Ashley Landry thinks the waiting is finally over.
The waiting started after the premature birth of her triplet daughters last July. Landry and her fiancé Drew Jordan went to a routine 29-week doctor’s visit when Landry began having contractions. Landry was rushed into surgery for an emergency cesarean.
After the triplets’ birth, Landry and Jordan waited nearly six hours to visit their triplets for the first time in their NICU rooms at Ochsner Baptist in New Orleans. They waited to hold their daughters for the first time: three days to hold Kenzie, seven days to hold Remi and 23 days to hold Austyn.
Then, they waited 168 days – nearly six months – to have their daughters together again. Austyn was finally discharged from the NICU on Jan. 3. – Landry’s birthday – nearly three months after her sisters came home, and after six total surgeries to address a perforated bowel. Austyn came home with a gastronomy tube to allow her to receive nutrition and fluids directly into her stomach. She will likely have the tube for a year, Landry said.
“Obviously we want the G-tube out, but now that they’re home, we really couldn’t ask for more,” Landry said. “Kenzie and Remi are already rolling over, Remi’s got a tooth coming in, so, it’s all happening. I don’t think there’s anything else to wait for.”
It was a long road to parenthood for Landry and Jordan. Ten years ago, they experienced their first pregnancy loss. Landry’s pregnancy with the triplets was difficult. She had issues with her heart rate and often felt dizzy. At 19 weeks pregnant, Landry was rushed into an emergency surgery for a cerclage, a procedure that involves placing a stitch around the cervix to keep it closed.
“When you think about having a baby, you don’t think about all the things that could go wrong,” Landry said. “You just think it will be all sunshine and roses. You don’t realize how strong you are until you go through something like this. My baby is almost six months old, and she is just getting home. That’s hard.”
Jordan and Landry said they had to learn to advocate for the triplets during their NICU stay.
“I’m the most non-confrontational person ever,” Landry said. “But then you realize you are the only voice that they have. You know your baby, you’re Momma Bear.”
Landry and Jordan said that Jordan’s mom, Hope Savoie, was a constant presence in Austyn’s NICU room.
“She knows a lot about everything,” Landry said. “She’s really been the one to say, ‘hey have they checked for this, have you asked about that.’ She’s really been helpful. Because I have a lot on my plate and a lot on my mind, she reminds me to ask for this or that.”
Landry said her parents, Roger and Kristi Landry, and Drew’s parents, Billy Jordan and Savoie, helped them through the last year.
“When there were days that we couldn’t make it to the hospital [to visit Austyn] our parents were going to the hospital,” Landry said. “If we needed to take a moment to relax, or shower, our parents were there to make sure the girls were taken care of. I think without the four of them, we would have been in some serious trouble.”
Landry said she has also found a supportive community on Facebook, where she has joined groups for moms of triplets, moms of premature infants, moms of NICU babies, and moms of children with G-tubes. She hears stories and advice from other moms and tells her story.
“I am able to tell them they will get through it,” Landry said. “You just take it day by day. Whatever you’re going through, they’re going through too. I leaned on them a lot to guide me on what to do next.”
Jordan said he wants other parents of premature infants to know they are not alone.
“We’ve had so many people reach out to us to tell us their situation,” Jordan said. “No matter what you’re going through you’re not alone.”
Now that the waiting is over for Landry and Jordan, the planning has begun. They’ve set a date for their wedding: March 14, 2026, just four months before the triplets will celebrate their second birthday.
