Nia and Robert Tolbert seemed like a regular couple. Married, one child, and their careers on track, everything seemed to be bright ahead. They were about to have lives turned upside down in ways they could never have predicted.
The Happy Couple
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Mutual friends set Robert and Nia up and they fell head over heels immediately and they were soon dating seriously. Like any relationship, they had highs and lows, but it seemed that they could take on the world and nothing could stop them.
Then they received the life-changing news.
Three’s Company
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Nia found out that she was pregnant with their first child. It was four years after they first met when the couple welcomed a healthy baby boy, whom they named Shai, into their family.
Life seemed clear and simple, but the future held several surprises for them still.
Tying The Knot
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Three years after giving birth to Shai, the couple got married. They wanted to formalize the family they had built. What no one at the wedding knew, however, was that Nia was pregnant again. They didn’t know if it would be a girl or a boy.
The answer would shock them.
More Than They Bargained For
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Everything seemed fine at first, and Shai was excited to have a sibling. The pregnancy seemed normal and Robert was doing all he could do to help. When Nia went for her first sonogram, the doctor said something shocking.
She was having twin boys!
Twice As Nice
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When the twins were born in 2015, they named them Riley and Alexander. The Tolbert family had grown from three to five people. Their family was perfect and they felt it was large enough. As we know, however, life loves to surprise us.
And boy, did life have a huge surprise in store for the Tolbert family.
Calling It Quits
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Their family was perfect in Nia and Robert’s eyes. They felt that they were just about able to handle the three busy and energetic boys and balance the rest of their lives. They had no plans to add any more children.
That, however, is when life intervened.
Third Time Magic
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When the twins were two years old, Nia and Robert discovered that Nia was pregnant again. They hadn’t planned the pregnancy so they were caught entirely off guard. Even so, they prepared for another child, hoping that it would be a girl.
The boys, however, wanted another brother.
Unlike Before
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From the start, Nia knew that something was different this time. After two pregnancies she knew what to expect from her body. This time felt different and Nia hoped that meant she was having a girl.
She wanted a daughter.
Something Still Seemed Strange
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Nia realized that her emotions and hormones seemed different to her previous pregnancies. This time they all seemed to have been amplified. Her stomach also seemed bigger than in the past. The couple worried that something might be wrong despite how much care they were taking during the pregnancy.
So what was going on?
Getting It Checked
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Nia knew something was different and was nervous when she went for her sonogram. “Robert and I have always joked about having a large family, but we did not plan to have any more pregnancies after the twins. But we were in for a surprise,” Nia said in an interview.
So what did the sonogram reveal?
Another Dynamic Duo?
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Nia hoped and prayed that all would be well. “When we were expecting twins, our technician that was doing the ultrasound asked if multiples ran in our family. So this time around, the technician asked the same thing and I thought, ‘Oh, we must be having twins again,’” Nia said.
Mystery solved, right?
Double Take
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The technician confirmed that she was having twins again. They hadn’t planned on more children and now they were about to go from five to seven people! Nia was about to leave when the technician called her for a second scan.
He wanted to check something. Just to be sure.
Three For Three
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The technician scanned Nia a second time, being extra careful as he did so. Everything seemed normal. One baby… a second baby… and then a third baby! Nia wasn’t having twins, but triplets! They’d been expecting one baby not three!
They were about to have six children!
Rare Pattern
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Nia called Dr Tabbarah who helped her before. Her pattern of pregnancies was “extremely rare.” Dr Tabbarah said: “We’re talking less than one in 1,000 (births). That’s a very low chance for it happening to anyone in general.”
He continued: “It’s very rare to have twins then triplets (naturally) in the same lifetime.”