January, 2008

Identical Triplets!

Everyone has heard of identical twins, which occur naturally as 1 in 333 births. Identical triplets are a rarity occuring only once in 62,500 births. We recently experienced identical triplets in a mother made pregnant by in vitro fertizilation.

Only two embryos were replaced into the uterus after a standard stimulated IVF cycle, but one embryo split into three. Mrs. G developed preterm labor at 33 weeks gestation, and was delivered by Cesarean section at the University of Washington. The triplets needed to be nurtured in the special care nursery for an additional three weeks before going home. Now, over a year old, they are all doing very well.

In vitro fertilization increases the rate of identical twins to about 1 in 100 pregnancies, but reports of identical triplets after IVF are rare.