Thursday, September 06, 2007

Mother Gives Birth to Naturally Conceived Triplets Twice

Victoria Lasiter beat odds of 64 million to one
A mother of triplets has beaten odds of 64 million to one by giving birth to her SECOND naturally conceived set of triplets.

Victoria Lasita, 39, gave birth last Wednesday to Casey, Carson, and Caden, three years after her first set of triplets with husband Tim.

Planning on having “one more” baby, the couple were initially shell-shocked to discover their family would grown by three. "I guess we should have been more specific and said one more child, not one more set," Victoria told The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Tim, 48, a shipping coordinator, said finding out they were expecting triplets four years ago had been a big enough surprise.

He said: "The second time she went to the doctor, she called me and said, 'We have two.' The next time she went to the doctor, she called me and said, 'We have three.'

"I said, 'Don't go to that doctor anymore.' "

But she returned to the doctor last March to be told she would be expecting three more.

Their three babies and three toddlers now join their grown children from previous marriages. Victoria has two sons, Bret, 22, and Jordan, 19, and Tim has son TJ, who is 23-years-old.

The six young children mean the Lasitas can now expect very little sleep in between preparing 168 bottles of milk every week and changing more than 300 nappies.

"We just say we'll make do," Tim said. "We always have."
The news that both sets of triplets were conceived naturally - without fertility treatments that are known to increase the risk of a multiple pregnancy - stunned local fertility doctors.

"Do you know what the odds of that are?" said Dr Glen Hofmann, medical director of the Bethesda Center for Reproductive Health and Fertility.

The odds of conceiving triplets naturally are one in 8,000 – so the chances of it happening twice are one in 64 million.

Dr. Sherif Awadalla, medical director of the Institute for Reproductive Health in Cincinnati, said it was possible Mrs Lasita's hormonal makeup could make her more likely to have multiple births. Women who conceive over the age of 35 are also more likely to have twins or triplets.

The couple's first set of triplets was born at 28 weeks. All weighed less than 3 pounds at birth but are now completely healthy and celebrating their fourth birthdays in December.

Double triplets are not completely unheard of. In May 2006 another American woman, Sharon Fontana, gave birth to her second set of triplets, also without fertility treatments.

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