website<\/a> for parents of multiples, 93.8% of triplets are delivered via cesarean section. There can be close to two dozen medical professionals in the operating room.<\/p>\n\u201cIt takes a whole team,\u201d Bhatia said. \u201cEverybody plays a role. Bedside nurses are crucial to the success of the babies because they are there for every feeding. The NICU is just the beginning part of the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
During that journey, medical staff often get to really know the babies and their families, said Dr. Jessica Henry, Allegheny Health Network neonatologist. She said she\u2019s attended first birthday parties and high school graduations, maintaining a relationship for years with the NICU families, who become like family.<\/p>\n
Henry said one of the babies she cared for was born at 26 weeks, when she was doing her residency in Arizona. Henry attended the baby\u2019s first birthday party, high school graduation and college graduation. The woman is now an author and Henry purchases her books and gives them as presents.<\/p>\n
In the NICU, Henry often suggests that a father place his wedding band on a baby\u2019s arm or leg to show how small the baby was.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can remember what bed space some of the babies were in,\u201d Henry said. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty neat. We celebrate their successes. It makes my day when I hear good news about the babies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Often, the parents and babies return to the developmental clinic at West Penn and that can bring back stressful and challenging moments from those early days.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes when they walk across the bridge (from the parking garage) they start crying because they haven\u2019t been back in four months,\u201d Bhatia said. \u201cWhen we see our (NICU) graduates in the developmental clinic (months after they leave the unit) that to me is a very happy time because you see them at six months to a year and you can see that they\u2019re succeeding in their goals outside the NICU.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the long days in the hospital, Bhatia said she suggests parents go for walks outside to get fresh air. She advises parents to go home and rest at night.<\/p>\n
They can watch their babies through cameras while at home.<\/p>\n
There is a lot to process with a new baby, let alone multiples, Bhatia said. Parents can become overwhelmed. She said she makes sure to keep an eye on the fathers during delivery, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of things that go into the parents\u2019 emotional well-being that I don\u2019t think everyone always thinks about,\u201d Bhatia said.<\/p>\n
The triplets born to Sydney Barnes, 35, and Grant Barnes, 44, of McDonald, came into the world at 24 weeks and 6 days on April 2. The fraternal siblings are a girl, Junie, and boys Frankie and Teddy. They declined to be interviewed for this story.<\/p>\n
\u2018Worth the wait\u2019<\/p>\n
Two of three couples interviewed said they were initially told they were having twins.<\/p>\n
Monica Wilden recalled feeling \u201cpure shock\u201d at an appointment where the third baby was seen. She made the doctor call her husband, Matt Wilden, 35, to tell him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband was speechless and I was in shock,\u201d Monica Wilden said. \u201cAnd it was even crazier to find out they were all boys because we also have a 7-year-old boy at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monica Wilden, 37, from Indiana, Pa., delivered triplet boys on June 11 at 33 weeks. Dean was 4 pounds, 5 ounces; Charlie was 4 pounds, 1 ounce; and Griffin was 3 pounds, 12 ounces. Griffin and Charlie are identical.<\/p>\n
Their brother Easton checks on the triplets via the NICU camera (children must be 12 or older to visit the NICU).<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginally, it was shock and a little bit of anxiety, but now I am relieved knowing they are happy and healthy,\u201d said Matt Wilden.<\/p>\n
The boys, who were conceived through in vitro fertilization, have \u201cdefinitely been worth the wait\u201d after years of infertility, said Monica Wilden, who teaches kindergarten at East Pike Elementary School in the Indiana Area School District.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys are thriving,\u201d she said. \u201cThey have a lot of hair and are super cute and snuggly and growing every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monica Wilden said the nurses, doctors and staff have made the family feel welcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can tell everyone cares,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has been hard, but good. The nurses encourage you to help with everything you can. I\u2019ve been here every day, so it\u2019s just amazing to see the changes. The NICU world is a different world \u2014 there are lots of alarms and beeping noises that make you a little hesitant, but the nurses are very reassuring, and it is comforting to know that there are cameras where we can check in on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Easton was double the weight and double the size of the triplets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever held a baby so small,\u201d Monica Wilden said. \u201cThat\u2019s been a little bit different, but they all look like (Easton), so that\u2019s crazy too.\u201d<\/p>\n
First-time parents<\/p>\n
Mallory Quinn, 29, of New Castle, was originally told she was having twins. She said that after she learned she was carrying three babies, she was scared about going back for another ultrasound.<\/p>\n
She and her husband, Corrigan \u201cCorri\u201d Quinn, 31, had tried to get pregnant for five years and had done in vitro fertilization in the past. They had a miscarriage before conceiving the triplets naturally.<\/p>\n
They are first-time parents to fraternal triplets, one boy and two girls. Caden weighed 2 pounds, 15 ounces; Rory weighed 3 pounds and almost 3 ounces; and Eliana weighed 3 pounds, 2 ounces.<\/p>\n
They were born at 31 weeks on June 10.<\/p>\n
The triplets are the best Father\u2019s Day gift ever, Corri Quinn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they are together, they seem to reach for each other,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they missed each other because they were together (in the womb) for so much time.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the day the babies were delivered, Mallory Quinn came for a routine appointment. When her blood pressure was found to be high, her doctor decided to proceed with delivery that same day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just expecting to come in for my appointment and go back to work,\u201d said Mallory Quinn, who works for the Laurel School District as a secretary. \u201cIt was all really crazy, but everyone kept me really calm, and it was a good experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
And her husband made it in time for the delivery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still don\u2019t believe that I have triplets,\u201d Mallory Quinn said. \u201cIt probably won\u2019t hit me that I have three babies until we bring them home.\u201d<\/p>\n
A gift from grandma<\/p>\n
Julia DeFrancisis, 34, of South Fayette, and her 34-year-old husband Jeff DeFrancisis, wanted a little sister for their 3 \u00bd-year-old son, Luca.<\/p>\n
They blessed him with three: Lena, Clara and Mila were born on June 12 at 34 weeks. Lena and Clara are identical. The babies weighed between 5 pounds, 1 ounce, and 5 pounds, 3 ounces at birth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was quite shocked,\u201d Jeff DeFrancisis said. \u201cWe were hoping for a girl and we got three girls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julia DeFrancisis said she had kept her suitcase packed and in her car for weeks, in case a doctor\u2019s visit suddenly turned into delivery day. She also credited the ultrasound technician for thoughtfully breaking the news that she was carrying triplets. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was by myself and he was like, \u2018So I think I\u2019m seeing two,\u2019 and I\u2019m like, OK. And then he\u2019s like, \u2018I might be seeing a third one.\u2019 I said, so did you just soft-launch that for me?\u201d<\/p>\n
The technician asked if she was a teacher or a therapist. When she said she is a licensed mental health practitioner, he said in this experience, people in those professions stay the calmest.<\/p>\n
The babies were conceived naturally with a little bit of divine intervention, Julia DeFrancisis said. Her grandmother had passed away six months before she became pregnant and the couple had talked about wanting another baby.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then I get pregnant \u2026 with, wow, triplet girls,\u201d said Julia DeFrancisis. \u201cA gift from (my grandmother).\u201d<\/p>\n
Their son was 7 pounds, so holding very small babies is a different experience, she said.<\/p>\n
She said she\u2019s learned the importance of keeping the babies on a feeding schedule, noting that waking the babies for feedings is a new experience she didn\u2019t face with her older son.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe nurses and doctors and the staff here give you a lot of confidence in being able to do things and they give you enough independence to care for your children, but they are also right there in case you are unsure,\u201d Julia DeFrancisis said. \u201cWe are fortunate enough that they can all be in a little pod together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The parents said their homes are ready and lots of relatives and friends are prepared to assist with the three babies.<\/p>\n
They realize this is all new and will be an adventure for the couples and their triplets and older children. They are still processing it all, they said.<\/p>\n
The dads are all in awe of their wives. Matt Wilden called his wife a rock star. Corri Quinn said his wife is the strongest woman he knows. Jeff DeFrancisis used the word amazing to describe his wife.<\/p>\n
The mothers had seen each other in the NICU but hadn\u2019t officially met until June 19. Now, they are members of a special sisterhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019d be nice to keep in touch with them,\u201d Monica Wilden said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surprises are fairly common in the neonatal intensive care unit. But even long-term staff at the NICU at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-723977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}