Not Only Triplets -- Identical Triplets!
The stork brought Kerry and Desmond Lyons a very, very, very rare delivery Friday -- triplets -- in fact -- identical triplets!
First came Kevin Patrick, who weighed in at 6 pounds Friday, then Declan Gerard, who was five pounds, eight ounces, and finally Cormac Francis, who tipped the scales at five pounds, four ounces.
Kerry says she and the three new bundles of joy are doing well.
The proud parents chatted with co-anchor Julie Chen on The Early Show Tuesday, along with Kerry's doctor, Robin Kalish, of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan.
Also on hand were the Lyons' two other children, Liam, three, and Ciara, who just turned two.
The triplets were delivered via C-section. The pregnancy wasn't assisted by fertility treatments.
Kalish says the odds of such births are one-in-a-million, and some experts put them as high as one-in-200-million.
The Lyons say they'll need a bigger home than the one they now own in Irvington, N.Y., in Westchester County, immediately north of the city. They'll also need a bigger car.
Perhaps a more immediate problem: How can Kerry and Desmond tell the triplets apart?!
Perhaps a different-colored nail polish on their pinkies, Kerry said. Different tattoos on each, Desmond suggested. "I think that might be a little aggressive for newborns," Kerry remarked. "But, it is a trick. I'll tell you that much already!"
"We just feel lucky and blessed that we have these three amazing little babies, and they're healthy and, frankly, kinda cute, to boot, which we weren't expedcting!"
Desmond said that, when he learned at the eight-week mark of Kerry's pregnancy that triplets were on the way, his reaction was "just one word: Wow!' And we're very fortunate that we're here, with these beautiful, healthy babies."
Kalish explained that multi-fetal pregnancies all carry greater risks than regular ones "of almost every complication ... everything from diabetes, to high blood pressure, and, especially, pre-term labor. But luckily, Kerry did great, and really beat all the odds, from getting pregnant with identical triplets, to going to almost 36 weeks."