Couple Has Identical Triplets—Conceived Naturally

To conceive identical triplets with fertility drugs, or to spontaneously conceive fraternal triplets, is not necessarily headline-worthy. But "to have a patient with spontaneous identical triplets is incredibly rare," says a doctor who recently delivered a set of such triplets—and puts the odds at about one in a million. Jody and Jase Kinsey of Miles City, Mont., knew that multiples were a possibility—Jase's dad was a twin—but they weren't expecting to hear, from the tech at their first ultrasound, that there appeared to be three babies in there. They soon ended up under the care of the aforementioned specialist, Dr. Dana Damron, and Jody gave birth to sons Cade, Ian, and Milo on Dec. 5, the Billings Gazette reports. Jody, 30, and Jase, 29, were already parents to son Jax, 6.

"With them being identical, they all shared the same placenta so there could be possible complications," Jody explains; Damron kept a close watch to make sure all the babies were growing equally. Jody stopped working in September and was admitted to the clinic with early signs of labor in November, but ultimately the babies waited until 32 weeks—about the average gestational age for triplets, according to Damron. They were born via C-section between 3 pounds, 11 ounces and 4 pounds, 1 ounce, and all were "in excellent condition," he adds. Cade has been released from the hospital, but doctors want Milo and Ian to get a little better at eating first. Interestingly, another set of spontaneous identical triplets was born on New Year's Eve in Minnesota to Terri and Peter Pazdernik, People reports. These three are girls, named Hannah, Natalie, and Elise. (More identical triplets here and here. Even crazier? This story of identical quadruplets conceived naturally.)