Mother of Twins Beats Odds, Delivers Triplets

Mario and Mayra Munguia weren’t asking for much, just one more daughter in addition to their one girl and three boys, but they got three times what they bargained for.

In what doctors called a highly unusual occurrence, 35-year-old Mayra Munguia of Rialto--already the mother of twins--gave birth in Glendale to triplets.

The multiple births Sunday were uncommon because the Nicaraguan-born mother did not use fertility drugs, and because none of the babies, each of whom weighed about six pounds, required special care, said Dr. Ronald Wu, who delivered the triplets by Cesarean section at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

Those weren’t the only ways in which the Munguias beat the odds, Wu said.

The chances of having twins is one in 80, but “the incidence of triplets is one in 8,000,” he said. “It’s very unusual.”

Tuesday, Munguia showed off her three fraternal triplets--Henry, Mayra and Anthony--in her hospital room.

Her four other children--Janet, 13, Marcos, 9, and twins Mario and Alan, 2--stood shyly nearby.

Her husband, a 38-year-old long-haul truck driver, was working in San Francisco, the mother said. Munguia had quit her job as a dental assistant in April after realizing that she again was expecting.

But it was not until June that she learned that she would have triplets, she said. The Munguias then promptly moved from Glassell Park to a larger, three-bedroom apartment in Rialto.

“I always wanted four, two girls and two boys,” Munguia said. “When I went to the doctor, I thought, ‘Well, maybe they’ll tell me I will be having twins again.’ When they told me I would be having three, I was very surprised.”

Munguia said she and her husband do not plan on having any more children.