Then my husband Scott was in a bad accident at work a few weeks later and lost his leg. When I had to go to my first sonogram alone, he was still in the hospital, and I was hoping for some good news to bring back to him.

Boy, did I get some! The sonographer told me, "It's three..."

I thought she was talking about the measurement of something. When she asked if I had heard her, I replied, "Did you mean three BABIES?!" Bringing the sonograms back to my husband in the hospital was awesome.

We feel kind of "lucky" that we knew from the beginning that the NICU would be part of our babies' lives and that we were able to prepare for it. We knew that triplets would definitely be born before term. We just didn't know how early that would be.

My preterm labor started at 12 weeks. I had two surgeries and was in the hospital for a week each time and sent home on strict bed rest. At my appointment at 23 weeks, I was sent to the hospital for the last time. I was given steroid shots to help mature the babies' lungs, and the neonatologists from the NICU came and introduced themselves. They wanted me to see a "friendly face" (or at least a familiar one) when the babies came.

I started reading all that I could in the preemie books that the hospital provided. I skipped the part about the micro-preemies (defined in that particular book as babies born 23 to 25 weeks) feeling sure that would never apply to our babies. I didn't want to read anything about the babies born before 32 weeks, but I forced myself to read all of it. It wasn’t very comforting.

After being in the hospital for five days, one of the babies could no longer wait to make his appearance. Our first little boy was born at 23 1/2 weeks. My amazing, talented and awesome (did I say amazing?) doctor was able to deliver just him and perform another surgery to keep the other two "baking" a little longer. He hadn't been sure going in whether he would be able to do that or not.

Scott and our family waited to hear how many of the babies were actually coming, but I had the advantage of sleeping through it and being told after I woke up. The neonatologists had told us in advance that babies born weighing less than 500 grams were not resuscitated. Our little Lorne weighed 595 grams. His eyes were still fused shut and he was very waxy looking. He could not tolerate any type of stimulation, so even talking to him stressed him out. I only got to see him twice in the next three weeks since I was still on strict bed rest. What a sight it was when they had to wheel my entire hospital bed down there!

Scott stayed at the hospital in my tiny room from the day Lorne was born until I went home so he could be close to us both. He went three or four times a day down to visit his tiny son. It was horrible not being able to see my baby whose future was so up in the air. Lorne had to have surgery to close an open valve in his heart (PDA, or Patent Ductus Arteriosus) when he was less than a month old. He was on the ventilator for 8 weeks and even now has a very soft, hoarse voice because of that. He has had surgery on his stomach for his reflux and now has a feeding tube -- he had practically stopped eating because it hurt so badly.

Lorne has also had trouble with both eyes due to retinopathy of prematurity. He still requires oxygen and is hooked up to apnea, heart rate and oxygen saturation monitors. He has had five total surgeries in his little life and we hope he is done for a while.  He is now fourteen months old, but developmentally is more like a six-month-old.  He continues to progress and learn new things, and we have very high hopes for him!
 
Isaac and Sullivan made their appearances 18 days after their brother. They were so tiny but Isaac even came out crying! That was very reassuring. They were on vents for a few days and did amazingly well. It was funny how they were born so early (26 weeks), and we were so optimistic because our little 23-weeker was doing so well.

Both of the boys born later continue to struggle with reflux, but theirs is under control with medicine. Isaac continues to struggle with eye problems, but he is hopefully done with surgeries for a while. He and Lorne will both have lasting visual impairments. Sullivan (knock on wood) has been our only surgery-free baby. We have recently been told that he has even outgrown his eye condition. We feel so lucky that our boys did not have any major problems (although, as a parent, a lot of the ones they did have seemed major to us!) such as brain bleeds or infections.

Although small for their chronological ages, they are happy little one-year-old boys.  Isaac and Sullivan are nearly caught up already developmentally.  They have worked very hard with their many weekly visits from therapists and teachers and they deserve it.  We feel so blessed and know they are three tiny little miracles!

Kara McBurney
Lee's Summit, MO

Read the continuing adventures of The McTriplets, and add your thoughts, at a March of Dimes ShareYourStory.org weblog written by Kara McBurney.