Jessica’s Story: Journey to Joy

Jessica’s Story

Jessica Anderson: We were young and wanted to establish our careers and travel the world, so we took several years, did both of those things, and decided to start a family.

Shon Anderson: We were there in the room for the first ultrasound, and I was hoping for twins, so I asked, "How many do you see in there?" She posed the question back to me and said, "Well, how many do you see?" I said, "Two?" She goes, with a big smile on her face, "Three." I said, "Holy moley.”

Jessica: We found out we were pregnant with triplets at our first ultrasound in spring of 2015, and were referred to Dr. McKenna and the perinatal group at Miami Valley Hospital for our care.

Dr. McKenna: We're always a little bit worried when we see triplets because any multiple gestation is high-risk for a number of complications and the higher the number of multiples, the greater that risk is.

Jessica: The Multiple Miracles Program is a program for moms of multiples, in which we were able to attend classes and learn about how our pregnancy was different, essentially, than a typical signal pregnancy. The classes were geared towards moms of multiples, how to care for more than one baby, how to breastfeed more than one baby, just everything relating to how to care for numerous babies at once.

Dr. McKenna: We really want to address all the risk factors, be very up-front about what they are, and our ways that we use to mitigate them in order to try and reduce the stress. We have a number of ways that we do that, beginning with having specialized nurses with loads of experience taking care of multiple gestations who spend the bulk amount of time with the patient. We recognize that nurses provide a lot of the care for our patients. It's not just the doctors, the doctors actually probably provide very little compared to the amount of time and compassion and knowledge that they nurses add to this.

Jessica: It was very important to know that the doctors that I was seeing and the whole medical team that I was seeing had worked with other triplets before and other twins and other high-risk pregnancies, and we had a lot of confidence in the care that we received because it was something that they were very familiar with. In fact, one of my doctors actually had a high-risk pregnancy herself, so it was very comforting to talk with her and know that she had been there and been through the same thing. Dr. McKenna, I believe, was her doctor throughout her pregnancy, so I knew that she trusted his care and I trusted the care from both of them. It was very comforting.

Dr. McKenna: In addition to having specialized nurses for the program, we also have a dietician who takes a dietary log from the patient and comes up with a customized diet plan.

The human body is not well-equipped to carry more than one baby. So, if you have a singleton gestation and mom's nutritional status is poor, she's not eating well and she's not gaining weight. The baby is able to get what it needs from mom, still. So for us to see a fetal problem related to maternal nutrition and poor weight gain with a singleton is not that common. I mean, it can occur but it's not that common. But, it's much more common with multiple gestations. Moms just don't have the reserve to make up for it with more than one baby.

Jessica: I gained weight very quickly. I had to meet with a nutritionist to ensure that I was eating 4,000 calories a day and hitting 200 to 250 grams of protein a day. Had to log my food intake and make sure that I was eating pretty much constantly to keep up for my body's demand for the nutrition for all three babies.

Shon: There was a lot of nutritional guidance given to us that I think played a big role in waiting, or having preeclampsia occur as late as it did.

Dr. McKenna: We typically recommend delivery for twins no later than 38 weeks and for triplets no later than 34 weeks. That's really related to the human uterus is really not designed to carry that many babies for that long. If we let a mom with a multiple gestation go longer than those thresholds, there's an increased risk that you could lose all the babies.

Jessica: So, I was admitted actually on Thanksgiving morning at 5AM to the hospital and at about 7AM, tested positive for preeclampsia, had my first steroid shot of my second round, and then Friday morning, had my second steroid shot. Saturday morning, had my C-section.

Shon: Through all of the excitement, I had forgotten to eat. So, when we went into the operating room, the operating room is a little cold, there was a lot of blood, and as we’re, as I'm standing behind the curtain, there are three little angels being pulled out of my wife, I had to sit back down once or twice. It was so neat to be able to go right next door to the resuscitation room and hold them immediately. That, you know, that I’ll remember that day for the rest of my life.

Jessica: I had a really great experience with Miami Valley, and I think anybody would be lucky to have this team as their physicians, and anyone who is in a situation similar to what I was in, where they're nervous and received unexpected news about their pregnancy should have the opportunity to have a team that cares as much as Dr. McKenna and the other team members do.

Dr. McKenna: Jessica was in good health. That makes a huge difference so we don't have to deal with maternal complications and try to balance those against the other risks. She also was very compliant because there is a lot of testing. A lot of ultrasounds, and a lot of visits for this type of pregnancy.

Shon: We're just so thankful that there's such an expert in town, close to us, that we were able to access, that was very personable, down to earth, that we knew that we could get ahold of at least someone on his team at any point in time. That really gave us confidence in delivering three little girls.

Jessica: They're my everything. It's been a blast and I think having a high-risk pregnancy really has allowed me to appreciate every day with them and appreciate middle-of-the-night calls from them and appreciate just being able to have them with me.