The chance of giving birth to identical triplets is about one in 160,000. A U.K. woman did just that on Aug 2. Although the triplets were delivered two months early and spent weeks in intensive care at the hospital, they just received the okay to go home.
Ffion, Maddison and Paige were born weighing in at less than 11 pounds combined, reports ABC News. Now, eight weeks later they are still just six pounds each, but they are beautiful, healthy girls.
“It’s been crazy,” their mother, Karen Gilbert said. “Their personalities are already starting to shine through and I can’t wait to get to know them better.”
The pregnancy was rough for Gilbert. “It has really taken its toll on Karen,” said father Ian Gilbert. “Because they are identical, they all share the same placenta and the same fluid. They all grew and fought so quickly it was practically ripping Karen’s muscles apart.” But she stayed strong throughout the seven-month pregnancy, despite doctors offering her to terminate one or more fetuses due to complications and risks.
"The risks were so high to me and the babies because they shared a placenta," said Mrs Gilbert, according to BBC News. "There was the chance of twin to twin syndrome, where one baby can starve the other two babies of food and other fluids. But we just couldn't do it. The babies are ours."
Now that the girls are all back home and healthy, the biggest difficulty is keeping them apart. "We kept their hospital bands on for as long as they could but they grew out of them, so Ian had to buy more on eBay and we're still using them," said Mrs. Gilbert. She went on to report that the triplets are starting to show signs of their individual personalities, making it easier to tell them apart. The triplets have a big sister, 3-year-old Faye, to look out for them as well.