Ultra Marathon just six days later, on Saturday, May 3.

Brittany said: "They want to really go for it, and do what they can. In the ultra they want to finish in the top 10 per cent."

"I was like ‘I can't run to the end of the street!'"

She added: "You don't realise there how bad the blood shortage is until you're in the position I was in."

"I can't donate now and I didn't realise how many factors there are to consider when it comes to blood donations."

"I hope this makes people more aware. If you can't donate blood then donate to charities if you can."

"Money is great but the most important thing is raising awareness."