1-2-3: Triplets complete rare birth sequence for Joliet mom
One, two, three ... a local mother recently completed a rare trifecta of consecutive natural births with the delivery of triplet boys at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
Teri Nobles and Mario Aguirre of Joliet had what one physician called “a once-in-a-career experience” after Nobles gave birth to triplet boys on March 8.
Ten years ago, Nobles had her first son, Logan. Then three years ago, the couple had identical twin boys, Marcel and Victor.
Last month, they gave birth to three more boys, two of whom are identical.
“Every time we got pregnant, we kept thinking, what's one more?” Aguirre said.
Neonatologist Dr. Vibhaben Thaker said the sequence of the births has the hospital doctors buzzing about just how rare an occurrence this is.
“I've been practicing for 25 years and have never seen a mother give birth to one, two, then three babies in consecutive natural births. It's incredible,” she said.
Both parents said they were originally surprised to hear they were having twins, then shocked to hear they were expecting triplets.
“I wanted to faint,” Nobles said. “But this is such an incredible blessing.”
The likelihood of having triplets where two of the three are identical twins alone is more than 1 in 100,000, Dr. Thaker said. It's obviously even rarer to have a mother give birth to one, two then three boys.
Nobles was in labor for around three weeks before finally giving birth via C Section, said her OB-GYN Dr. Richard Barton.
“It was a lot of fun. I enjoy delivering triplets and twins, they are a little bit more exciting,” he said.
Dr. Barton said he read about four other sequential birth cases in the U.S. over the past decade, but didn't know if they were natural births like Nobles'.
The three triplets, named Vincent Alan, Santino Michael and Andres Lionel, are doing well. When all three are released from the hospital, Nobles and Aguirre will have a total of seven kids under one roof. One of the twins, Victor Eamon, passed away in utero, and Aguirre has two elder children from a previous relationship.
When asked if the couple would want any more children, both laughed but said no.
“We talked about that — with my luck, we'd just have four more boys,” Nobles said. “We had a gender reveal party and all the balloons were blue. That was almost an even bigger surprise.”
The parents thanked the staff at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, their family and their friends for their help and support — including helping them amass “a whole closet full of diapers.”
Dr. Thacker said she didn't have any advice for what Nobles called their “big, fun family.”
“Honestly, we need to learn from them,” she said. “They are great parents, and very caring. They have great children and a happy family.”