Rare identical triplets born in Bonn

Published: 7 Jul 09 12:03 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20090707-20437.html

The chances are about one in 10 million, but Alexandra, Antonia and Adriana beat the odds: Three identical newborn girls are healthy after being born at the Bonn University Clinic, according to a hospital spokeswoman on Tuesday.

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The triplets were delivered via Cesarean section on June 18. Although there are no statistics for triplet birth rates, the probability of having identical triplets is extremely low. For the doctor on duty, Professor Dr. Ulrich Gembruch, the trio was his third set of identical triplets in 20 years.

“We didn’t want to believe it at first,” mother Karina P., 32, said in a statement. “They’re triplets – identical, even!”

The position of the babies’ umbilical cords and blood vessels made a natural birth impossible, though C-section delivery was also risky. The triplet’s mother and father, from Mönchengladbach, opted to give birth at the Bonn University Clinic, a hospital experienced with multiple-birth deliveries.

“We wanted to keep the health risks for my wife and children to a minimum,” father Ingomar P., 47, said.

The babies were delivered via C-section to avoid preterm labour or a premature rupture of the membranes during the 34th week of pregnancy – a life-threatening situation. “All three could have then lost blood through their umbilical cords, as their bloodstreams are directly connected,” Professor Dr. Gembruch said.

The triplets weighed between 1,700 and 1,960 grammes and measured 39 to 44 centimetres in length. They join two older sisters, aged 6 and 2, and a 23-year-old half-brother.

DDP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)

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Your comments about this article:

12:58 July 7, 2009 by subhendra

What is meant by half-brother?

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13:12 July 7, 2009 by Clapoti

The half-brother has a common parent with the triplets, but the other parent is different.

What a poor choice of names I think... why choose 3 names so similar? That's gonna be confusing :P

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13:35 July 7, 2009 by Allershausen

I can't see why, the only thing that they've got in common is the first and last letter, they don't sound anything like each other.

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13:53 July 7, 2009 by sarabyrd

Neither do these but they're still *um* special.

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14:30 July 7, 2009 by silty1

Ever heard of the Dionne quintuplets? First set of identical quintuplets known to survive their infancy and the only female set of five ever recorded.

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14:33 July 7, 2009 by Bell the cat

I knew a guy that was from a set of identical triplets. Oddly he was considerably shorter than his two brothers due to birth trauma or something, but his two brothers were the spüitting image of each otrher and he was just like a slightly shorter version.

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15:23 July 7, 2009 by 1audgirl

Thats not unusual. Now this is unusual:

The Headrick sextuplets the three boys and three girls are off respirators and doing well at the new neonatal care unit at Via Christi Medical Center …

I'm from Wichita and worked with all of the kids mentioned at Wesley. Let me tell you, it was a very full nursery!

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15:32 July 7, 2009 by Katrina

Best birthday ever.

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14:27 July 20, 2009 by CHARLYS1973

i am charlys1973 i am father of 3 boys identical triples too in Argentina.

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#10

19:10 July 21, 2009 by don_riina

Triplets must be a logistical nightmare. One kid is a big enough pain the arse, 2 would be worse, 3 must be hellish. I shudder to think at the amount of time a parent of trips would spent just changing bloody nappies - and if they were identical, you'd never know which bloody baby's arse you had just cleaned, so you'd have to do something like put a massive black tick on their forehead with a marker pen just to keep up, or you'd be stuck in this weird world on constantly changing them. Even if you marked them though, you'd then be constantly washing off the marks ready for the next round of poop. I imagine that there is probably a depth of hell where this is the actual punishment, cleaning poo, then washing off black tick marks from baby's foreheads. All you iphone fanboy people with your bloody "apps", you'd be screwed. You'd never have time to download some stupid little program where you have a chick in clothes, then turn your phone upside down, and she's in lingerie. Never any time atall.

No way man, no way. If my woman had a scan, and there were 3 in there, I'd totally be on eby withing 5 minutes trying to sell 2 of them to somebody.

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