Midwife gives birth to identical triplets

By Tom Peterkin Last Updated: 2:50am BST 25/04/2008 A midwife has beaten odds of a million to one to give birth to identical triplets. Carmela Testa, 23, gave birth to Gabriella, Alessia and Olivia, who were all naturally conceived, seven week prematurely. Identical triplets are so unusual that doctors are divided over how often they occur. Some research has even suggested that the odds are as high as 200 million to one, but the UK’ s Twins and Multiple Births Association said one in a million was a more realistic figure. The girls were kept on an incubator in Peterborough Maternity Unit where they built up their strength until they were taken home to the house Miss Testa shares with the proud father, her fiancé Richard Rees, 22. As a midwife, Miss Testa was aware just how exceptional her pregnancy was. ”I found out at my 12-week scan I was having triplets,” Miss Testa said. advertisement "I knew they would be identical because there was just one placenta, so they were from the same egg. "I was very shocked. They weren’t planned. They were born on January 9, two days after my birthday so they were a lovely present.” There was a family history of multiple births, but her were the first triplets. "I’m quite small - only 5ft - so at the unit, they joked that out of all the midwives, it would have to be me that gave birth to triplets,” she said. "Everyone was great there. My three close friends delivered each of the babies.” Non-identical triplets are far more common than identical ones with around 160 born in Britain each year. Non-identical triplets occur when two or three different eggs are fertilized by different sperm. Identical triplets are caused by one fertilized egg splitting into three genetically indistinguishable eggs. Another method of producing non-identical triplets is when three separate sperm fertilise three different eggs. Triplets of this type became increasingly common during IVF. The 15-week old triplets were tiny when they were born in January weighing between 3lb 4 and 3lb 10. Telling them apart is a challenge. Mr Rees, a vocational coach, said: “Olivia has a strawberry birthmark on her neck, Gabriella is a little bit smaller and Alessia has a sharper cry.” Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright

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