Health

47-year-old mom and "surprise" triplets head home from Miami hospital

May 6, 2014 / 6:24 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A Miami-area mother says she was surprised when she found out that she was pregnant again, this time with triplets. Sharon Lewis, who already has two older children, recently gave birth to Dylan, Denere and Denard

47-year-old woman gives birth to triplets 00:41

Sharon Lewis was already a mother of two when she found out she was pregnant again. This time it was with triplets -- at the age of 47, and without fertility treatments.

"Now the tears rolled because it was unexpected," she said Tuesday, moments before she was to take her three new children home, just in time for Mother's Day.

Lewis, a school cafeteria monitor with a 25-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son, said she was not looking to get pregnant again at her age. She said the prospect of having triplets came as a big surprise, but "it was a wonderful surprise," CBS Miami reported. "Once I grasped it, I was OK."

Sharon Lewis, 47, poses with her triplets, Denere, left, Denard and Dylan, before a news conference at Holtz Children's Hospital in Miami on May 6, 2014. Doctors say it's rare for a woman her age to have conceived the babies naturally without fertility treatment. The triplets were delivered early, at 30 weeks, on March 18th. AP Photo/J Pat Carter

Her three babies, Dylan, Denere and Denard, slept while Lewis and her doctors addressed the news media at Holtz Children's Hospital at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center. Each of the triplets weighed about 2 lbs. when born March 18. Since then, they have all been cared for at the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.

Lewis developed high blood pressure during her pregnancy, so her doctors decided to deliver the triplets early, at 30 weeks. They said it was rare for a woman her age not only to get pregnant but also to have multiple births spontaneously, without hormone or fertility treatments.

"It was a miracle she got pregnant. It was a miracle she got three. And all of them are healthy and normal and she is fine," said Dr. Salih Y. Yasin, an obstetrician who specializes in high-risk pregnancies and delivering multiples, as he held a sleeping Denere in his arms. "Getting pregnant is 1 percent, but to be twins it's probably 1 percent of that. Triplets is 1 percent of 1 percent of that."

Lewis said she was looking forward to bonding with her babies at home. "I felt that it was nobody but God that blessed my womb at 47. I do believe he brought me to it, he'll bring me through it," she said with a wide smile.

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