Ultra-Rare Pregnancy Leads to Extra-Special Mother’s Day

This Mother’s Day will be extra special for a local mom who recently gave birth to triplets after an exceedingly rare pregnancy that happens in about one out of 100,000 births.

Mikayla Toney of San Diego and her fiancée Blake Hertz plan to celebrate mother’s day with their 14-week-old daughters Hazel, Sutton and Everett – along with their large extended families who live locally.

Mikalya experienced what is known as a “spontaneous monochorionic triamniotic” pregnancy – meaning a naturally conceived pregnancy where three babies share a single placenta. Most commonly with triplets, each baby has its own placenta.

This type of pregnancy creates significant risks for unborn babies, because one placenta doesn’t fully support the oxygen, nutrition and other metabolic requirements of three babies. This raises the risk of fetal growth restriction, neurological abnormalities and pre-term birth. It also increases the mom’s chances of conditions like gestational diabetes and preeclampsia.

Mikayla was surprised to learn that her pregnancy was so rare, since she has no known family history of multiple births. But she says she gained a superpower through the process – the gift of patience. Despite persistent nausea and fatigue, she remained positive and calm throughout the pregnancy, controlling what she could and going with the flow with everything else.

She was under the care of Dr. Sean Daneshmand, medical director of the maternal-fetal medicine program at Scripps Clinic. It was the first such case Dr. Daneshmand had treated in his over 25-year career. He monitored Mikayla very closely throughout her pregnancy with frequent checkups and tests, including keeping tabs on blood flow in the umbilical arteries. When abnormal blood flow was detected in the umbilical arteries, he advised that she be admitted to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla so her babies could receive frequent and prolonged fetal heart monitoring, to watch for potential warning signs to the babies.

After four weeks of monitoring while admitted in the hospital, Mikayla delivered three small but healthy baby girls on Jan. 29, 2026 – Hazel (3.14 lbs.), Everett (3.8 lbs.) and Sutton (3.9 lbs.). Born at 32 weeks, all three spent about a month and a half in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Scripps La Jolla, which is operated in partnership with Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. In the NICU, the girls received feeding, breathing assistance and body temperature regulation to ensure healthy development.

Despite the long odds, Dr. Daneshmand said Mikayla prevailed “like a champ,” always smiling and never showing nervousness. He said it helped that she was very healthy before pregnancy and had a great attitude and lots of family support.