A 46-year-old woman gives birth to identical triplets after a fertility specialist told her five years ago that her "eggs are too old," and that she only has a ten percent chance of conceiving a child through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Fast forward to today, Audrey Tiberius does not only have one child but identical triplet boys with her husband Tyler Tiberius, who is 41 years old, Today Parents reported.
After doing three rounds of in vitro, which all failed, the Tiberius got naturally pregnant and gave birth to triplets - Sky, River, and Bay on March 30. The triplets join their other four big brothers Marcus, James, Christian, and Max, 13, 11, 9, and 7, respectively.
Audrey, still in awe, shared that she was able to talk to a statistician and found out that the odds of a woman at the age of 45 having identical triplets are 1 in 20 billion.
'There's no way to explain it other than a miracle'
Audrey revealed that she always wanted seven children, that seven was her dream number, yet she knew that her age might hinder her from having them. Thus, to have all her seven children now felt surreal.
She further shared that what happened to her was "statistically unlikely." There was no way to explain it, but she described it as nothing short of a "miracle," with which experts agree.
Dr. Lisa Thiel, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Spectrum Health West Michigan, emphasized that it is rare to get pregnant at 45 years old without medical intervention, plus the risk of miscarriage is high during the first trimester with the uterine lining not as healthy anymore during younger years.
"We have millions and millions of eggs when we're born and then they die off over time. As we start to get into our mid-thirties we have less eggs that are appropriate for reproduction and getting pregnant is harder to achieve. By the time we're 41, the risk of having chromosomal abnormalities is also much higher," the doctor explained.
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The need for women to know more about fertility
The mother from Utah noted that fertility was not a big deal to her before. She was unaware that older celebrities would spend much to have their eggs frozen or look for egg donors. She grew up with her paternal grandmother having babies even when she was 40 years old, so she just assumed it would be the same for her.
She does not want any woman desiring to be a mom to go through the heartaches she did when they tried in vitro fertilization and kept failing. Thus, she is reaching out to doctors to ensure that women know about fertility early on and to offer options to save them from having broken hearts.
Recently on her Facebook account, Audrey posted that her precious triplets are already three months old. She shared about her breastfeeding struggle due to clogged ducts, which has resulted in a shortage of milk supply. Though she pumps nine times a day, the milk produced is not even enough for two of the triplets. Thus, she is looking and praying for breast milk donors.
