Aug. 3 (UPI) — A pair of New Jersey parents are adjusting to a major change after giving birth to a set of rare identical triplets at a Pennsylvania hospital.
Parents Mark Bodrog and Gabriela Mosquera of Gloucester Township said multiples run in the mother’s family, but they were shocked when doctors told them they were expecting identical triplet girls.
“I kind of walked in circles for about 20 minutes. I mean, what do you do when you hear ‘triplets?'” Bodrog recalled to WPVI-TV.
Doctors told the parents they were dealing with a highly unusual situation.
“They’re from the same egg, sharing the same placenta with three separate amniotic sacs,” said Bodgrog. “It’s so rare. There are hardly any case studies on it.”
The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia stepped in and offered to provide prenatal and delivery care.
“They said, ‘You guys are coming here. We want to do this pregnancy. It’s so rare. Highly, highly risky,'” Bodrog said.
Estimates vary, but the odds of having identical triplets have been said by medical experts to be between one in 60,000 and one in 200 million.
Triplets Anastasia, Olivia and Nadia were born July 8 at 34 weeks and five days. Each baby weighed just over 5 pounds.
The triplets are now at home with their parents and two older sisters. The parents said the hospital asked them to remain in touch so doctors could conduct research on the lives of their triplets.