A group of California triplets has always had a close relationship, but now they are taking their sisterhood to the next level as they all experience pregnancy together. Gina Purcell, along with her two sisters, Nina Rawlings-Trap and Victoria Brown, are all excited to welcome babies by the end of this year. When the little ones make their arrivals this summer and in late fall, it will be Rawlings-Trap’s first child, Brown’s second, and Purcell’s third.
Brown, who already has a 2-year-old daughter, is due to have a baby boy first on July 9th. Rawlings, the middle triplet, is expecting to have her first child, also a boy, on August 28th. Purcell, the eldest, will have her third child, a baby girl, in November. She already has an 8-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter.
Brown, the youngest of the triplets, said that their pregnancies are “a dream come true.” She said, “It’s still kind of surreal to me, I think. And it won’t really hit me until I see all the babies together. It’s been so exciting just sharing our food cravings, how we feel, like how tired we are, our mood swings – things like that. And it’s just so nice to have your best friends there with you throughout the whole experience.”
Though the sisters are thrilled to be pregnant at the same time, it wasn’t exactly planned. Rawlings said that she and her husband had been trying to conceive for a little over a year when Brown announced she was pregnant around Thanksgiving. Rawlings soon followed, about a month later, around Christmas, and then Purcell decided to try for her third child.
For Rawlings, who is having her first child, it’s especially comforting to be pregnant alongside her sisters who have already given birth before. She said, “Talking to them and knowing their stories and being so close to them has definitely helped me and eased my nerves a little bit. But of course, it’s still scary because it’s unknown.”
Each of the sisters will deliver their babies at The Women’s Hospital at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills with OBGYN Dr. Daniel Sternfeld. Dr. Sternfeld said that he learned the triplets were all pregnant at the same time a few weeks ago when they all had their appointments on the same day. He said, “Then I realized it’s like, this is a really interesting story. Three close-knit sisters who are having babies within months of each other. I’m just going to be excited to deliver them all.”
Rawlings said, “We shared everything before. But now that we have this – because being pregnant in itself is a blessing – being able to share this with your best friends is just surreal. And we share everything, like registry items, tips like stuff that we see on Instagram, news stories, everything.”