Surrogate mother gives birth to triplets

IVF procedure normally ends with one baby; twins of triplets are extremely rare

A rare case of childbearing took place in the city of Ekaterinburg. A surrogate mother who agreed to carry an embryo to term gave birth to three children at a time. Moreover, the biological mother of the children is the surrogate mother's younger sister.

Tatyana has always looked after her little sister Marina. She did her homework, saved her from trouble with boys at school if they played rough. She even bore children for her when they grew up.

Both sisters got married nicely, got higher education, and became well-off ladies. But the younger sister could not conceive a child for a long time. She spent a lot of time and money on various doctors and clinics, but to no avail.

“I do love my nephews very much, but I want to have a baby of my own,” said Marina to doctors. She underwent the extracorporeal insemination twice. Still, she was unable to carry a child.

Finally, Tatyana, 35, a mother of two, has decided to carry a child for Marina. “They even signed an agreement to nullify any potential claims from one sister to the other one with regard to parental custody over a child. In terms of genetics, it is Marina's child,” said a source in the Institute for the Protection of Motherhood and Infancy in Ekaterinburg.

“We normally place several embryos into the uterus of a woman to boost her chances of pregnancy. Only 33 cases of extracorporeal insemination result in pregnancy. As a rule, only one embryo will start developing and see the light of day in the end. Sometimes we have a case of twins, triplets are born on very rare occasions,” says Taras Yanchuk, a physician at the Center of Family Medicine in Ekaterinburg.

Tatyana gave birth to two tiny girls and a boy, each weighing a kilo and a half. The whole family is beaming with happiness. Marina looks especially happy. She became a mother of three. She is definitely going to name one of the daughters after her sister.

In the meantime, Tatyana is reportedly considering an opportunity to back out of the deal. Rumor has it that she wants to divide the newborn among her sister and herself. After all, her sister was dreaming of one child, but got three instead.