The Tolbert family was just like any other, with Nia and Robert parents to their son, Shai. This was the case until Nia became pregnant for the second time, and later on, for the third time. As a matter of fact, the pregnancies Nia experienced were quite a rare type that seriously surprised experts and even made national news. You may be wondering what was so special about these pregnancies. Well, Nia and Robert had no clue what would happen with each of the pregnancies, and they surely did not expect what later occurred. If you want to find out why, then read on!
Nia and Robert
Back in 2007, Nia and Robert met for the first time through mutual friends, and it was love at first sight. Soon after they met, they began dating. Things just took off from there. Over time, things kept getting better and better. Throughout the years, their relationship had its ups and downs, just like any other, but the two lovebirds knew one thing. Their love was made to last. After being together for a few years, they got some really exciting news.
Nia and Robert
New Addition
What was the great news, you ask? Well, Nia and Robert found out that they were pregnant! It was Nia’s first pregnancy, and the two couldn’t be happier. The Waldorf, Maryland couple knew that the next step in their relationship would be raising a family. In 2011, Nia gave birth to an adorable baby boy named Shai. The pregnancy went by smoothly and the new parents were as happy as can be. Little did the couple know that Shai would be the first of many more children to come in the Tolbert household.
New Addition
Exchanging Vows
At last, in 2014, Nia and Robert decided to tie the knot, despite having a family before that. Nia, Robert, and Shai were a lovely little family, but it wouldn’t be just them for long. When Nia and Robert were married, there was already something else brewing that would change their lives forever. Nia was pregnant for the second time! The Tolberts were so happy to find out whether they were having a boy or a girl. What happened next came as a surprise to them.
Exchanging Vows
Pregnant Again
During the second pregnancy, the entire Tolbert family couldn’t contain their excitement about finding out the new baby’s gender. When Nia went to the doctor for her sonogram, she was met with some surprising news. The happy couple discovered that they wouldn’t be having just one baby, they would be having two! Two little boys.
Pregnant Again
Giving Birth
In 2015, Nia gave birth to an adorable set of identical twin boys named Riley and Alexander. By this point, the Tolbert became a family of five. Nia and Robert both agreed that three kids were more than enough. With three little boys running around, the Tolbert household became somewhat hectic. All the same, Nia and Robert made the perfect team, managing to keep things in order and love all their kids.
Giving Birth
More Than Enough
With their three boys, the Tolberts had a full house. Nia and Robert had felt that their family was definitely big enough and weren’t planning on having more kids. However, as we know, planning can only go so far with these kinds of things. The couple worked hard taking care of their kids. While it was tough raising one child, with twins there was double-trouble. Little did the Tolberts know that there was more in store for them…
More Than Enough
Third Time’s The Charm
In 2017, Nia was surprised to learn that she was pregnant for the third time. While it was unplanned, Nia and Robert believed it was God’s plan, so they began preparing for the new baby. Despite the pregnancy being unplanned, the family was ecstatic to welcome a new member. The parents were hoping for a little girl, while the little boys wished for another brother.
Third Time’s The Charm
Differences
Right from the start, Nia had a strong feeling that something about this pregnancy was different. Having already experienced two pregnancies, she knew this one was not the same. Nia prayed that this feeling meant she was having a baby girl. She wanted so badly to have a daughter in the family after the three boys. However, soon she would find out that wasn’t quite the case.
Differences
Something Different
During her third pregnancy, Nia noticed that she was experiencing much more emotional reactions. She felt like the pregnancy hormones were surging more than ever. Not only that, but she noticed she was getting bigger at a much faster pace than the previous pregnancies. She worried that something might be wrong in the back of her mind. She had no idea what was going on since she was doing everything in the same way she always has. She kept doing yoga, eating healthy foods, and taking her neonatal vitamins just as she should. Not until she went to have her first sonogram did she begin to realize just what was different this time.
Something Different
Sonogram Number One
Nia was both nervous and excited when she went to her first sonogram since she knew something was different. She couldn’t figure out what it was, but she knew it was significant. “Robert and I have always joked about having a large family, but we did not plan to have any more pregnancies after the twins. But we were in for a surprise.” Little did she know she would have more surprises when she had her ultrasound done.
Sonogram Number One
Unexpected
Nia prepared herself for the ultrasound at the doctor’s office while knowing that something had changed. She mentally prepared herself for anything that might surprise her and prayed that there wasn’t anything wrong with the baby. “When we were expecting twins, our technician that was doing the ultrasound asked if multiples ran in our family. So this time around, the technician asked the same thing and I thought, ‘Oh, we must be having twins again,’” Nia said.
Unexpected
Check Again
Eventually, the ultrasound technician confirmed what Nia was suspecting all along: that she was having a second set of twins. While she was shocked at first, she came around quickly, choosing to see it as a blessing and a gift from God. Nia then went to the bathroom, and when she got back, the technician said she wanted to check again just to be certain. Nia agreed.
Check Again
The Ultrasound
The second time around, the ultrasound was more thorough since the technician didn’t want to miss anything that might be unusual. Sure enough, Nia was carrying more than one baby. Except they weren’t twins, they were triplets. Nia was having three babies! Nia recalls saying that “everything kind of spiraled out of control” once she got the news. She knew how to deal with twins, but triplets were a whole other story. Initially, she was nervous about how she and Robert would be able to handle the significant increase in their family. However, she eventually came to terms with the idea.
The Ultrasound
A Rarity
Nia returned to the same doctor who delivered her twins to schedule her birth to the triplets with him. According to him, getting pregnant with a baby, then two, and then three is “extremely rare”. Dr. Rami Tabbarah added that Nia’s pregnancies truly defied all the odds. “We’re talking less than one in 1,000 [births]. That’s a very low chance for it happening to anyone in general,” Dr. Tabbarah said. “It’s very rare to have to twins then triplets [naturally] in the same lifetime.”
A Rarity
Higher Chances
Seeing as both Nia and Robert’s families have a history of multiple births, it makes sense that Nia would have a high chance of multiple births as well. There are some indications that one will have multiple-birth pregnancies such as being overweight, being taller than average, and being African-American. Nia was the only one who knew the exciting news so far.
Higher Chances
Coming Up With A Plan
Nia was thinking about how she would share the exciting news with her husband Robert. Since she was going to Tampa, Florida for the weekend, Nia decided that she would leave Robert with a goodbye gift that he would only discover once she was away. She set up a picture of her long sonogram where the three babies were marked clearly. In addition to the sonogram, she lied out three onesies and a note asking Robert to “please accept this gift from her and God.”
Coming Up With A Plan
The Surprise
“I opened the bag and I saw a very, very long sonogram,” Robert said. “Then I saw three onesies in the bag … and they were numbered 1, 2, and 3.” When Robert finally understood what the gift meant, he fainted. “I was just shocked,” he said. “I just went straight to bed.” In the meantime, Nia was wondering why it was taking so long for Robert to call.
The Surprise
The Call
When Robert finally came around, he began to fully realize that his wife was having triplets. He called Nia and congratulated her, despite his worries about the challenges that would come with having three babies. Later, he laughingly admitted that he genuinely believed that Nia had bought him a Fitbit before she left since he’s been hinting that he’d wanted one. Instead, he got a huge and life-changing surprise.
The Call
Aftershock
“Once I arrived in Tampa later that day for a girls trip, I was finally able to get in touch with him and he shared that he was happy, but he’d ‘fainted!” Nia said, thinking back. Thankfully, Robert was able to get over the initial shock of having triplets and got to work. He said he and Nia were in the midst of “making adjustments and space for our three little blessings arriving soon!” Seeing as they were expecting three babies, the couple definitely had their work cut out for them!
Aftershock
Gender Reveal
The couple decided they wanted to wait and see what the genders of the triplets are. They opted instead to have a gender reveal party so they could find out together with their loved ones. The planned on revealing the genders by popping three balloons and the color of the confetti would indicate the genders. At last, the party arrived. They popped the first balloon and the confetti was pink – a girl! The second balloon also revealed pink confetti, and the third balloon did too! They were having three girls!
Gender Reveal
Even
The couple was thrilled about having three baby girls. At last, they would have a nice and balanced household with three boys and three girls. However, there were people who didn’t take the news all that well. The boys were disappointed that they weren’t getting more brothers. Nia said it was because they wanted a full house of Ninja Turtle and superhero boys. Eventually, they came around to the idea of three little sisters.
Even
Anticipation
In an interview with Us magazine, Nia explained, “We are both excited about this new experience of parenting girls. Rob is enthused about having his own entourage, as the boys stick to me like glue! Nia seemed confident that everything works out in the end but still added, “I’m curious . . . How will it change the dynamic of our household? Will it be like it is in the movies? Who’s going to comb all that hair? It’s going to be eventful, we know it. But we’re leaning on God and Pinterest until we find our flow!”
Anticipation
Due Date Approaching
The due date for Nia and Robert’s babies was supposed to be February 9th, but since they were having triplets, nothing could be certain for the couple. A few weeks before Nia’s due date, she started to feel contractions, but since they usually came and went, she started to brush them off. That all changed one day when Nia felt some that “were about five minutes apart and started getting closer, so decided to call my mom.” Even when she spoke to her mom, Nia still just believed she would be “going to go to the hospital and [that] they’ll probably send me home. It happens every pregnancy.”
Due Date Approaching
A Trip To The Hospital
When Nia and Robert arrived at the hospital, they just expected the doctors would send them home again that day. But pregnancies are always unpredictable, and the doctor surprised them both with the news that Nia was “going to have the babies today.” Understandably, Nia was in a state of shock and started to frantically ask where her own doctor was. Before she had a chance to think, her doctor entered the room just as her water broke. It was like it was all meant to be, and the triplets were finally on their way! As the news began to sunk in that the babies were coming, everyone braced themselves for a long night ahead, just praying that Nia and the babies would all be ok and healthy.
A Trip To The Hospital
The Birth
Thankfully everything went smoothly and Nia gave birth via cesarean section to all three babies on January 30th 2018. Even better, both Nia and all the babies were healthy. After the birth, the doctor turned to Nia and asked her how she felt. She responded to him and said, “finally alone”. Nia then held the babies for the first time, and with a huge smile on her face, she said,“they’re so cute. Oh my gosh.” The pregnancy lasted a full 34 weeks and Nia and Robert could now breathe a sigh of relief that their three little angels had finally arrived.
The Birth
The Triplets
Despite the fact that they were all born early, all of the babies weighed between 4 to 4.6 pounds and were also all born in good health. Out of the triplets, two of them looked identical to each other and the other was fraternal. The next step for Nia and Robert was to just decide what would be the best names for their gorgeous daughters. After some time they finally made their decision and called the identical twins Zuri and Bailey and their fraternal daughter Mackenzie. After Nia gave birth to the girls, she also began to be recognized as the 1-2-3 mom, because she ended up having a single, twins then triplets!
The Triplets
Day by Day
When people asked Nia if she had a game plan, she simply replied “There is no real plan. We have no idea how it’s going to go.” The only thing the couple could do was to take everything day by day and trust in God that everything would work out the way it should be. Robert said that “God chose us. We didn’t know this would be our lives, but we’re embracing it wholeheartedly, and we’re going to do the necessary things to make sure our kids are equally loved.” So what exactly did the happy couple do to make it all work?
Day by Day
It Takes a Village
Thankfully, Nia and Robert had the full support of their family, friends and neighbors, and said they couldn’t have done it without their help. Maybe it’s true that it does in fact take a village to raise your children? Well Robert and Nia did have half a dozen children, so they needed as much support as possible! Nia still managed to take everything in her stride though and explained, “we’re not too concerned. I know we’re not going to sleep for a couple years, our grocery bill is going to go up, and our house is not going to be quiet and that’s OK.”
It Takes a Village
Help Needed
With such a large family, the Tolberts still needed as much support as they could possibly get. They were grateful that they had the support of friends and family but they still need a little more help with a new car to fit all their new passengers. So they decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Fundly to help raise money for a larger family car. After all, they now needed a car to seat eight people at once! The Tolbert family were determined to keep finding ways to cope with their new larger family and still excited about what the future will hold for them.
Help Needed
More Children?
The burning question of everyone’s lips was whether Robert and Nia would one day decide to expand their brood further and have even more children? Perhaps she would just keep having multiples and become the 1-2-3-4 mom? Well Nia has already broken a few records to become the 1-2-3 mom, so you never know. However, we might never get the chance to find out if Nia will have quadruplets next time, since she replied “Absolutely not. I am confident we are not having any more children.” That wasn’t the only burning question on everyone’s lips, as interest began to grow in their beautiful family. Everyone wanted to know the latest updates, so Nia and Robert thought of some pretty cool and awesome ways to help keep the world up-to-date with all the latest news.
More Children?
Taking Action
Nia and Robert created the Fundly page called Totally Tolbert, which was a cute branded nickname they came up with for their gorgeous family. When they set up the page, the couple also added a beautiful introduction about how they fell in love, were blessed with so many children and why they created the page. To be able to afford a larger family car and some baby essentials, they set the goal to a massive $40,000. So far they have raised over $7,000 towards their goal and hopefully they’ll meet it soon as they really do deserve it. Nia has also embarked on some other ventures to help her both stay active and provide for her brood.
Taking Action
Fit & Fab
After so many pregnancies, it’s not surprising to hear that giving birth to so many kids took its toll on Nia’s body. Still, this hasn’t stopped Nia from staying active and keeping fit and lean. That’s because Nia is also a private yoga instructor and wellness coach. Nia took this one step further and launched her own self-styled brand in May 2017, called MOTHERLOVINGYOGA™. The brand is focused on promoting yoga for both men and women, on and off the mat. Nia is a strong believer that the art of yoga can be empowering and invigorate everyone from any walk of life. She started a social media page for her yoga brand, but this wasn’t the only reason she started the page.
Fit & Fab
The Power of Sharing
Since starting her brand MOTHERLOVINGYOGA™, Nia hoped to inspire people to stay health and fit through a combination of yoga, movement and meditation. She also uses the platform to share her own personal journey, experiences and thoughts about pregnancies, birth and motherhood. While she shares her experiences on her site and social media pages, Nia is careful not to sugar coat any of it and speaks candidly about her feelings. In one post on Facebook, Nia wrote about how happy and blessed she feels, but she still explains that raising six small kids comes with it’s fair share of challenges,“Everyday has its stream of ‘wtf, leave mommy alone,’ ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ ‘why would you do that?!’ and a few shed tears. But I seem to keep making it to the next day and through the next adventure.”
The Power of Sharing
Keeping it Herbal
When Nia isn’t being a wonder-mom to six kids, or promoting her yoga brand, she also keeps herself busy as an international wellness and empowerment coach for Herbalife Nutrition. The ethos of the company ties perfectly with her passion for yoga and health, as Herbalife manufactures nutritious products to help support active lifestyles and balanced diets. The reason that she agreed to be a spokesperson for the global brand is because she likes how Herbalife inspires people to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle and doesn’t promote quick fixes. She also loves that their innovative range of healthy products, such as vitamins, shakes, and supplements have all been developed by top scientists and doctors in the medical field.
Keeping it Herbal
Totally Tolbert™
In addition to promoting her yoga brand and being a spokesperson for Herbalife, Nia and Robert also decided to create their own family Facebook and Instagram pages, aptly called Totally Tolbert™. In fact, the reason why the couple started their social media pages is because so many people were fascinated by their story and asked them for updates. So Nia and Robert responded to the sheer public demand for all the latest pictures and news. They keep their social pages pretty up to date so everyone can keep up with the latest adventures of Robert, Nia and their children which she calls “The Totally Tolbert Kru.”
Totally Tolbert
Bros and Bows
On the family Instagram account, Totally Tolberts, Nia and Robert captioned the introduction: “We are the Totally Tolbert™ Kru 3 Bros 3 Bows SINGLE (boy) ~TWIN (boys) ~TRIPLET (girls) Follow Our Adventures!!” If you head to their account, you’ll be greeted by the most adorable photos and videos of their children, including the eldest Shai, twins Alexander and Riley, and the gorgeous triplets Mackenzie, Zuri, and Bailey. Nia and Robert sure do have a talent of capturing all the most special moments and milestones of each one of their beautiful kids.
Bros and Bows
The Little Milestones
When the triplets reached the eight week mark, Nia uploaded the most adorable picture of pink moccasin shoes with black and white stripes, and captioned it: “The cuteness strikes again. Happy 8 weeks Baby Dolls.” And the internet couldn’t cope we’re sure! As soon as she posted the photo, her followers were gushing over the shoes, with comments pouring in like: “When can I virtually babysit?” and “They are so adorable! Love the little shoes.”The triplets recently celebrated their 1st birthday and their Instagram account has blown up to almost 12k followers.
The Little Milestones
The Tolbert Boys
Before the girls came along, Shai and the twin boys Alexander and Riley were more close to their mom and tended to cling to her more. However, things changed when the triplets came into the world and the boys started to spend more time with their dad Robert. Nia uploaded this adorable snap of Robert and the boys with the caption, “The Tolbert boys!!!!!! One half of the crew taking a break from the girls!! Xander with the mischief, Riley with the attitude, Shai with the cuteness, and Rob with the Dad Swag.”
The Tolbert Boys
A Cute Photo Shoot
Nia makes sure she records all the latest milestones and tracks the growth of each of her kids every step of the way. So every few weeks she does a super cute photo shoot. When the girls were nearly 12 weeks, she shared this adorable collage of all three girls wearing matching pink onsies that said “I’m adorable; Mom’s beautiful; Daddy did good.” It seemed everyone loved their snap as much as us and it was flooded with loving comments from their followers about how fast the girls were growing up. Many commented that the girls look so much like Nia and the boys look so much like Robert.
A Cute Photo Shoot
Picture Perfect
Robert and Nia can’t be certain about what the exactly future holds for their family, but they really are so grateful for the six little blessings that they received. Their children also received the best set of parents they could ask for too! Whilst some other couples might have gone into panic mode when they discovered the news that after twins they were having triplets, the Tolberts seemed to take everything in their stride. This is because they see pregnancy as blessing and part of God’s plan. So despite their challenges, the Tolberts as they seem to have the best attitude to life and the family seem so happy. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for them!
Picture Perfect