SLEEPING peacefully inside protective plastic incubators, these tiny triplets are living examples of how a £1-million fundraising appeal has helped premature babies and their parents in Bristol.

If it had not been for the Cots for Tots Appeal, there might not have been enough room for Archie, Paige and Tyler to have stayed together at St Michael's. The fundraising campaign has now reached £952,112.92 and already the extra cots have made a difference to babies like the Barlows – who spent their first day in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Now their parents Sarah Caple and Ryan Barlow are encouraging others to support the Cots for Tots Appeal by helping to raise the final £47,887.

Being told they were expecting triplets was a shock for the couple who had been warned they might not have a baby at all.

Miss Caple was told that because she has polycystic ovaries it would be difficult for her to conceive and had already lost a baby before becoming pregnant with Archie, Paige and Tyler, who made their appearance on February 1.

If those extra beds had not opened a month before the triplets were delivered by Caesarean section, they would probably have had to be transferred to another hospital and could have been separated.

Instead the three babies, who weighed 3lb 6oz, 3lb 7oz and 3lb when they were born, are in the high dependency unit at the city centre hospital being supported in cots alongside each other.

Having been warned that she might have trouble conceiving, Miss Caple, 28, said she "just wanted one baby".

It was at the 12-week scan the Clevedon couple were shocked to discover that rather than one baby they were expecting three.

"It had been at the 12-week scan before that we had been told there was no heartbeat, so we were really worried when during the scan the woman shot back in her chair and thought it had happened again," the nursery nurse said.

Mr Barlow, 24, said: "Then she explained that she had never seen it before but we had triplets, that there were three and it was the first time she had seen that.

"She got someone else to check and they confirmed that yes, there were definitely three in there.

"I don't think it really sunk in until the 20-week scan."

The babies were delivered two days after Miss Caple had a 32-week scan to check on the babies' progress.

She had already been bed-bound for more than two weeks and her bump was measuring the equivalent size of a single baby if it reached 50 weeks of pregnancy.

Mr Barlow, who works in advertising, said: "They were really good and kept Sarah in but said they didn't want to deliver until there were three cots and they did their best for them to stay here."

Miss Caple, said: "We would have been absolutely devastated if they had been separated.

"If it wasn't for the extra cots the babies would have been separated."

The couple is now encouraging other people to support the Cots for Tots Appeal that has benefited their newborn babies.

The triplets all started off in intensive care at the hospital because they needed breathing support before being moved into the high dependency room on the NICU.

Their parents have been given a room in Ronald McDonald House so they can stay close to the babies, which has made them understand the importance of Cots For Tots House – a dedicated home-from-home across the road from St Michael's, which is being created with money from the fundraising campaign.

"It is amazing to have accommodation, I don't know what we would have done without it," Mr Barlow said.

The couple have been told to expect them to stay in hospital until at least the middle of March while they get stronger.

And while the babies are making the most of their time in special care their parents will be moving to a bigger home to accommodate them.

"We have had to get a bigger house and a bigger car," Mr Barlow said.

But they have been fortunate to find a new home in the same road.

Mr Barlow said: "Everyone at the hospital has been amazing, especially our consultant Rachel Liebling who has been there from day one and been very supportive."

Miss Caple added: "Everyone on the ward has been fantastic."

Consultant neonatologist at the NICU, Pam Cairns said that triplets are very unusual, with about one or two a year born at St Michael's.

"In many ways their needs are absolutely the same as other babies we care for it is just that there are three of them and it is more important that we don't send them out as we can never send three out together," Dr Cairns said.

"It was really busy when they were born and we were really tight on beds and they got the last three cots together.

"If we hadn't had the extra four cots we would not have been able to do it."

Lauren Vincent, fundraising manager at the Cots for Tots Appeal, said: "The birth of the triplets is a wonderful celebration and a very special way to mark reaching this landmark total.

"We hope that their story will inspire people to make a donation – if everyone gives £3 in recognition of the babies, we will be well on the way to reaching the million."

To donate to the appeal send a text message with the words 'COTS10 £3' to 70070 from your mobile phone and you will automatically donate £3 to the Cots for Tots Appeal.

Or visit www.cotsfortots.org.uk/ donate.