Friday, April 25, 2008

Identical triplet girls

With their bright blue eyes and cherubic smiles, Gabriella, Alessia and Olivia are a picture of cuteness.

But as well as being adorable, they are also quite extraordinary.

For they are naturally-conceived identical triplets.

triplet girls

Medical experts say the chances of such births are around 200million to one.

Their delighted parents are Richard Rees, 22, and his 23-year-old fiance Carmela Testa, who is a midwife.

She gave birth in January surrounded by colleagues at the maternity unit in Peterborough where she normally works.

The sisters were born seven weeks prematurely via Caesarean section.

They weighed between 3lb 4oz and 3lb 10oz and spent three weeks in an incubator until they were strong enough to go home.

triplet girls

Miss Testa said: "I found out at my 12-week scan I was having triplets.

"I knew they would be identical because there was just one placenta, so they were from the same egg.

"I was very shocked. They weren't planned. I'm quite small - only 5ft tall - so at the unit they joked that out of all the midwives it would have to be me that gave birth to triplets."

She added: "Everything is fine now and the girls are all putting on weight. I'm so overwhelmed when I see them. I can't believe they are mine and that they are perfect."

Telling the triplets apart is not proving too difficult.

"Olivia has a strawberry birthmark on her neck, Gabriella is a little bit smaller and Alessia has a sharper cry," explained Mr Rees, a vocational coach.

Identical triplets occur when one fertilised egg splits to create three embryos which grow separately but normally in the womb.

Non-identical triplets occur after three separate eggs are fertilised. This is increasingly common during IVF treatment.

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