IAN HOOTON/Science Photo Library/Corbis
Eleven-year-old British twins Megan and Bethany Shepherd have a new baby sister. From birth, the three sisters share a lot in common.
That’s because the three girls were conceived at the same time. Megan and Bethany were born in 1998, however, and little Ryleigh entered the world just last month.
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The triplets were all conceived as part of a round of in vitro fertilization back in 1998. The girls’ mother, Lisa Shepherd, underwent fertility treatments due to problems from endometriosis and polycystic ovaries. One treatment fertilized 14 eggs; two were implanted and 12 were frozen. In 2009, Shepherd began more fertility treatments using the frozen embryos. “It was one last chance, and if it was meant to be, then it would happen,” Shepherd said. Ryleigh is reportedly a happy and healthy baby.
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Experts contacted by the U.K’s Daily Mail say they don’t know of three siblings from the same round of fertility treatments born with such a large age gap. And these three sisters will have a story to tell at parties for the rest of their lives.