Identical triplets: UK family brings home trio of joy
Birth is a blessing. The birth of identical triplets is nothing short of a miracle. Just ask Ian and聽Karen Gilbert, parents of a rare set of identical triplets, Ffion, Maddison, and Paige, all girls, now eight-weeks-old.
Multiple births have become more commonplace with the increased use of fertility treatments, however the Gilbert triplets were conceived naturally and all formed from the same egg. (Fraternal twins develop from separate eggs and are not identical.)
The Gilberts had just returned from their honeymoon in New York when they learned that they would soon be expecting a second child 鈥� the couple already had a thre-year-old daughter, Faye. Eight weeks later, they learned that they would in fact be having three, not just one baby, when a technician detected three heartbeats while investigating Ms. Gilbert鈥檚 complaints of stomach pains, .
"We pretty much left the hospital laughing, crying, laughing, crying... But we were over the moon," Ms. Gilbert told the BBC.
Doctors considered Gilbert鈥檚 pregnancy to be high risk because all three fetuses shared a single placenta and offered the couple the option of keeping only one or two of the babies, but Mr. and Ms. Gilbert wouldn鈥檛 hear of it, .
The triplets were delivered two months premature via Cesarean section on August 2 weighing a combined total of just 11 pounds, reports .
鈥淎t first they didn鈥檛 look real and you could pick them up with one hand,鈥� Mr. Gilbert said. 鈥淚t was a bit of a shock.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 been crazy,鈥� Ms. Gilbert said. 鈥淭heir personalities are already starting to shine through and I can鈥檛 wait to get to know them better.鈥�
Today, the babies are home with their 3-year-old sister, Faye, in Pontypool, a town in the Torfaen county borough of Wales, after spending six weeks in intensive care.
The family is still working out the logistics of caring for three newborns while keeping up with a 3-year-old. Ms. Gilbert to the BBC that her husband is pushing for another child 鈥� hopefully a boy 鈥� "But I'm not persuaded. I'm happy with what I've got."
