Identical Triplets

In a rarest of the rare cases, a woman in Pune, India has given birth to identical triplets; all boys. The 21-year-old mother Reshma had previously undergone two failed pregnancies.

The odds of a woman delivering three identical triplets range from 1 in 60,000 to 1 in 200 million. Reshma’s delivery was overseen by several specialists as it is rare in medical science for a woman to carry naturally conceived identical triplets. Triplets through in vitro fertilisation are known but natural identical trios are unique.

Although the occurrence is rare, yet, all three are reported to be underweight with babies weighing at 1.74, 1.58 and 1.62 kilograms at birth. Additionally, one among the three may be suffering from congenital heart disease and is under observation. “All three are at the hospital's high dependency unit as they need special medical care,” said senior gynaecologist Pradip Sambarey, head of gynaecology department at the Sassoon hospital.