Identical triplet girls born in city
The first clue came when Teri-Lynn Pocha was showing a little too much for a woman who was four months pregnant.
Her doctor suspected she had two — possibly three — babies in her belly.
“My mind kind of went blank. I know that I cried,” said Teri-Lynn, 24.
“We just kind of looked at each other, and it was just a huge shock,” her 27-year-old husband Andrew Pocha said.
When the ultrasound date came along, there they all were — identical triplets Baby A, Baby B, and Baby C.
On Monday afternoon at 1:20, 1:21, and 1:22 p.m., Aubrey Anna, Madeline Jean, and Sophie Elizabeth were born by C-section at Royal University Hospital.
At four pounds and three ounces, Aubrey was the largest; Madeline weighed three pounds and 14 ounces; Sophie weighed three pounds and 13 ounces.
“They’re so tiny, but they look absolutely healthy,” Teri-Lynn said.
Statistics on the odds of having identical triplets are not easy to come by. Multiple Births Canada says one in 6,400 births are triplets. Fraternal multiples are more common than identical multiples, particularly given the growth of assisted reproduction.
American organization Mothers of Supertwins (MOST) estimates one in 62,500 pregnancies results in identical triplets.
A fact sheet on Multiple Births Canada’s website says identical twins result when a single embryo splits into two, resulting in two babies with the same chromosomes, blood type, sex, hair and eye colour.
“Rarely, the embryo may split again to produce monozygotic triplets, quadruplets or quintuplets,” it states.
Triplets are typically delivered at around 32 or 33 weeks gestation, Andrew said. The doctors were pleasantly surprised the girls were able to stay in utero until they were 35 weeks.
All three are now feeding from bottles. They had initially expected the babies could spend a month in the neonatal intensive care unit, but Andrew said doctors think the girls may be ready to go home within two weeks.
Fortunately for the couple, Teri-Lynn’s mother has recently retired and plans to stay with the family for a couple of months.
“(I thought), ‘Wow.’ I’ve never looked after one, let alone three,” says the first-time mother. “But we’ve had such good support that to be scared in any way — we weren’t.”
Andrew has two older children.
The triplets’ middle names come from two great-grandmothers and one grandmother, he said.
They’re now busy acquiring baby things in triplicate, and looking for a vehicle large enough for three baby car seats.
The childhood years sound most intimidating to Teri-Lynn, who says she hopes she’s mature enough to handle three sixteen- year- old girls when that time arrives.
“Surprisingly, we’re both fine with it, and looking forward to the adventure,” Andrew said.