Did You Say Triplets?
We have some incredible neighbors. Leanne and Dirk moved to our neighborhood in 1992. At that time they had a four month old boy named Aaron. Leanne and Dirk really wanted more children. Due to an infertility problem, they returned to the doctors to begin in-vitro. They transferred four embryos and went home to wait and see if one would hopefully take. Much to their surprise not only did one take but three out of the four. Now Leanne is just a little tiny thing at 5'-1". No one could imagine that she was going to be pregnant with three babies. Leanne, needless to say, had morning sickness like nobody’s business. She was placed in the hospital several times to control the morning sickness, which turned out to be all day, all night sickness. They placed a feeding tube into her stomach so that she would gain the necessary weight to maintain the pregnancy. She was put on complete bed rest from the fifth week and the babies were due December 17th but came instead on November 5th.
Two boys and a girl came. Bradley was first, then came Claighton (little girl) and last but not least came Jackson. These babies were delivered by C-section and arrived within one minute.
Bradley got to come home first after being in the hospital for only one week. Jackson was the next at two weeks and then the princess came home at three weeks. At birth the babies were placed on monitors and continued to use them at home. They monitored their breathing. All three slept in one crib for ease of getting to them. Someone had to be with them all the time. So Leanne, Dirk and the two proud grandmothers were kept very busy at the beginning. It was at this time that the neighbors got involved with the care of the babies and the rest of the family. We set up a schedule for neighbors to help feed, bath, change babies, wash clothes, do dishes, fix dinners, and go to the grocery store. One could go visit this house anytime of day and find a list of things that needed to be done. (One can still do that!)
After five weeks at home Claighton and Jackson had to return to the hospital because of a respiratory infection. Each baby had be placed in isolation and little Claighton had to be placed on a respirator. They were in the hospital for three and a half weeks. Thankfully, both returned home fine.
Aaron is a great big brother, but tends to run out of patience with his siblings when it comes to his stuff. He is very computer literate and spends many hours working with Reader Rabbit by The Learning Company and Tuneland by Seventh Level. When working on the computer he locks himself in his parents bedroom away from his siblings. Aaron has a wonderful imagination. He is able to tell interesting fictional stories and able to keep things in order. Quite unusual for a boy of his age.
Life for our neighbors is never dull and there are many humorous stories about the antics of these children. Here was a cute little couple just wanting one more child and now they have a large family of four children. But according to Leanne and Dirk, they wouldn't trade one of them for anything.
