In April, Thomas, Edward, and Harry Chalwin were born via C-section at 34 weeks, weighing under 4 pounds apiece. After being born on April 13 at Stoke Mandᴇᴠɪʟle Hospital in Buckinghamshire, the trio had to use stomach feeding tubes for the first three weeks of their life. The brothers are now back at home in High Wycombe, weighing in at a healthy 12 pounds apiece. The birth of these ‘tridentical’ triplets has defied odds of 200million to one – with an identical set of three siblings almost unheard of.
Their proud mother Claire, a former nurse, admitted she had to ᴘᴀɪɴt their fingernails in different colors to tell them apart at first. Claire, 33, told The Sun newspaper: ‘It was difficult in the early stages which is why I came up with the color coding idea.
‘I’d apply it once a week to ensure we always knew which was which. Now I have no problem telling them apart.’ She added that she and her husband Paul, a recruitment consultant, were desperate for a sibling for three-year-old son William after a devastating miscarriage last June when they discovered they were expecting triplets.
The odds of triplets from a natural pregnancy are 4,000 to one. An identical set is almost unheard of. She added: ‘They are a wonderful gift, I love them all and I am lucky.’
