A first-time mum has given birth to one-in-200 million identical triplets.
Zahra Amirabadi, 28, had her daughters Roya, Adina and Sefia back in December 2021. Zahra and her fiancé Ashraf Reid, 29, first discovered the triplets at her 12-week scan.
The couple, from Nottingham, East Midlands, both have twins in their family, but never expected Zahra to be pregnant with triplets.
“We had been joking on the way to the scan saying ‘imagine if it’s twins’, but Ashraf said it couldn’t be, and he was right!” Zahra said.
“The doctor started the scan and said, ‘I’ve got something to tell you that might come as a surprise’.
“My mind immediately went to the worst place, I was thinking maybe there’s no heartbeat or something like that.
“But when she told us it was triplets, we couldn’t believe it!
“It was such a shock, there was a bit of swearing from Ashraf because it just blew out minds.
“We were both just laughing and crying, and then when she was trying to show us on the scan I couldn’t see because my belly was moving from laughing.”
The spontaneous identical triplets are now five months old, with two of the babies, Roya and Adina, sharing a placenta. Meanwhile, Sefia was on her own.
Zahra added: “The doctors all thought at first that we might be having identical twin boys and then a girl.
“They confirmed they were all girls at the 17 scan, so luckily we hadn’t bought many clothes or anything before then.
“When they were born they looked so similar, so we got a test done and it showed they were all identical.
“The egg split once earlier in the pregnancy so she got her own placenta, then the second split happened a bit further along, but they are all from the same egg.”
Zahra revealed that she was constantly tired during her pregnancy, napping twice a day throughout, and said: “I was so big that I was struggling to sleep through the night.
“At my 24 week scan the doctor said I was carrying the equivalent of a 37 week baby.
“I always had people saying, that won’t change once the baby arrives!
“But I definitely prefer being tired because I’m running around after babies rather than being pregnant and tired.”
Zahra described the day the triplets were born as the best day of her life.
“It was definitely the best day of my life,” she went on.
“Obviously in the build up to it I was excited for them to be born, but I didn’t think it would be so amazing.
“I remember I heard the first baby cry and I just started sobbing, then I did the same thing again and again, it was just beautiful.
“It was music to my ears to hear them all healthy, and they were brought over to me straight away for skin to skin contact, and then my partner had the same thing.”
Roya weighed 5lb 10oz when she was born, Adina weighed 5lb 2oz, and Sefia weighed 4lb 4oz.
“I had a planned c-section,” Zahra continued, “and we were advised before the birth that one out of every three triplets is born at 26 weeks or sooner.”
The earlier they arrive, the greater the chance of death; but, the closer they get to 35 weeks, the less time the newborns must spend in intensive care.
“Sefia was born quite small, so she needed to be taken to the neonatal unit for bottle feeding as she had low blood sugar.
“After that I was just feeding her a bit more regularly, but it made me quite emotional because it was the first time the three of them were apart.”
All three of the babies are now thriving at home.
