New Orleans mom gives birth to identical triplets
Categories: Newborns, Just for moms, Babies, Pregnancy & birth, Siblings, Development, Playground bureau
Given the fact that I am pregnant and hormonal, as well as totally in love with babies, it should come as little surprise that it gives me great pleasure to announce that someone recently gave birth to triplets--and, they are genetically identical!
I say recently, but the triplet boys were actually born December 4, 2007, putting them just over 3 months old. They were recently DNA tested when it was determined that yes, indeed, they are identical. Perhaps it is hard to tell amongst babies so small whether or not they look alike. Before I had a tot of my own I didn't give much thought to the difference in appearance of babies other than if they were wearing pink or blue. Imagine how I would feel if I had identical twins or triplets!
Well, that's just what happened to the new mommy at pyjammy.com. She is now the proud mother of three unbelievably beautiful little boys--trust me, just hop over to the blog to check out the adorable pick of them sitting in their, er, whatever those things are called that were recently recalled, now that I think about it.
Seriously, I know I am pregnant and everything, but those boys are just gorgeous. Congratulations, pyjammy mommy!
And thanks to Mike Schleifstein for the heads up! According to Mike, these triplets are a rarity indeed because the mom conceived them naturally without the help of any fertility drugs, etc. I'm not sure how rare triplets of any sort are these days, but I do recall in my middle school (and it was a relatively small school, too) there were two sets of triplets! None of them were identical, but I thought at the time that two sets of triplets was unusual (but triple the fun).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Susan 3-27-2008 @ 11:40PM
Ummm... identicals are *never* the result of fertility treatments, that's something only nature can do!
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Ethel 3-28-2008 @ 11:16AM
Actually there is some evidence that infertility treatments, in particular embryo transfer, results in a higher rate of monozygote fetuses. For example: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8747075?ordinalpos=10&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Something about the handling of the fertilized eggs increases the rate of splitting, thus resulting in identical multiples. There is also an Elsevier article but I am not interested in paying the access costs, although I'd love to have access....
Windy Kahler 3-28-2008 @ 1:51AM
I just thought you should know that the term "identical" doesn't actually have to do with the way they look. It has to do with the fact that they have the same genes (identical genes). "Identical" twins can actually have some physical differences as they have different experiences in the womb and so forth. Also, it's actually quite common that fraternal twins look more alike at birth than identical twins. They start to look more different/alike as they get older. My fraternal twins looked so much alike at birth, but now we have no idea how anyone could think they look alike (they're 26 months now).
On another note, Susan's right about all identical twins being "natural". Fertility drugs can only cause more eggs to be available for the sperm to fertilize, which causes fraternal twins, triplets, etc. An egg splitting (which causes "identicals"), is something that the body (nature) does on it's own. They don't actually know what causes identical twins. It is more rare that an egg would split more than once though (which would cause identical triplets, etc).
You're right on them being gorgeous little miracles though. =)
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Alice 3-28-2008 @ 9:05AM
Those recalled thingies are called Bumbo seats. They were recalled because some parents could not figure out not to use them on an elevated surface, despite the warning on the box and the warning on the product itself, which according to the cpsc website (I am too sleepy to get ours out of the attic at the moment) says: “WARNING” – “Never use on a raised surface. Never use as a car seat or bath seat. Designed for floor level use only. Never leave your baby unattended as the seat is not designed to be totally restrictive and may not prevent release of your baby in the event of vigorous movement.” The recall allows you to get a sticker that adds: “WARNING – Prevent Falls; Never use on any elevated surface.” I can't see how this adds anything, but OK. Thankfully, the parents of the beautiful triplet boys are using the seats correctly.
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jes 3-28-2008 @ 10:17AM
I'm not sure how rare triplets of any sort are these days, but I do recall in
Jennifer......I'm not trying to be mean or nasty here....but, perhaps, if you DON'T KNOW and you're writing an article on the topic, you should do some research so that you can speak intelligently about that which you're writing.
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K. 3-28-2008 @ 12:09PM
I have to agree with jes, here - Jennifer, your posts are consistantly poorly written. Spelling mistakes that could've been caught and corrected just by reading through the text once before posting, an awful lot of question marks and exclamation points in a row, for instance, and in general a very stream of consciousness-feel that would be fine for your own personal blog, but seem very unprofessional and out of place among all the other well thought out and well-written posts on this site. Reading through material you intend to put in front of a large audience seems like basic courtesy to me, and in fact a duty when you get paid for your writing.
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Michmstr@aol.com 3-28-2008 @ 5:01PM
A friend of mine just had identical twin boys after IVF. No, the IVF didn't cause the twins, only one embryo implanted and then it split. I also know of triplets after IVF - two identical and one fraternal. So I do wonder if an IVF embryo is more likely to split?
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pam 4-01-2008 @ 4:29PM
holy crap, that's me!!!!
i was just reading linda lee's posts and thought i'd mosy on over to the "first year" posts.
ha!
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