BOARDMAN TOWNSHIP, Ohio - Their odds were as good as winning the lottery and in a way that's exactly what Kate and Saki Atsas did when they welcomed their triplet daughters into the world.
"We never, ever expected to have triplets. We were told initially, early on that we were having twins. Then about a month later they were like 'Oh there is another one'," said Kate Atsas, the mother of the identical triplets.
Julia, Olivia and Isabella Atsas joined big brother Nicholas on March 26th. It was then doctors determined just how rare these little girls were. Not only are they identical, they were conceived naturally.
"Identical triplets are very uncommon. It ranges anywhere from one in 160,000 to one in 2,000,000. If you look in the literature, I saw one reference one in 200,000,000, which seems a little out of there, but it's very uncommon," said Dr. Thomas Zarlingo.
Since their arrival, the family has been tickled pink, yellow and blue with excitement. Kate and Saki say they've adjusted quickly, despite being overwhelmed earlier on.
"Now that they are here, I mean to be honest with you, having triplets is a little bit easier than having a three-year-old toddler at times. Definitely a lot better than I had expected, they're great girls," Kate Atsas said.
"We're just very happy and fortunate and blessed how healthy they are right from the beginning. So for us, we'll adjust, get the on a schedule and I'm sure as they get older they'll get us on a schedule and we'll go from there," said Saki Atsas, the father of the identical triplets.
All of the girls were home within a month of being born. Dr. Thomas Zarlingo has delivered 60 sets of triplets throughout his career. Although, this is his first set of identical triplets.
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