Hailing from Scotland, Allana Allard and her husband, Tim, 31, were overjoyed upon discovering they were pregnant in October 2019.
The 29-year-old, who now resides in Davistown, New South Wales, Australia, said she and her husband had been trying to have a baby for just two weeks before discovering a positive result through a home pregnancy test.
“We were over the moon,” Allana, who was born in Falkirk, Scotland, but moved to Australia at the age of 13, said. “We went together to our very first scan, and were not really expecting much as it was so early.”
Allana, an admin worker, was only six weeks into her pregnancy when she and her husband were given the surprising news that they were expecting triplets. “We heard two heartbeats at first, and we were told it was twins. But after doing an internal ultrasound we got the news it was triplets,” Allana recalled.
Alluding to the moment, Allana said both she and her husband went into shock on hearing the news. Allana and Tim had no history of multiple births in their family and found it to be really “random.”
However, after the initial shock wore off, Allana said the couple was excited to welcome their little bundles of joy.
“Of course we were a bit scared as all new parents are, but we were so happy,” she further clarified. Five months into Allana’s pregnancy, the world turned upside down with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.
As stringent measures were taken to curb the spread of the virus, the then-expectant mother wasn’t allowed to attend any medical appointments with her husband.
“It was such a trying time with COVID. Tim wasn’t allowed in any of the scans, he would have to just sit in the car for hours,” Allana said.
In May 2020, the three boys, Jaxon, Zac, and Zavier, were born in the midst of a pandemic via a C-section at 33 weeks of gestation. The boys weighed 1.9 kilograms, 2 kilograms, and 2.3 kilograms (approx. 4.2 pounds, 4.4 pounds, and 5 pounds) respectively.
However, owing to the pandemic, no other family members were allowed to visit the triplets after their birth during their three-week stay in the NICU of the hospital.
Additionally, Allana said that her beloved 82-year-old grandmother from Scotland who usually visited Australia twice a year in the past has had to postpone her trip to meet her great-grandsons due to the Covid-19 travel ban.
“[N]ow we are not sure when she will be able to meet her great-grandchildren,” Allana lamented.
Allana is still dumbstruck by the fact that three babies came out of her belly.
“It was a good pregnancy, I didn’t have morning sickness or any major complications,” she explained.
As for the boys, initially, the parents assumed that only two boys—Jaxon and Zac—would be identical as they were growing in one sac, whilst Zavier would be fraternal as he was growing in another sac.
However, after their birth, Tim, a mine worker, said it was obvious that the three of them looked the same.
Then six weeks after birth, the parents were again left surprised as a DNA test revealed that the trio was actually genetically identical.
“We did a simple cheek swab test, and then the results confirmed they were in fact identical triplets,” Tim shared. “It was amazing to have that confirmation.”
While the exact figure is unknown, some studies have reported that the chance of a woman having natural identical triplets could be as rare as 1 in 200 million.
Now, the triplets are 6 months old, and the couple has set their routine and is happy to be a family of five. Looking back, Allana said it took a few months to get everything sorted as they needed to buy three of everything.
"We go through at least three tins of formula a week, and the nappies are never-ending,” Allana shared. “We can’t go anywhere in the town without being stopped. Our pram is so big, you can’t miss it.”
The mom of three concluded by saying: “Ending up with triplets was such a shock, but such a blessing. We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
