A first-time mum has given birth to one-in-200 million identical triplets.
Zahra Amirabadi, 28, and her husband Ashraf Reid, 29, who hailed from Nottingham, East Midlands, had twins in their family, but Zahra never expected to become pregnant with three children. Zahra revealed that her partner Ashraf was joking on the way for the 12-week scan. Zahra said:” 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! 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 ᴡᴏʀsᴛ place, I was thinking maybe there’s no ʜᴇᴀʀᴛʙᴇᴀᴛ 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 sᴡᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ 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.”
Two of the three babies were sharing a ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇɴᴛᴀ, while Cephia was on her own. Explain that the ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇɴᴛᴀ is that place, which provides both protection and nutrition to the baby in the mother’s womb. According to Zahra, doctors initially thought they had identical twins – a boy and a girl. He confirmed in the 17th scan that they were all girls. 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. She said:” It was definitely the best day of my life. 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 was born weighing 5lb 10oz, Adina was 5lb 2oz, and Sefia was the smallest at 4lb 4oz. Zahra added :” I had a planned c-section. And we were told ahead of the birth that one in three triplets are born at 26 weeks or earlier. The earlier they come there’s more ʀɪsᴋ of them ɴᴏᴛ sᴜʀᴠɪᴠɪɴɢ, then the closer you get to 35 weeks the less time the babies have to be in intensive care. Sefia was born quite small, so she needed to be taken to the neonatal unit for bottle feeding as she had ʟᴏᴡ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ 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.”
