For an event that is supposed to only occur once in 200 million births, this has been the year of the identical triplets.
Richard Rees, 22, and his 23-year-old fiance Carmela Testa, who is a midwife welcomed a set of Identical triplets in January at 33 weeks gestation.
At birth the 3 girls weighed between 3lb 4oz and 3lb 10oz and spent three weeks in an incubator until they were strong enough to go home.
When Carmela found out she was expecting triplets she was shocked.
“They weren’t planned. I’m quite small – only 5ft tall – so at the unit they joked that out of all the midwives it would have to be me that gave birth to triplets.”She added: “Everything is fine now and the girls are all putting on weight. I’m so overwhelmed when I see them. I can’t believe they are mine and that they are perfect.”
Even though the girls are identical, the couple doesn’t have any trouble telling them apart. 
“Olivia has a strawberry birthmark on her neck, Gabriella is a little bit smaller and Alessia has a sharper cry,” explained Mr Rees, a vocational coach.
Identical triplets occur when one fertilized egg splits to create three embryos which grow separately but normally in the womb.
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