3 of a kind: rare identical triplets .
DNA tests have proved these cuties are rare identical triplets
FORGET about seeing double – with this trio of tots it’s more a case of seeing triple! And the mom who gave birth to these little boys finds herself in a rather rare club: the chance of having identical triplets is about 200 million to one. So rare is the phenomenon that Becki-Jo Allen from Liverpool in the UK was sceptical when people told her that her triplets were identical. But she started hearing it so often she decided to have DNA tests done – and sure enough Roman, Rocco and Rohan are peas in a pod, the result of a fertilised egg splitting not once but twice, which is highly unusual.
Becki-Jo (23) was just nine weeks pregnant when she discovered she was expecting triplets.
“I’d been very sick and had been having bad headaches so I booked an early scan – and that was when I found out. It was the biggest shock of my life!” she says.
Neither she nor the babies’ dad, Liam Tierney (28), has a family history of multiple births and they conceived without the aid of fertility treatment, so it was the last thing they were expecting.
Becki-Jo already had a child, daughter Indiana (3), and was hoping for just one more baby to complete her family. Now she has four kids under the age of four.
The triplets (10 months old) were born nine weeks early by C-section and spent their first six weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit at Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
Rocco weighed 1,5 kg at birth, Roman 1,6 kg and Rohan 1,4 kg.
Premature babies usually take a while to catch up but their proud mom says they’ve all reached their growth and developmental milestones.
Telling the boys apart was initially difficult, Becki-Jo says, but she’s learnt some tricks of the identifying trade.
“They all have dark birthmarks between their eyebrows, but Roman’s is slightly darker than the others. And Rohan has a birthmark on his leg as well,” she says. “But when they’re asleep it’s still sometimes hard to tell who’s who!”
When the boys were born, doctors were certain they weren’t identical. But as they grew and more and more people remarked on how similar they were, Becki-Jo visited the British Multiple Births Foundation, which suggested a DNA test.
Swabs were taken from inside the triplets’ cheeks and the results showed they were indeed from the same egg.
Yet they have very different personalities, which is becoming more evident as they grow.
“Rohan is the loud one; he’s always shouting,” Becki-Jo says. “Rocco is normally quite laidback but he can be feisty too, while Roman is usually complaining because he doesn’t like to share.”
And how is big sister Indiana handling the home invasion?
She loves them, her mom says, and treats them like dolls. “But I do feel a bit sorry for her when I think what’s in store for her with three little brothers!”
Raising triplets is a pricey business: in one week the boys fly through about 130 nappies and four packets of baby wipes. One pack of formula lasts two days and the washing machine is on three times a day.
Liam doesn’t live with Becki-Jo and the kids, but her younger sister, Lauren (17), helps out with the household chores.
“I’m just so happy the boys are all doing so well now,” Becki-Jo says.
All babies are unique, she adds – but knowing her triplets are among the rarest in the world makes them all the more special.