‘Three in a million’

When new father Tab Reid heard the heartbeats of his identical triplets, his head spun.

What if they were all girls? His mind sprang forward into the future about 17 years, and fear gripped him — just imagine what that prom night would be like.

That fear wasn’t realized for Reid and his wife, Dania. On July 5 at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, the pair gave birth to identical triplet boys — Kaine, Hunter, and Raedin — without ever using fertility treatments.

The number of triplet births has increased over the years, going from 294 in 1944 to 6,898 in 2002, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

But the chance of having identical triplets without fertility treatments is one in a million, said Dr. Tomerou Asrat of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

“I have done probably 100 sets of triplets in 18 years,” said Asrat, a maternal fetal medical specialist. “This is my very first identical.”

Asrat added that the chance of having fraternal twins, by comparison, is about one in 100.

The Reids, married for more than two years and living in Santa Ana, were shocked by the discovery of triplets on St. Patrick’s Day this year, a full 18 weeks into the pregnancy.

Originally, they thought they would be having one child. Then they learned it would be twins, and two weeks after that it was triplets.

“We kept asking, ‘What?’” Dania Reid said. “It seemed so unreal.”

After the initial shock sank in, the changes in their life and the pregnancy became, well, apparent.

Dania’s first thought was about risks.

Triplet births are a higher risk for diabetes, the mother is more susceptible to preeclampsia, a condition that lowers a pregnant mother’s blood pressure to dangerous levels, they all have to be done by C-section, and most of all, there is a higher risk of premature birth, Asrat said.

But despite the risks, the children were born healthy and are being cared for in the hospital’s natal intensive care unit where they are learning to feed. The biggest child, Kaine, should be ready to come home in three to five days, while the other two will probably need a few more weeks in the hospital, the family said.

After that, the biggest problem for the family lies in trying to fit them all in the car and telling them apart.

The family has turned their spare room into a nursery, which will hold the three for now. Also, Dania drives a Toyota Yaris — a subcompact not advertised to hold triplets — and is saying no to the minivan for the time being.

The couple knows their children will outgrow the tight confines and that some changes will have to be made. But that comes later. For now, Dania’s biggest concern is figuring out who is who.

“It’s pretty scary to me,” she said. “How am I going to distinguish them?”

HUNTER: 4 pounds, 15 ounces

RAEDIN: 4 pounds, 1 ounce

KAINE: 5 pounds, 6 ounces

Zimbabwe has the highest incidence of natural-born triplets in the world, and Nigeria has the highest incidence of fraternal twins.

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at [email protected].