Kaylie DeShane, 33, gave birth to her first baby on December 28, 2019, and then gave birth to her other two triplets a whole five days later, on January 2, 2020.
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Kaylie now holds the world record for the longest interval between the births of tripletsCredit: Caters
The mum, who lives in New York, now holds the world record for the longest interval between the birth of triplets, as the previous record was two days.
All three triplets, Rowan, Declan and Cian, survived and are now 17 months old, despite the extremely low odds of survival.
One of Kaylie’s babies had only a nine percent chance of survival.
Cian was born first at just 22 weeks and had very low odds of surviving.
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Declan and Rowan were born five days after CianCredit: Caters
Rowan and Declan didn’t naturally follow their brother, and medics were keen to keep the babies inside their mother for as long as possible, as Cian had been so premature.
Kaylie then went into labour for a second time, a full five days after Cian was born.
Astoundingly, this five-day gap means that the triplets were technically born in different decades.
Kaylie said: “After trying to fall pregnant four years, with my husband, Brandon, 35, we decided to try IVF.
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The babies are now home with brother Holden and step sister NaveahCredit: Caters
“We already have an adopted son, Holden, seven, and a step-daughter, Naveah, 12, but we wanted a sibling for them.
“We decided to place two embryos rather than just one because we thought we would have a better chance of having a baby.
“We were told that there was a ten percent chance of it ending up being twins and a one percent chance of it being a triplet pregnancy.
“So we really never expected that we would actually end up having triplets.
“When we found out we were having three babies we were so shocked but it was incredible. We would have been happy with one baby, and now we were having three.’
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The babies are now 17 months old and ‘thriving’Credit: Caters
Kaylie says she was advised to terminate the two identical babies to give the third triplet a better chance of survival, as the triple pregnancy was high-risk.
Kaylie didn’t take this advice, and continued with her triplet pregnancy.
Kaylie, an addictions counselor, said: “At 16 weeks it was discovered that my cervix was failing and that I would need emergency surgery to stitch it up because I was 1 to 2cm dilated.
“It was absolutely terrifying because we thought we might lose Cian. He was the baby that was closest to the exit and there is a risk that the surgery can rupture the sac.
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Kaylie was advised to terminate two of the foetuses while she was pregnantCredit: Caters
“But luckily that didn’t happen and the surgery worked. For the next few weeks of the pregnancy, I had to focus on resting in bed to keep my babies inside of me.
“At 22 weeks and five days, I went for an anatomy scan where I was told everything was fine.
“However, later that evening my water broke.
“I was so scared because I was only 22 weeks pregnant, I had no idea if the babies would live or survive if they were born at this point in the pregnancy.’
Kaylie says that after going back to the hospital and spending the night there, she woke up and was bleeding heavily.
At that stage, she realised she was in labour with Cian.
She says she remembers doctors not knowing if her baby was alive or not as they couldn’t get a reading on him.
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The babies spent a total of four months in the NICUCredit: Caters
Kaylie explained: “After they pulled him out they eventually managed to stabilize him.
“I saw him for a split second before he was taken over to the NICU. He was so small, I couldn’t believe it. He weighed less than 1lb.
“I lay there expecting the next two babies to come but nothing happened. I was kind of like, ‘Now what?’.
“I kept asking where the other two babies are and the doctors said we don’t want them to come out if we can help it.
“Nothing was happening and the doctors explained to me that they wanted to hold off delivering the next two babies for as long as possible because it was so early in the pregnancy.
“The hospital had never had any 22 week babies that survived and Cian only had a nine percent chance of making it.’
Kaylie then spent five days in labour at 10cm dialated and eventually gave birth to Declan and Rowan.
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Kaylie says the experience was amazing but terrifyingCredit: Caters
The babies were immediately stabilized and breathing tubes were put in place, and the pair were taken to the NICU.
She recalled: “The babies spent a total of four months in the NICU. It was touch and go at times for each of them.
“But we didn’t lose faith and we kept fighting for our babies.
“Declan was the first baby to come home with us on April 17. He made it home before their actual due date of April 26.
“Rowan was the next baby to come home on April 30, and Cian came home on May 4. And we finally had our family at home together.
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The babies, born in Winter, weren’t weaned off oxygen until the AutumnCredit: Caters
“And although it was amazing, it was terrifying. They were all still on oxygen so we hardly left the nursery.
“But by Autumn they had all been weaned off the oxygen.
“They are all breathing perfectly and growing great. They are hitting all of their milestones and aren’t behind at all.
“They’re healthy, thriving and even close to walking which is incredible because we were never sure that they were going to make it.
“I am so proud of them for the fight they fought.’
Kaylie now holds the world record for the longest interval between the birth of triplets.
The record was previously held by Louise Jamison, from South Carolina in January 1956, who waited 66 hours between the birth of her daughter Christine and her son Calvin.
The longest interval between the birth of twins is 90 days, a record that was set by Benjamin and Molly West in 1996.