Jason and Kelli Fenley, with two-year-old son Aidan, share their joy in welcoming three new additions in their family – Noah Charles, Owen Michael, and Miles John. The brothers are identical with each other, a rare occurrence in the medical community.
"It's a miracle," said their 33-year-old mother Kelli. "It's an absolute miracle and it's a blessing to have." The couple initially expected twins until Kelli's physician confirmed triplets during the latter part of her pregnancy. Winthrop University Hospital's doctors marvel at this rare occurrence. To conceive identical triplets naturally without the aid of fertility drugs is considered a medical wonder. A fertilized egg splitting once is already special. If one of the divided eggs splits again, that is considered a scientific miracle.
"Anywhere from one in 70,000 to one in 50-million," said Dr. Martin Chavez, Winthrop's chief of maternal fetal medicine. "But a conservative approach is one in a million."
The triplets were born early, weighing just under 3 pounds each each. Kelli recounts how intense the births were. She said there were over 40 people in the delivery room alone, and each baby had its own team of nurses. On July 1, 2015, Kelli gave birth to the three boys. They spent 51 days in the neonatal intensive care unit, where they battled problems typical of premature, low-weight babies such as respiratory distress, jaundice, slow breathing and heartbeat, and an inability to suck, but they are now healthy.
Kelli adopted the hospital's schedule in feeding and bathing the triplets at home. The routine involves feeding every three hours followed immediately by a nap. The triplets are bathed every other night. The family is adjusting to the big additions in their life. Jason and Kelli started to paint one of the boys' toenails in different colors to identity them from each other since they are all identical. Apart from the painted toenails, the couple adapted a color-coding scheme where they dress them in the same color as the toenail paint.
The triplets started to show different personalities early on. Jason and Kelli say Noah is the most fussy of all three. Baby brother Owen shows a very outgoing nature and Baby Miles seems to be very laid back.
Their older brother Aidan makes use of his parents' color-coding scheme to tell his three little brothers apart. The Fenley family said they will let go of the color-coding scheme in the next few years or when the triplets' true personalities finally show.
