As we rushed to the hospital, we called our doctor, Dr Breedlove, to inform her that the contractions started and we were heading in. They called St David’s hospital (South) to let them know that we were coming in and when we arrived, they had a room ready for us. They checked Tracy in and hooked her up to all the gadgets to monitor her contractions. After they talked to Tracy’s high risk doctor, they decided to give her Magnesium hoping to slow and eventually stop her contractions. Dr Breedlove was not available but Dr Belt stopped in to greet us along with the NICU nurse. They told us they were going to try and slow the contractions but also reassured us not to worry, if the babies were born today they would be ready.
A nurse would come in about every hour and do a check on Tracy to see if she was dilated. These checks were extremely painful for Tracy and the first two showed she was not dilated at all and they continued with the magnesium treatment. Tracy’s contractions continued to be more frequent and more painful. Tracy is allergic to Codeine and since most of the best pain medications contain a form of Codeine, she was forced to manage the pain with ibuprofen mainly. They eventually gave her Fentanyl for her pain which quickly put her to sleep but only lasted 15-20 minutes at a time before she would wake in pain again.
The third check by the nurse showed Tracy was starting to dilate and they were said it looked like the babies were going to come tonight. We knew that the delivery would be by Cesarian section because they were triplets and the position of the babies. I expected they would likely not allow Tracy to become fully dilate before she was taken in for surgery. Dr Belt came into the room to speak to us and I expected to hear the scheduling of events for the surgery but we were both blindsided by what she had to say.
We were told that the NICU would not be able to accommodate triplets and that we would have to be transferred to another hospital. We were both extremely angry as Tracy was now in active labor and in extreme pain and now we were being told that despite the earlier reassurances from Dr Belt and the NICU nurse, they failed to secure proper staff to care for the three babies they were well aware might be coming. The result of the poor staff management was that Tracy had to be transported by ambulance in extreme pain, in the middle of labor during a high risk pregnancy. I charge nurse Bernie was actually in tears and the Dr apologized multiple times and although I tried to empathize, I couldn’t help but feel this was the result of their bad decisions and now both Tracy and the triplets were having to pay for it.
Tracy:
I remember the 10 hour struggle I had to endure the chaos and pain. What bothers me was I had to register and answer the questions twice at two different location. Not a smooth transition while telling them I am so done with the pain. I remember feeling relieved that Dr. Belt was ready to perform surgery on me as we wait. Then she came in with bad news, as I tell myself, you got this Tracy. The process of waiting to be transfer felt like forever as we were waiting for ambulance. I am surrounded by nurses and doctor who kept on apologizing when I am hoping for more pain medicine.
I remember the ambulance ride clearly closely at midnight. I remember arriving the hospital cold and shaking. I had to answered questions in pain and said I am ready. The nurses said, not yet as we need to see you dilate more. All I know is another several hours went by and I was miserable! The time has come as I dilated more. Daniel was asked to leave the room as interpreter informed me. I remember hugging one big guy who is a nurse while I received three shots in my spine from anthesia doctor. I was holding tight and next thing I know I was out.
My husband tapped me in shoulder to let me know our first son Lucas came out and is doing well. I glanced over and saw him from short distance for few seconds. Daniel informed me two babies are out. I saw them departing to hallway as they assure me babies are doing fine. I fell back asleep till the surgeon’s team told me they were done. I watched them dancing and giving each other high fives. I remember them praising me. I asked Daniel what was that all about the very next day. He told me that it was a high risk situation to make sure that all babies are ok and the mother. They had not experience that successful surgery in a long time as it was a good turnout. The guy who was doing the dancing moves was the guy who gave me a big teddy bear hug when I received shots. He gave me the comfort as I needed. I was on the road to recovery and learned that all babies are in NICU. I did not get to see them till late afternoon.
Our 3 little miracles 