Moms celebrate a special birthday with their quadruplets. Co-parenting arrangements becoming popular in the U.K.

A couple from rural North East England is celebrating the first birthdays of their quadruplets - born December 5, 2006.

The babies arrived prematurely - at 32 weeks - and two of them had to fight for their lives directly after birth. But all are healthy and happy one year later.

The couple has been in a relationship for more than decade.

According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, the number of lesbian and gay parents in England is rising dramatically and more than 3,000 couples are now thought to have biological or adopted children.

The Mail says "co-parenting arrangements" are also becoming popular. This is where a lesbian couple and a single gay man "team up" to have children.

The new Human Tissues and Embryos Bill will give both partners in a lesbian relationship the legal right of parents when one of them gives birth.

The Bill states that both women should be treated as "parents" even if they are not in a civil partnership.

In those circumstances no man - such as the sperm donor - can be treated as a father so as to avoid a child having three legal parents.

Photo: Daily Mail