The scene was organized chaos. In the corner of the operating room, which took up about 10% of the room, were three baby beds awaiting the triplets. Each bed had 3 nurses each, dressed in yellow, waiting to receive their baby from the doctor. There were two doctors, our doctor and the Stanford resident doctor, both of whom directed everything. There were 5 other doctors and nurses in there to assist along with 2 anesthesiologists, all dressed in blue. 19 total people… all for me, Kim, and the boys. It was just like tv.
Our doctor, Dr. Toig, was on Kim’s right side while the Stanford resident doctor, Dr. Urban, was on Kim’s left. They raised the curtain to extend about three feet over Kim’s head. If I sat in the chair behind Kim I couldn’t see what they were doing and if I stood up just a bit, I could see everything. I sat down and held Kim’s hand with the two anesthesiologists behind us.
Over the curtain I could see the faces (behind the masks of course) of the two doctors. I knew they had begun and I thought I would take this opportunity to take a quick peek. I stood up just a bit and the anesthesiologist behind me said “make sure you don’t pass out.” I assured him I would not. Kim kept asking me just to talk to her. I asked her if she wanted a play by play of what was going on and she said “no, just talk to me about Mackie and Lucy.” I laughed and so did the doctors, who quickly figured out those were our dogs. It was about 5 minutes in when I heard Dr. Toig say “uterus,” which meant he was on the final layer before getting to the babies. Quickly, the teams became alert and I stood up, still holding on to Kim’s hand of course. Then I saw Daniel or baby “A” as he has been called for 7 months. Dr. Toig placed him on top of Kim’s belly and he was squirming around. They quickly placed a clamp on his umbilical cord; Dr. Urban cut the cord and then passed him to one of the yellow team leaders to clean him up. It was within seconds that he cried. It was such a great sound and such an emotional moment for Kim and me. I bent down and gave Kim a kiss and she kept saying, “Rys--he’s crying!” It wasn’t but a minute later when the same thing happened with Andrew. He made his appearance, cord clamp, cut cord, hand-off to yellow people, cry, clean. I gave Kim another kiss.
Things happened so fast yet they happened so slow at the same time. I’m sure that doesn’t make much sense. Two babies out and getting cleaned, both crying. Then one of the yellow nurses came over and handed me this cute little burrito-wrapped baby. It was Daniel and the nurse wanted mom to see him before he was taken over to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). We put Daniel in front of Kim’s face, she looked and smiled at him for about 15 seconds and then he was gone.
Something really strange happened right here. As the nurse took Daniel away she asked me what his name was. I said, “Daniel.” As soon as I said his name I heard this screaming and clapping from outside. I could tell one of the voices was Beth as I soon learned our families were right around the corner. I mean right around the corner, no less than 20 feet away from all the action. The reason they were able to hear everything was because the operating doors were open and separated from the outside by a curtain. The reason the o.r. doors were open was because it was too hot inside. About 10 minutes before the surgery all the doctors and nurses started saying how hot it was in the o.r. Dr. Toig asked if they could adjust the thermostat and they said it would not change the temp in time. So he then asked if they could just leave the doors open and put up a curtain for ventilation. Again, so crazy. As a result, our families were able to hear the entire surgery. Everything I said to Kim, everything the doctors said, they heard. They heard “Daniel” before I could tell them. They heard me tell the nurses “Andrew” and “Dylan” before I could tell them. Too funny.
While all this is going on with Daniel and Andrew I took a peek at Dr. Toig to see him physically searching for Dylan. Then Dylan appeared feet first. He was clearly bigger than his two brothers, probably because he had more room to grow in his own amniotic sac. Dylan also seemed to have lighter hair… like me I thought!
The entire procedure, from the doctor’s first incision, to the arrival of Dylan, took no more than 15 minutes. After Dylan and Andrew were also turned into tiny burritos they too were placed before their new mommy for a quick viewing. Then one of the nurses asked me to follow her to the NICU. I told Kim that I was going to follow the babies and that I would be right back. I followed out two nurses, one had Andrew and the other had Dylan. As soon as I stepped out of the o.r I turned right and there was our cheering section. Beth, Jill, Jerry, Georgia, Pat, George. They were like paparazzi with their camera’s and camera phones, taking pictures of the boys on their way to the NICU. I’m sure you have seen some of those pictures previously posted on our blog.
I was electric as soon as I stepped out, and seeing my family put me over the edge. I gave each of them a hug and a kiss and stood there for a moment explaining the full names to all: Dylan Francis, Daniel Adam, and Andrew Robert.
I said goodbye for the moment and hustled down the hall to catch up with Dylan and Andrew. When I entered the NICU I soon realized there wasn’t much for me to do there and was quickly approached by the attending doctor who gave me the run-down. All babies were going to get an I.V. All babies were going to have blood drawn immediately so they can begin testing. All babies were going to have fluid drawn from their spines for more tests. It was up to me if I wanted to be in there for that or not. I opted for the latter and decided to go back and hang out with Kim as the doctors stitched her up.
I walked back to the o.r and it was completely cleared out with the exception of Kim, the anesthesiologist, Dr. Toig, Dr. Urban, and one assistant. I sat down next to Kim and Dr. Toig asked me if the Warriors had won. I thought to myself, shouldn’t this guy be focusing on putting my wife back together? Ha. I informed him that although Stanford Hospital has about 50 channels in each room they do not carry TNT. So I didn’t know if they had won the game or not. Kim then chimed in and apologized to the doctors that we had made them miss Bon Jovi night on American Idol. The doctors had to stop what they were doing because she was making them laugh. We chatted for a bit about each Idol contestant and the entire sew-up procedure took a lot longer than I had previously thought, about 40 minutes.
One hour. One hour from start to finish. At 9pm it was just me and Kim. At 10pm it was me, Kim, Dylan, Daniel, and Drew. We were parents.
When Kim was all sewn up she was wheeled right back to the warm-up room for her cool-down and recovery. It was here where the reality of the surgery set in, the epidural began to wear off, and Kim began to feel quite nauseous. I got a wet rag for her and placed it on her head to make her feel better. I asked Kim’s mom to come in and be with her while I had a debrief with Dr. Toig and the families.
I walked down the long hallway and ran into my Aunt Chris, Uncle Tod, Michelle, and Victoria. During our meeting Dr. Toig said that Kim was a champ because she pretty much delivered full-term triplets. 34weeks + 3 days in her belly. The c-section was a total success and the babies were quite large and healthy.By 11pm everyone had left the hospital. Since Kim’s dad had flown in earlier it was really 2am for him. I stayed with Kim in recovery where she continued to rest. The doctors gave her some nausea medicine, more pain meds, and told her to relax. By midnight we had moved to our own private room (YES!) where they moved Kim to her new bed and she went straight to sleep. The lights were off, everyone was gone, and I put my head down on the recliner. Kim was out, and my heart was beating fast. I was so fired up and wanted to see the boys. I put my shoes on and snuck out of room F242 and spent over an hour in the NICU with the boys just staring at each of them. I met all the doctors and nurses and we went over the feeding and breathing game plans for each boy. At 1:15 I came back to our room and fell asleep. Surprisingly, I slept straight through the night and woke up at 8:30 the next morning when Dr. Toig appeared to check on Kim.
Our doctor, Dr. Toig, was on Kim’s right side while the Stanford resident doctor, Dr. Urban, was on Kim’s left. They raised the curtain to extend about three feet over Kim’s head. If I sat in the chair behind Kim I couldn’t see what they were doing and if I stood up just a bit, I could see everything. I sat down and held Kim’s hand with the two anesthesiologists behind us.
Over the curtain I could see the faces (behind the masks of course) of the two doctors. I knew they had begun and I thought I would take this opportunity to take a quick peek. I stood up just a bit and the anesthesiologist behind me said “make sure you don’t pass out.” I assured him I would not. Kim kept asking me just to talk to her. I asked her if she wanted a play by play of what was going on and she said “no, just talk to me about Mackie and Lucy.” I laughed and so did the doctors, who quickly figured out those were our dogs. It was about 5 minutes in when I heard Dr. Toig say “uterus,” which meant he was on the final layer before getting to the babies. Quickly, the teams became alert and I stood up, still holding on to Kim’s hand of course. Then I saw Daniel or baby “A” as he has been called for 7 months. Dr. Toig placed him on top of Kim’s belly and he was squirming around. They quickly placed a clamp on his umbilical cord; Dr. Urban cut the cord and then passed him to one of the yellow team leaders to clean him up. It was within seconds that he cried. It was such a great sound and such an emotional moment for Kim and me. I bent down and gave Kim a kiss and she kept saying, “Rys--he’s crying!” It wasn’t but a minute later when the same thing happened with Andrew. He made his appearance, cord clamp, cut cord, hand-off to yellow people, cry, clean. I gave Kim another kiss.
Things happened so fast yet they happened so slow at the same time. I’m sure that doesn’t make much sense. Two babies out and getting cleaned, both crying. Then one of the yellow nurses came over and handed me this cute little burrito-wrapped baby. It was Daniel and the nurse wanted mom to see him before he was taken over to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). We put Daniel in front of Kim’s face, she looked and smiled at him for about 15 seconds and then he was gone.
Something really strange happened right here. As the nurse took Daniel away she asked me what his name was. I said, “Daniel.” As soon as I said his name I heard this screaming and clapping from outside. I could tell one of the voices was Beth as I soon learned our families were right around the corner. I mean right around the corner, no less than 20 feet away from all the action. The reason they were able to hear everything was because the operating doors were open and separated from the outside by a curtain. The reason the o.r. doors were open was because it was too hot inside. About 10 minutes before the surgery all the doctors and nurses started saying how hot it was in the o.r. Dr. Toig asked if they could adjust the thermostat and they said it would not change the temp in time. So he then asked if they could just leave the doors open and put up a curtain for ventilation. Again, so crazy. As a result, our families were able to hear the entire surgery. Everything I said to Kim, everything the doctors said, they heard. They heard “Daniel” before I could tell them. They heard me tell the nurses “Andrew” and “Dylan” before I could tell them. Too funny.
While all this is going on with Daniel and Andrew I took a peek at Dr. Toig to see him physically searching for Dylan. Then Dylan appeared feet first. He was clearly bigger than his two brothers, probably because he had more room to grow in his own amniotic sac. Dylan also seemed to have lighter hair… like me I thought!
The entire procedure, from the doctor’s first incision, to the arrival of Dylan, took no more than 15 minutes. After Dylan and Andrew were also turned into tiny burritos they too were placed before their new mommy for a quick viewing. Then one of the nurses asked me to follow her to the NICU. I told Kim that I was going to follow the babies and that I would be right back. I followed out two nurses, one had Andrew and the other had Dylan. As soon as I stepped out of the o.r I turned right and there was our cheering section. Beth, Jill, Jerry, Georgia, Pat, George. They were like paparazzi with their camera’s and camera phones, taking pictures of the boys on their way to the NICU. I’m sure you have seen some of those pictures previously posted on our blog.
I was electric as soon as I stepped out, and seeing my family put me over the edge. I gave each of them a hug and a kiss and stood there for a moment explaining the full names to all: Dylan Francis, Daniel Adam, and Andrew Robert.
I said goodbye for the moment and hustled down the hall to catch up with Dylan and Andrew. When I entered the NICU I soon realized there wasn’t much for me to do there and was quickly approached by the attending doctor who gave me the run-down. All babies were going to get an I.V. All babies were going to have blood drawn immediately so they can begin testing. All babies were going to have fluid drawn from their spines for more tests. It was up to me if I wanted to be in there for that or not. I opted for the latter and decided to go back and hang out with Kim as the doctors stitched her up.
I walked back to the o.r and it was completely cleared out with the exception of Kim, the anesthesiologist, Dr. Toig, Dr. Urban, and one assistant. I sat down next to Kim and Dr. Toig asked me if the Warriors had won. I thought to myself, shouldn’t this guy be focusing on putting my wife back together? Ha. I informed him that although Stanford Hospital has about 50 channels in each room they do not carry TNT. So I didn’t know if they had won the game or not. Kim then chimed in and apologized to the doctors that we had made them miss Bon Jovi night on American Idol. The doctors had to stop what they were doing because she was making them laugh. We chatted for a bit about each Idol contestant and the entire sew-up procedure took a lot longer than I had previously thought, about 40 minutes.
One hour. One hour from start to finish. At 9pm it was just me and Kim. At 10pm it was me, Kim, Dylan, Daniel, and Drew. We were parents.
When Kim was all sewn up she was wheeled right back to the warm-up room for her cool-down and recovery. It was here where the reality of the surgery set in, the epidural began to wear off, and Kim began to feel quite nauseous. I got a wet rag for her and placed it on her head to make her feel better. I asked Kim’s mom to come in and be with her while I had a debrief with Dr. Toig and the families.
I walked down the long hallway and ran into my Aunt Chris, Uncle Tod, Michelle, and Victoria. During our meeting Dr. Toig said that Kim was a champ because she pretty much delivered full-term triplets. 34weeks + 3 days in her belly. The c-section was a total success and the babies were quite large and healthy.By 11pm everyone had left the hospital. Since Kim’s dad had flown in earlier it was really 2am for him. I stayed with Kim in recovery where she continued to rest. The doctors gave her some nausea medicine, more pain meds, and told her to relax. By midnight we had moved to our own private room (YES!) where they moved Kim to her new bed and she went straight to sleep. The lights were off, everyone was gone, and I put my head down on the recliner. Kim was out, and my heart was beating fast. I was so fired up and wanted to see the boys. I put my shoes on and snuck out of room F242 and spent over an hour in the NICU with the boys just staring at each of them. I met all the doctors and nurses and we went over the feeding and breathing game plans for each boy. At 1:15 I came back to our room and fell asleep. Surprisingly, I slept straight through the night and woke up at 8:30 the next morning when Dr. Toig appeared to check on Kim.
pic #1 - doctors in blue, nurses in yello
pic #2 - Danny meets mommy for the first time
pic #3 - Ryan feeding Andrew
