These extremely ʀᴀʀᴇ identical triplets are getting ready to celebrate their first Christmas. The triplets, who are now nine months old, are ᴄᴏɴsɪᴅᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴀ ᴍᴇᴅɪᴄᴀʟ ᴍᴀʀᴠᴇʟ, as there is only a one in 200 million chance of having them.
Mom Megan Smyth, 32, from Nottinghamshire, having met their father Clayton Whittaker, 42, on dating app Bumble during the Cᴏᴠɪᴅ ʟᴏᴄᴋᴅᴏᴡɴ. And they gave birth to the ᴍᴇᴅɪᴄᴀʟ ᴍᴀʀᴠᴇʟs at 32 weeks and six days in March. The chances of the trio being identical was incredibly slim, with the ᴘʜᴇɴᴏᴍᴇɴᴏɴ ᴏᴄᴄᴜʀʀɪɴɢ in just one in every 200 million naturally-ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇᴅ ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴄɪᴇs. Triplets are usually ɴᴏɴ-ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪᴄᴀʟ and are created when two eggs are ꜰᴇʀᴛɪʟɪsᴇᴅ and one goes on to grow into twins. They become identical when the ꜰᴇʀᴛɪʟɪsᴇᴅ ᴇɢɢ sᴘʟɪᴛs into three after conception. Smyth said: “It was a complete sʜᴏᴄᴋ when we found out we were having triplets. ‘I just burst into tears, and Clayton went white as a sheet when the ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ told us. Twins do run in my family but it was still completely unexpected, we’d only been trying for six weeks. They’ll be absolutely spoiled by all our friends and family. We’ll barely have to get them any gifts at this rate.”
She gave birth to Colby, Odyn, Rico at at 32 weeks, with each weighing less than a large bottle of ketchup. And now they, along with dad Clayton, are set to celebrate their very first Christmas and the parents are rightly planning to go all out for the festive occasion. The triplets have already been to see Santa, visited Christmas markets and have moved into a new home, where the halls have been sufficiently decked. The pair have taken the triplets to see Santa, and get a picture with him, as well as visiting a Christmas market. Smyth said:” All our family are coming to us because we’ve just moved house, so I’m really looking forward to having a big Christmas here. We’re not really sure what we can do with the triplets to make it special, because obviously, they’re still so young, but it’s their first Christmas so we want them to experience all those classic Christmas things. We don’t normally put up a tree or anything so this year is so different for us, not just because of the babies. Life is so manic with triplets, but we’re making time for them to experience everything we can.”
She added:” For me the magic of Christmas is children. Last year we walked past all these people queuing up to see Santa. This one little boy’s face was such a picture, he absolutely lit up because he was so excited. Now, all I want is to see the boys’ faces light up as well, and see the magic through their eyes. For me, stuff like that is what Christmas is all about. We’re always trying to do things as a family. They have no idea what’s going on, so it does feel like it’s purely for me when I take them out to do this stuff. We’ve been out to do everything Christmassy we can think of. We’ve also bought them Christmas onesies and little Christmas jumpers for them to wear as well.”
