20000108

54-year-old

expecting

triplets

SUNNYSIDE, (Washington): Aracelia Garcia already has 15 grandchildren. So she was a bit surprised to find herself pregnant again Ñ and with triplets, no less.

"I could have imagined one but not more Ñ not three," the 54-year-old woman said in Spanish. "My heart is full of happiness. I feel happy God wants me to have three. A child is a gift, a treasure".

The babies, all girls, could come as soon as next week.

Garcia, a native of Mexico, is waiting out the pregnancy at home, where the living room is filled with portraits of her and her husband surrounded by their eight children, whose ages range from 16 to 34, and their grandchildren.

Dr Diana Smigaj at the Cascade Woman's Health Care Center in Yakima said older expectant mothers like Garcia face additional health risks including high blood pressure and diabetes. The babies are also at risk for growth problems, premature birth and Down syndrome.

But Garcia's health is excellent, which she attributes to her years of toil as a farm worker.

A woman in her 50s pregnant with triplets is extremely rare, especially without the aid of fertility drugs, said Tom Easterling, a maternal and fetal medicine specialist at the University of Washington. Garcia's pregnancy is natural.ÑAP