By Jeff Hampton
You are 50 times more likely to win first division Lotto than do what Rangiora mother Amanda Mitchell did a year ago - give birth to identical triplets.
Now the triplets are celebrating their first birthday in a family that grew from seven to 10 in a day.
The Mitchell triplets turn heads wherever they go. The only difference between the three is that one - Madeline - has a birthmark.
Even the girls’ mother says she has trouble telling Amelia and Lucy apart.
“When they're apart I don't have the other one to compare to so I sometimes say ‘that baby’ or ‘her’," she says.
The Mitchells already have five other children and four of them still live at home.
The triplets spent their first seven weeks in Christchurch Hospital's neo-natal unit.
When they arrived home, parents Rob and Amanda gave up their big bedroom which Mr Mitchell says caused a problem from early on.
“I remember being so tired one night I collided with the door and Amanda was in bed waiting for a bottle. I'd prepared the bottle, it hit the door, there was blood streaming out of my forehead. I was trying to keep it off the carpet and Amanda was going, ‘where's that bottle?',” he explained.
Mrs Mitchell gets a break, if you can call it that, by working as a nurse in a children's ward.
She said they’ve got the childcare arrangements under control.
“I look forward to going to work because it's a change and I have a nanny and Rob looks after them with my 13-year-old daughter.”
Mr Mitchell says his childcare skills have improved considerably.
“It's either honey or marmite - I don't know which is worse really!”
Mrs Mitchell explained that her husband is getting his head around looking after the girls.
“He's got a lot better. When I first went to work I would say, ‘Ask Sophie if you need to know anything’ - she's 13 - now he's got a lot better, I had to throw him off the deep end.”
A year ago Mr Mitchell forecast he'd need to enlarge the family's vehicle fleet. He’s ended up with a Toyota Hi-Ace, fitted out for triple-travellers.
Although Mr Mitchell says the choice of vehicle wasn't popular.
“My teenage boy said when we first got it, ‘I hope you're only going to take that out on a dark night,'” he said.
But he's got used to the van and the triplets too. A big party's planned for the threesome in 10 days when other family members return from overseas.
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