For Joyce Mallon, the births of her three children are “a miracle.” Conceived on October, 26, 2007, in a lab by in vitro fertilization, the embryos were implanted into her uterus at two-year intervals, giving her and her husband three children conceived on the same day but born years apart.
“They are my Tripblings!! Triplets via conception, siblings by actual birth,” she wrote in an e-mail sent to CNN. “I believe our story to be an exciting and intriguing one, that NO ONE in the U.S. (to my knowledge), has any claim to.”
Fertility experts say while the Mallon births are exciting, they’re not a first. With better freezing techniques, many babies have been born by doing what the Mallons did: creating a group of embryos, using some to start one pregnancy, and then freezing the rest for future pregnancies. Three babies born this way aren’t triplets, but rather three genetically unique siblings conceived on the same day and born years apart.
