With enough babies on the way to start their own baseball team, three moms, each expecting triplets, formed a training camp of their own. All three were patients of Michael Paul, MD, Maternal-Fetal Medicine Obstetrics at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, BJC Medical Group, and bonded over their similar experiences.
“I have delivered lots of multiples over the years, and the moms are often hospitalized for extended periods of time where they can feel isolated away from their friends and family,” Dr. Paul said. “These three moms all faced similar issues, had the same set of concerns and they learned from and supported each other.”
Jessica Kennedy, Kristen McCloy and Jeri Wright delivered their triplets only weeks apart in November and December 2016.
“All three moms helped each other by setting goals together and supporting one another to achieve those goals,” he said. “They all had the same endpoint goal of getting as close to 34 or 35 weeks as possible to deliver. They didn’t want to let anyone down.”
Value of teamwork
None of these moms had ever met until after they were pregnant, but they now have an enduring friendship thanks to their shared experiences with Dr. Paul as their doctor and the compassionate care they received at MoBap, where all of their babies arrived healthy.
In fact, Dr. Paul credits the successful pregnancies each woman had with their sense of camaraderie and willingness to be there for one another. He said that, statistically, two of the nine babies should have been born compromised in some way, but that was not the case with these sets of triplets.
Home field advantage
Dr. Paul also credits the care team at Missouri Baptist who was there for the moms through weeks of bed rest in the hospital, on hand for their unique deliveries and after to care for both moms and babies, who all were in the Newborn Intensive Care Units (NICU) for a period of time.
“It’s a real team approach. These nine babies are the players on the field, but they would not have the success they have without the ‘coaches’ and support provided by moms, dads, doctors and nurses. It’s an incredible team of neonatologists and the best and most caring labor and delivery nurses anywhere. They care enough to make sure patients get everything they can achieve,” Dr. Paul said. “All of our nurses bond with these patients and build lifelong relationships with them.
“Now that these moms are all friends, they will be able to share the unique challenges of raising triplets. And they’ll have one another.” With a team like this, these MoBap Babies will soon be ready to "Play Ball!"