(Screenshot via YouTube)

A gay South African couple has possibly become the first same-sex couple to father triplets born with both fathers’ DNA.

According to The Sun, Theo and Christo Menelaou each fertilized one egg of a surrogate with their DNA. The surrogate gave birth to twins and a third triplet. During the pregnancy, doctors discovered one of the eggs had split and recommended terminating two of the pregnancies. Instead, the Menelaous found a gynecologist who would work with them and decided to proceed with the pregnancy.

The triplets were born in July and the couple named them Joshua, Zoe and Kate.

“When you are gay, there is always the thought that it just may not be possible to be a parent no matter how much you would love to be,”Christo Menelaou told Sky News. “It’s very hard to be accepted for adoption and we were told we would always come after heterosexual couples. And then we just never thought we’d ever find a person who would want to be surrogate to a gay couple.”

The triplets were placed on breathing apparatus and consistently monitored in the hospital for a few weeks after birth. The triplets were allowed to come home one by one and now are at home with their dads. Zoe will still need heart surgery in the coming weeks, and all three still struggle with breathing on their own. But the couple is still grateful.

“We have to gently massage their backs, or tickle their toes just to remind them to take a breath,” Theo Menelaou told The Sun. “We feel so blessed. We really do.”