Brit woman beats 1 out of 150,000 odds with identical triplets

Beating all the odds, a British woman has given birth to rare identical triplets in Austria.

London, August 9 : Beating all the odds, a British woman has given birth to rare identical triplets in Austria.

Mae Christina Astley welcomed three girls, Amy, Kim and Zoe by Caesarean in western Austria on August 6, and according to doctors, this is an extremely rare case, something that only happens in one out of 150,000 pregnancies.

The babies, which were delivered four weeks' prematurely at 33rd week of pregnancy, weigh 3.3 pound each. Although they are weak and are being cared for in the hospital's intensive care unit, the girls are said to be doing well.

The girls' father, 27-year-old Thomas Graziadei, says that he is elated about their birth but admits it would be tough for him to tell apart one from another without their hospital wristbands on.

"We thank God that everything went well. But they all look the same. I don't know how we are going to tell them apart when they have not got their hospital wristbands on," Timesonline quoted Thomas, as saying.

The girls' doctor, Peter Schwarzler, said that although the babies were born prematurely and identical triplet pregnancies are among the most risky, he expected them to survive and develop normally.

"We need to be careful over the next few days but we are confident that all will go well. They are currently getting breathing support, as is usual. The triplets were born in the 32nd week and, as is normal with such premature births, the lungs are not so resilient and fatigue sets in easily," Schwarzler said.

Identical triplets are extremely rare because it means the original fertilized egg split and then one of the resulting cells split again.

Identical triplets occur in between one in 130,000 and one in 150,000 pregnancies, although many of these are not carried to term because of complications.

ANI