A set of extremely rare, one-in-200-million identical triplets are set to celebrate their first Christmas with their parents who are determined to go all out.
Megan Smyth, 32, gave birth to identical triplets, Colby, Odyn, and Rico, at 32 weeks, with each weighing less than a bottle of ketchup.
The medical marvels, who are currently 9 months old, have already gone to see Santa, visited Christmas markets, and are ready to celebrate Christmas in their new home with mom, Megan, and dad, Clayton, 42.
Megan, who is from Normanton, Derby, says she was in “complete shock” when she first found out that she was going to have triplets.
“I just burst into tears, and Clayton went white as a sheet when the doctor told us,” Megan recalled. “Twins do run in my family but it was still completely unexpected, we'd only been trying for six weeks.”
Describing her life caring for the triplets, she says it’s “manic.” However, the family is trying to make time for them to experience everything they can.
As for the festive season, the parents are looking forward to the experience.
“We’re not really sure what we can do with the triplets to make it special, because obviously, they’re still so young, but it’s their first Christmas so we want them to experience all those classic Christmas things,” Megan said. “We don’t normally put up a tree or anything so this year is so different for us, not just because of the babies.”
Additionally, Megan says that the family is looking forward to seeing the triplets’ faces as they experience everything for the first time.
“For me, the magic of Christmas is children,” Megan said. “Last year, we walked past all these people queuing up to see Santa. This one little boy’s face was such a picture, he absolutely lit up because he was so excited.”
Now, she looks forward to seeing her triplets’ “faces light up as well and see the magic through their eyes.”
“For me, stuff like that is what Christmas is all about,” she added.
So far, the pair has already taken the triplets to see Santa, and get a picture with him, as well as visited a Christmas market.
“We’re always trying to do things as a family,” Megan said. "They have no idea what’s going on, so it does feel like it’s purely for me when I take them out to do this stuff.
“We’ve been out to do everything Christmassy we can think of,” she added.
In order to get into the festive spirit, the couple has even bought Christmas-themed onesies and little Christmas jumpers for them to wear.
As the couple has recently moved house, they have family visiting them and the boys are absolutely spoilt, since they have been receiving gifts from both family and friends, says Megan.
“We'll barely have to get them any gifts at this rate,” Megan said. “I’m really looking forward to having a big Christmas here.”
