GI meets triplets, thanks to early birth
Posted on Saturday, March 8, 2008
Spc. Matthew Cain carries a scrap of paper in his wallet listing the vital statistics of three baby girls.
The Arkansas National Guardsman spent the past few days memorizing the tiny faces, fingers and toes of his three newborn daughters, but he still refers to his cheat sheet when boasting their birthweights and lengths.
The father met his daughters for the first time Tuesday morning — an encounter he wasn’t expecting for nearly a year. They were delivered by emergency Caesarean section seven weeks premature and just days before he will ship off for Iraq.
“I was blown away,” the 34-year-old said Thursday afternoon in Little Rock. “They are so tiny and so precious.”
He planned to leave today to rejoin Arkansas’ 39 th Infantry Brigade training in Camp Shelby, Miss. Within the next few weeks, he’ll go to Baghdad. He’s a member of Headquarters Company, 1 st Battalion, based in Malvern.
Matthew and Shannon Cain told relatives that she was pregnant in August. Matthew received his deployment orders a few weeks later. It would be his first tour of duty, and he would leave before her due date. They moved in with his parents in Little Rock so Shannon would have help with the baby while he was abroad.
He was training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri when Shannon, 26, had her 20-week ultrasound. Her mother-in-law and mother went with her expecting to learn the sex of the baby.
A few moments after starting the ultrasound, the sonographer asked if they knew Shannon was having twins. Astonished, the women started crying with joy. After a bit, the sonographer summoned another technician.
“Yep, there’s three,” the second technician said. “And they are all girls !”
Naturally conceived, they are fraternal triplets. There had been no indication that Shannon was carrying multiple babies. She wasn’t showing larger than usual, and her obstetrician first thought the baby was moving around a lot when she found heartbeats all over the expectant mother’s abdomen.
Shannon called Matthew with the news. He didn’t believe her at first.
“That’s real funny,” he remembers saying.
Shannon’s doctor advised her to stop working as a medical technologist at the flow cytometry lab at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She also put her studies in the medical technology program at UAMS on hold.
The couple tried to keep away worries about his time in Iraq and focus on their remaining time together.
Matthew left for Camp Shelby in early January. The parents chose names via text message.
Shannon and her mother-inlaw, Diana Cain, prepared the nursery with three white cribs and hired a nurse to help after the girls arrived. Baby A, Baby B and Baby C were monitored frequently by a neonatologist, a pediatrician who specializes in newborns.
On the last day of February, Shannon’s blood pressure shot up. She was admitted to Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock for observation of early signs of preeclampsia, a complication that can be dangerous to mother and fetus.
Matthew was granted emergency leave after the American Red Cross contacted his unit with news of the impending births.
Dr. Cindy Hubach, Shannon’s obstetrician, on Monday decided the babies needed to be delivered by Caesarean section Tuesday morning. Matthew drove all night in a rental car through rainstorms and heavy winds. He arrived while Shannon was being prepared for surgery.
They were reunited in the operating room. Snow started falling outside.
Angelene Marie was pulled out first, and cried. She was 3 pounds, 14 ounces. A minute later came Brooklynn Renee at 3 pounds, 13 ounces, and Christianne Elizabeth at 3 pounds, 7 ounces.
Shannon saw one baby for a moment before each was taken to warmers. Two were put on ventilators, but all three were healthy and strong.
Shannon was weak for several days. She needed a blood transfusion, Diana Cain, said. The babies may stay in the neonatal intensive care for several weeks.
When they do go home, there will be many relatives waiting to help Shannon. Her family lives in central Arkansas, including three brothers and their wives.
The family plans to document as much of the girls’ growth as possible while Matthew is gone. He set up Web cams to visit with them over the Internet.
The babies did their best to reveal their personalities before Daddy left Mississippi. At 17 / 2 inches, Christianne is an inch longer than her sisters but was born a half-pound lighter. Shortly after birth, she would kick her legs out of her swaddling and look up at Matthew with animated eyes.
“She’s a fighter,” he said. In the next few weeks, the 39 th Infantry Brigade will ship out for Iraq for an expected 10-month tour of duty. When Matthew next sees them, Angelene, Brooklynn and Christianne may be crawling. They may also call him “Dada.”
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