Telling tots apart was TRIPLE the trouble
MUM’S FEAR SHE’D GOT 200 MILLION TO ONE BROTHERS MIXED UP
WHEN triplet Milo Pawluk was born, doctors were unsure whether he was identical to his two brothers.
The odds of that are pretty slim... 200 million to one, to be precise.
The three brothers were born – naturally – within just three minutes of each other last March.
Medics at Stepping Hill Hospital were sure Milo’s siblings Finn and Charlie were identical as they had shared the same sack and placenta. But they were unsure about Milo. The presumption was that he wasn’t identical to Finn and Charlie, given that the chances were so small.
Either way, the babies’ mum Colette and dad Dave, both 39, were over the moon.
As the boys began to grow, things got a little muddled.
Colette, who is also mum to Maya, three, said Milo and Charlie started to look ‘exactly the same.’ And Finn – who medics were sure was identical to Charlie – started to look different from his two brothers. Confused? Us too. As was Colette. “I was worried that I had somehow got Finn and Milo mixed up,” she said.
“I started to worry that Finn was actually Milo.”
When the triplets were taken home from hospital, they had hospital wristbands on. Colette and Dave, from Chapel-en-le-Frith, would also dress them differently to tell them apart.
But as time went on, they couldn’t shake the thought that they had mixed up Finn and Milo at some point.
“I started thinking about it more and more,” Colette said.
“There was only one time when it could’ve happened.
“They had a baby photoshoot and the photographer had them all out of their clothes and wrapped in blankets.”
The only other explanation was that the boys were in fact identical.
“I decided to get a DNA test done,” Colette added.
“The results came back a week later and showed that they all had the same DNA. They were monozygotic triplets.
“It was a relief to know I hadn’t mixed them up, they were just all identical, and Finn just looked a bit different because he was bigger.”
Colette says that despite looking the same, each of her 15-month-old sons has a very different personality.
Even little Maya can now tell them apart.
She added: “It really helps to tell who’s who.
“Finn is quite placid, he’s a bit more laid back than the other two.
“Charlie is smaller but enthusiastic about everything. Milo is particularly affectionate.
“When I’m changing his brothers’ nappies he will rush over and blow raspberries on their bellies. They love it and they all laugh. They all get on really well.
According to various websites, the odds of having monozygotic triplets range from one in 60,000 to one in 200 million.
“Either way it’s pretty rare,” Colette added.
“It blew my mind when I first realised. It’s so unusual. It’s hard work, but I feel incredibly lucky.”