The birth of these ‘tridentical’ triplets has defied odds of 200million to one – with an identical set of three siblings almost unheard of. Thomas, Edward and Harry Chalwin were delivered by Caesarian section at 34 weeks weighing just 4lbs each in April. The trio all had to wear gastric feeding tubes for the first three weeks of their lives after being born at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire, on April 13.
But the brothers are now home in High Wycombe, and weigh a healthy 12lbs each. Their proud mother Claire, a former nurse, admitted she had to paint their fingernails in different colours to tell them apart at first. Claire, 33, told The Sun newspaper: ‘It was difficult in the early stages which is why I came up with the colour coding idea.
‘I’d apply it once a week to ensure we always knew which was which. Now I have no problem telling them apart.’ She added that she and her husband Paul, a recruitment consultant, were desperate for a sibling for three-year-old son William after a devastating miscarriage last June when they discovered they were expecting triplets. The odds of triplets from a natural pregnancy are 4,000 to one. An identical set is almost unheard of. She added: ‘They are a wonderful gift, I love them all and I am blessed.’