Mom Gets Surprise Pregnantᴛ With Natural Rᴀʀᴇ Iᴅᴇɴᴛɪᴄᴀʟ Triplets
They’re one in a million! North Carolina couple gives birth to rare identical triplet girls…. They are distinguished by different colors on their toenails
Gavin and Kimberly Fradel of Wake Forest, North Carolina, were shocked when a doctor determined in November that their son would have not one sibling – but three.
The Fradel girls, Grace, Stella and Emily, were born May 6, and although they are so cute, even proud parents Gavin and Kimberly Fradel have trouble telling them apart.
Fradel said that to his knowledge, multiples do not run in his family or his wife’s. Kimberly was not taking fertility medication during her pregnancy, he said.
Grace and Stella were born a few seconds apart at 11:37 a.m., with Stella following at 11:38 a.m.
They join their big brother, Gavin Jr. (2), who visited the girls in the neonatal unit.
“He turned around and said, ‘Daddy, bring her back,'” Fradel said, laughing. “I hugged him and said, ‘Son, I can’t take them back. They’re your sisters.’ Today, Gavin kisses them on the head, gives my wife the bottle and is such a good big brother to them.”
With three little babies in the house, the Fradels now use 30 diapers and an entire can of formula a day. Fradel and mother Kimberly work in shifts so she can pump to breastfeed as well, Fredal explains.
In addition to their painted toenails, the girls all have the same birthmark in different places, making it easier for their parents to identify them, Fradal says.
“Our family has been very supportive,” Fradel said. “It’s a lot of work, but we’re getting there. I love them. They’re just beautiful little girls. They are genetic miracles – all four of them.”
Kimberly Fradel thanks UNC Maternal Fetal Medicine, its NICU and the Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill for caring for her triplets.
