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| Mother of triplets poses for a picture with Seoul National University medical personnel who helped her deliver three healthy boys, Wednesday / Yonhap |
By Kim Hyun-bin
Most people are aware that giving birth is an intense experience, but giving birth to triplets is another story.
The brave mother Son Ji-young, 35, naturally gave birth to three healthy boys. However, it was not an average delivery process.
The triplets were born in different months, the first in November and the other two in January. Most triplets are born minutes apart.
"We have succeeded in using delayed interval delivery," Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) said.
Son was considered a high-risk patient, as she was pregnant with triplets at an older than average age.
Last November, Son felt intense stomach pain, which brought her to the hospital. She gave premature birth to her first son, but no imminent signs were present the other two were coming out.
A C-section was an option, but doctors felt it best to conduct a delayed interval delivery so the babies would have more time to develop in the mother's womb.
"The first born was too early," a professor of gynecology at SNUH said. "We wanted to give the other two a chance to grow."
Delayed interval delivery is a difficult process and the option is only available to mothers who give birth naturally.
All three triplets were prematurely born: the first at 25 weeks and three days weighing 780 grams, the second and third at 33 weeks, weighing 1.82 kilograms and 2.04 kilograms.
The triplets are presumed to be identical.
Son left the hospital earlier this week. Her three baby boys are scheduled to come out of neonatal intensive care once they reach 35 weeks.
