BILLINGS — One Billings couple’s pregnancy joy was multiplied by three when they found out they were having identical triplets at St. Vincent Healthcare.
It’s a rare case that many doctors don’t get to witness often.
“After we got our house earlier this year, we were like, okay it’s time to think about kids. Somebody was worried about what if it takes awhile. First try, knocked it out of the park,” said Theodore Hampton, 31, with his wife Sami, 27, at St. Vincent Healthcare Tuesday.
It was a shock for the Hamptons, not only because of the triplets, but because this case was a one in a million. There’s no history of twins or triplets on either side of Theodore or Sami’s family.
“Spontaneous triplets are like 0.3% of all the pregnancies. That’s already one thing, but then having all triplets, one of them sharing the same sac, and then having another sibling with that is even more rare,” said Dr. Ibrahim Hammad, the director of maternal fetal medicine for Intermountain Healthcare.
It’s why Sami had to stay at St. Vincent Healthcare for over a month before her babies were born.
“If one baby was in jeopardy, all three of them could potentially be in trouble, so we started monitoring these babies really early on,” said the Hampton’s OBGYN attending physician, Dr. Kyla Carlson.
“It was just so hard but it’s just worth it after seeing them out. The C-section was a breeze, I feel so much better having my C-section pain than being pregnant,” Sami said.
Gwynevere, Calliope, and Scarlett were born on Oct. 12 with no complications at just over three pounds each.
“And so that means all five of us are October," Theodore said.
"Yup, we’re all October," Sami added.
"And we got married in October,” said Theodore.
The October family hopes their babies will be able to come home for Thanksgiving, but until then, it’s all about figuring out who’s who.
“I can pretty much tell them apart," Theodore said.
"You’re such a liar!" Sami shot back.
"I am not!" Theodore said with a grin.
