A Virginia mom who previously gave birth to twins is now a proud parent of triplets! Monique Davaul, 30, of Newport News, is a mom of six after welcoming fraternal triplets — babies Jihad, Mielle, and Noelle — on April 12 at Riverside Regional Medical Center (RRMC).
And after spending a few weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) all her babies were discharged ahead of Mother’s Day. Jihad and Mielle were released earlier this month, while Noelle made it home on Friday — just in time for the special occasion.
Monique was planning her 30th birthday party when she realized she was eight weeks pregnant last year.
At first, she didn’t know she was going to have triplets, though she tells PEOPLE a co-worker joked, “You know what, maybe you’re having twins again or better yet, triplets.”
Then a visit to the doctor confirmed it was actually true. Naturally, she had to share the news with her co-worker right away. “You were right, I am having triplets,” she recalls telling them on the phone after leaving the appointment.
She also quickly called the venue she had booked to host her 30th birthday and shared she would be having a “gender reveal” party instead.
Monique already knew what it was like to be pregnant with more than one baby at once, having previously given birth to twins, now 6. This time around, she experienced frequent bouts of morning sickness early on.
“I was very sick, so I said, ‘It’s either a girl or I’m pregnant with multiples,’ ” she told Good Morning America.
Initially, Monique’s three sons — she also has an 8-year-old boy — thought she was joking when she told them she was expecting triplets. Then, the excitement settled in and they kept asking “‘Mommy, when are the babies coming?'”
“They try to help out,” Monique told GMA about her twins, Nasir and Sincere.
Monique stopped working about four months into the pregnancy and attended routine check-ups every two weeks before her water broke. When the Virginia mom welcomed her triplets, two girls and a boy, via Cesarean section it marked the first time the hospital delivered triplets since 2018.
“We’re so proud to have been a part of this special moment for this family,” nurses from RRMC said in a statement to PEOPLE. “Moments like these are truly a reminder of why we love being nurses.”
Doctors said Monique did not use fertility drugs to conceive the twins or the triplets, making the repeat pregnancies ever rarer, according to GMA.
“This phenomenon happening naturally is so rare that it’s hard to find any statistics on the occurrence,” RRMC said in a statement to PEOPLE.