A Woman Was Told That She Was Too Old to Become a Mother, but She Gave Birth to Identical Triplets at 46. The Odds Are 1 in 20 Billion
Audrey Tiberius from Utah, USA, got pregnant naturally and gave birth to identical triplets at 46 years old. This phenomenon is so rare that she was told that the odds of a 45-year-old having identical triplets are one in 20 billion. Of course, the press got interested in this story, and this is what Audrey told them.
In addition to the newborn triplets, Audrey Tiberius and her husband already have 4 children: Marcus (13), James, (11), Christian (9), and Max (7). The couple wanted to have more children, but fertility specialists told Audrey that “her eggs were too old.” Audrey was 41 at the time.
After giving birth to triplets, the mother said in an interview to TODAY Parents, “We did 3 rounds of in vitro and they all failed.” At the time, doctors told her that her chances of conceiving a child by in vitro fertilization were only 10%.
According to doctors, becoming pregnant without medical intervention at 45 is very rare. And even if it happens, the risk of a miscarriage is about 80% in the first trimester because the uterine lining isn’t as healthy as it is at a young age.
Nevertheless, Audrey got pregnant naturally and gave birth to 3 identical boys at the age of 46. According to her, most experts put the odds of identical triplets at one in 200 million births, but if a woman is older than 45, the odds are even lower. “I talked to a statistician and apparently the odds of a 45-year-old having identical triplets are one in 20 billion,” Tiberius said.
The mother of 7 revealed that her paternal grandmother had babies in her forties. So, Audrey was naïve to think that she would be able to do the same. Now she believes that doctors should be more open to women about their fertility while they are still young “to save them heartache.” “I didn’t realize that older celebrities often use frozen eggs or donor eggs,” she shared.
The triplets are 9 months old now. Their mother spends 7 hours a day pumping breast milk for her boys. And in order to spend more time with her family, she is looking for milk donors. But she is very happy to have 7 children.
“I always had seven in my mind — that was always my dream number. But I didn’t think it would happen to me because of my age,” she said.
Do you have children? If so, how many more would you want to have?