THE parents of rare sextuplet babies have spoken about the “hardest and happiest” year of their lives.

Vicky and Andy Lamb, of Abingdon, became the first parents in 17 years to give birth to six siblings in Britain — but only four of the babies would come home after spending the first months of their lives dangerously ill in intensive care.

Layla, Eric, Ellen, Rose, Matthew and Pippa were born 14 weeks prematurely at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, on May 14 last year.

Each weighed less than two pounds.

Matthew, who suffered bleeding in the brain, died at just two weeks old — and the smallest baby, Pippa, who weighed one pound five ounces, died at seven weeks.

Mrs Lamb spoke about the pain of not knowing whether or not the babies would survive. She said: “I didn’t want them to be baptised as it’s like saying they could go to heaven or they could go somewhere else and I didn’t want them to go anywhere.

“They told us to sit tight. If it was time to come and say goodbye, they would come and get us.”

However, after three months, Eric and Ellen came home followed a month later by Rose. First-born Layla, who was very sick and had to have surgery on her oesophagus, finally came home after five months.

Mrs Lamb said: “It’s been the hardest year of my life.” Her husband, a former soldier, added: “Quickest, busiest, saddest, happiest.”

A total of about 60 medical staff at the hospital helped care for the babies.

The couple got married in 2006 and conceived the sextuplets after Mrs Lamb took the fertility drug clomid — the same drug she had been prescribed to help her have their daughter Grace, five.

Mrs Lamb said: “We thought we would get one. But we really, really, really did hit the jackpot getting our babies.”

Mr Lamb, a health and safety consultant, said: “Some people say it’s the fertility treatment, but if that was the case, there would be sextuplets pregnancies all over the place. So the fact that we fell pregnant with six was a miracle — it was fate.”

The couple have had to make 18 bottles of formula a day and feed the babies round the clock. Their garage had to be converted into a bedroom for them.

But Mrs Lamb, a former nursery manager, said: “Because we haven’t got six, because we lost Pippa and Matthew, we kind of geared ourselves up for it to be so much more busy. This is kind of not what it should be, it’s too easy.

“There is a big, big bit missing, but they will always be remembered.”

The couple had been warned about the dangers of giving birth to so many children and given the option of reducing the pregnancy.

But Mrs Lamb said: “It just went against every bone in our body to reduce a pregnancy that you had tried so hard to get. We decided we were going to give it the best shot and if something did happen to the pregnancy, then it’s fate.”

Kate Convery, matron of the neonatal unit at the JR, said: “Most of our nurses and consultants here at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit were involved with caring for the babies. They are a very special family and we have all felt privileged to play our part in supporting them.”

Live births of sextuplets are rare — roughly one in every 4.5m pregnancies.

The Lambs’ story will be told in an ITV show next Tuesday.