Triplets born 11 years apart: The Shepherd triplets, from left, Bethany, Ryleigh and Megan, are record breakers after being born a staggering 11 years apart. Bethany and Megan were born in August 1999, while their triplet sister Ryleigh remained as a frozen embryo in storage. She was born in November 2010.
Ever wonder what you were like when you were growing up? Two 11-year-old sisters in England will have just that chance, thanks to the amazing birth of their newborn triplet who had been on ice since she was conceived more than a decade ago.
When Adrian and Lisa Shepherd decided to start a family in 1998, they underwent in vitro fertilization at the Midland Fertility Clinic because Lisa suffered from fertility issues that made traditional conception difficult.
Doctors obtained 24 eggs from the mother, 14 of which were successfully fertilized. Two of those embryos were then implanted in Lisa, who gave birth to twins Megan and Bethany in 1999.
The other 12 embryos were placed in cryogenic storage until the Walsall family started talking about having another child last year.
"We didn't know if it would work, and we agreed that we would just have one go with one embryo and if it didn't work, we wouldn't try again," Lisa, 37, told the Daily Mail. "It was one last chance, and if it was meant to be, then it would happen."
The Shepherds returned to the clinic, where doctors implanted a third embryo in Lisa that had been conceived on the same day as Megan and Bethany.
"It seemed strange to think that we were using embryos that we had stored all those years ago, that were conceived at the same time as the girls," Lisa said. "We knew that if we had another baby it would in effect be the girls' triplet as they were all conceived at the same time."
Ryleigh was born last month at 7 pounds 10 ounces -- 11 years after her sisters.
Experts told the paper it could be the longest age gap between siblings conceived during the same fertility treatment.
"When Ryleigh arrived, she looked like both the girls did when they were born 11 years before," Lisa said. "It was uncanny."
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