Their father, Caleb Choge, said his first thought when he realized he would have triplets was, "Our car doesn’t fit. I need a bigger car."
Meet Ron, Elkanah and Abishai — a rare set of identical triplets born in Kansas City, Mo., last week.
The trio, born six weeks premature, is still learning life skills like eating and breathing in the Truman Medical Center’s NICU, but “they’re doing very well,” neonatologist Dr. Josh Petrikin told InsideEdition.com.
“When you come a month and a half early, you’re at risk for all sorts of complications,” said Petrikin, who also practices at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. “These boys don’t seem to realize that and are doing better than expected for their gestational age.”
While statistics vary, Petrikin estimates the likelihood of identical triplets is one in a million.
Parents Nicole and Caleb Choge said they learned of the pregnancy during an ultrasound while they were living in Kenya.
"My mind as the dad was very excited," Caleb said in an interview with KCTV. "My first thought is, ‘Our car doesn’t fit. I need a bigger car.'"
The pair, who met in college in Florida and decided to move to Kenya shortly after, said they decided to uproot to Kansas where Nicole has family when they realized they would be going through a high-risk pregnancy.
Fortunately, all three were growing in separate amniotic sacs, bringing down the likelihood of complications during the pregnancy.
Petrikin said Nicole and Caleb were lucky enough to not have encountered any complications, and were even able to deliver all three vaginally even though they were warned a C-section could have been safer.
“I met the parents after the babies were born and they seemed quite strong and at ease — they seemed to take all of this in stride," said Petrikin, who is caring for newborn triplets for the first time in his 20-year medical career.
In fact, Caleb, who also has a 2-year-old son with Nicole, said he is already planning the many bonding activities he wants to do with his sons when they get older.
“I have four men in my house, the things we can do as men,” Caleb said. “When they grow older, we can go camping. When they grow older they can go back to Kenya with me. We can do safari, we can do mission trips together. I thought ahead many years and see what they could possibly be in 20, 25 years from now, and now thinking of how we can prepare them for that.”
To support the growing family, visit their GoFundMe page.
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