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1 in 50,000 chances: Austin woman gives birth to identical triplets

Devon Bernier, the mother, called the birth a "small miracle."
An Austin woman gave birth to identical triplets at Ascension Seton Medical Center in March, the hospital announced Wednesday.
Devon Bernier and her husband Chad Mullenix, both in their 40s, call the birth a "small miracle," according to the hospital's statement.
Soon after the couple married in 2017, Bernier began in vitro fertilization, or IVF, using an egg donated by one of her sisters. During a doctor's visit, the couple was told that there were three heart beats. The news "blew their minds," according to the statement. Bernier and her husband were nervous about the potential risks of a multiple pregnancy, and so waited until delivery to learn the sex of the babies.
Maverick, Colton and Jack Mollenix were born as healthy baby boys on March 29.
Maverick, Colton and Jack Mollenix were born March 29. Identical triplets are exceedingly rare. (Ascension Texas)
The hospital says COVID restricted the couple's visitors during Bernier's stay, in addition to other safety measures.
"Although I couldn't see their faces, I felt very supported by the staff. They were warm and hands on," Bernier said in the statement. "I loved seeing my babies with them and knew they were taken care of."
Identical triplets are exceedingly rare. One study found identical triplets to occur 20 to 30 times per 1 million deliveries. The outcome is much more likely with assisted reproduction, which make up the majority of instances.
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A $6,000 cockatoo named Lemon Grab was stolen from a pet store Sunday afternoon, owner Kelsey Fernandez said. (Kelsey Fernandez)
A big-money bird has been stolen from a northwest Austin pet store.
Kelsey Fernandez, the owner of a $6,000 sulphur and citron-crested cockatoo named Lemon Grab, said the emotional support animal was taken from the Gallery of Pets store, around closing time on Sunday.
"I've struggled with mental illness my entire life, and ever since I got him I've been doing so much better," Fernandez told Austonia.
The $6k cockatoo is young and will starve unless he is fed by hand, Fernandez said.
In a surveillance video, a man appears to have something under his shirt as he and two others exit the business around the same time the store believes that Lemon Grab was stolen.
Fernandez said a report has been filed with the Austin Police Department with an $1,000 reward for his return.
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(Pexels)
Introverts and personal space lovers may not want to make the move to Austin anytime soon: The Texas capital saw a bigger increase in one-bedroom rent prices than almost any other U.S. city in April, according to a Rent.com report.
Austin's one-bedroom rent has more than doubled—a 112% increase—from April 2021 to 2022, the report said. Only Oklahoma City saw a higher year-over-year increase with a 133% jump.
Austin also had the fourth-highest increase in two-bedroom rent, with a 50% increase in the past year. The city joined a nationwide trend where rents were up 8.3% year-over-year across the U.S, a trend exacerbated by a 6.2% increase in inflation in the same time period.
But "not everyone is experiencing inflation the same way," Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr said in the report, and a brunt of the load has gone to cities with more move-ins. While over 90% of state rental markets increased in the last year, that jump was seen most in Sun Belt states, including Texas, Arizona and Florida.
Even with breakneck increases in rent, however, Austin's rent prices still haven't cracked the top 10: the city's one-bedroom apartments are the 12th most expensive in the nation with an average price of $2,918. Meanwhile, its two-bedrooms fall behind Texas cities Frisco, Dallas and Plano and come out 34th on the list with a $2,302 average monthly rent.
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