First, it was Austyn. Then, it was Kenzie. And finally, Remi.
Three girls, arriving minutes apart, and each weighing a little over 2 pounds were born on July 17 to St. Charles Parish residents Ashley Landry and Drew Jordan.
Landry and her fiancé Jordan can’t wait to bring their triplets home, but, for now, they visit them every day at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Ochsner Baptist in New Orleans. Born about 11 weeks early, the fraternal triplets may be in the NICU until Oct. 3 – Landry’s original due date.
Landry and Jordan, who both grew up in Luling, said they have received a lot of support from the community. Friends Jon Glawson and Kellie Hood hosted a diaper party and pool tournament for the couple at Whitey’s Pool Hall. Luling resident Brenda Clesi organized a diaper drive. Dalynn Bergeron Billingsley, another Luling resident, put together a raffle fundraiser.
“We’re a St. Charles Parish family through and through,” Jordan said. “It’s awesome to see how much the parish has gotten behind us and helped us.”
It was a long road to parenthood for Landry and Jordan. They experienced multiple pregnancy losses, then a fertility treatment called an Intrauterine Insemination, and then the shock of learning they’d have not one but three babies. The pregnancy itself was difficult for Landry. 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 Landry and Jordan went in for Landry’s 29-week doctor visit, they were hopeful for an uneventful, routine appointment. But an ultrasound raised concerns about Austyn’s growth, and Landry was admitted to the hospital for observation. Then, the contractions started. When her doctor explained she needed an emergency cesarean to deliver the triplets, Landry had one thought: it’s way too early.
On average, triplets are born at 32 weeks of pregnancy, well before a full-term pregnancy at 40 weeks. Babies born before 32 weeks are considered “very preterm,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
During the surgery, Landry told Jordan: “I just want to hear them cry. I just want to hear each baby cry.” If she heard them cry, she doesn’t remember it. She was sedated and the triplets were rushed to the NICU after their birth.
Landry was moved to a recovery room on another floor, where she and Jordan waited. Landry fought sleep. She didn’t want to sleep before seeing the triplets for the first time. Jordan asked nurses repeatedly for updates.
“I didn’t want them to come back to tell us bad news,” he said.
Nearly six hours later, Landry and Jordan visited the triplets in their NICU rooms for the first time. NICU rooms aren’t big enough for triplets, so Kenzie and Remi share a room, and Austyn is in another room.
Landry and Jordan have had to do a lot of waiting. They waited three days to hold Kenzie for the first time, seven days to hold Remi, 23 days to hold Austyn.
“The only word that I could say is ‘finally,’” Landry said. “Finally. After 23 days of not being able to hold your newborn and when they finally put her on you, it’s bliss.”
They’ve also had to deal with setbacks. Austyn has had three emergency surgeries to fix a perforated bowel, and a blood transfusion. She will need a fourth surgery in 6-8 weeks.
“They told us from the beginning that being a parent of children in the NICU is a rollercoaster,” Landry said. “Constant ups and downs, ups and downs, and they were not wrong. It’s exactly what they said it would be. A rollercoaster.”
Like all new parents, Landry and Jordan are getting little sleep. But their exhaustion is compounded by the emotional stress of the NICU, Jordan said.
“After [Austyn’s] second surgery, Ashley finally cried herself to sleep at 2 in the morning,” Jordan said. “I went to work at 4 a.m. Without our family and friends and great nurses, I don’t know how we’d get by.”
Giant pink teddy bears – gifts from the triplets’ godparents – sit in the triplet’s NICU rooms besides beeping monitors. Often, alarms will go off, indicating one of the triplet’s heart rates is too high or too low, or there is an issue with a triplet’s oxygen levels. Jordan said they have learned to follow the NICU nurses’ leads.
“I’ve said it like this: I don’t freak out unless they freak out,” Jordan said. “They’ve kept us calm and levelheaded. Without the nurses that we have I think [the NICU} would be a lot scarier than it is.”
Landry agreed.
“I can’t speak highly enough about the nurses at the NICU at Baptist,” she said.
Friends have also reached out to tell Landry and Jordan their own experiences as NICU parents. It gives them a lot of hope for the triplets’ futures, they said.
“I believe that they’ll be home in no time,” Landry said. “And we’ll all be together and eventually somebody I know will have something [similar happen] and I’ll be able to give them our testimony.”
