Amy Kroeker

Amy Kroeker’s memories of her long journey to pregnancy, weeks of bed rest in the antepartum unit at Overland Park Regional Medical Center — a part of HCA Midwest Health — and the two months her babies spent time in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are a bit hazy. She’s okay with that.

One thing the mom of healthy, thriving and active 13-year-old triplets does remember, however, was the sense of family and love she felt from the nurses and doctors who took care of her and her children.

“When we finally went home, there were tears all around,” Amy recalled. “I mean we were glad to go home because it meant our babies were well enough to go, but we were so close to everyone. We were crying, some of the nurses and doctors were crying. It was very bittersweet.”

By 2007, Amy, a high-school teacher and her husband, John, a realtor, had been trying for five years — three of them under the care of a fertility specialist — to conceive.  On their third and likely last round of (IVF) in-vitro fertilization with two eggs implanted, Amy became pregnant in April. A few weeks later, her pregnancy blood work revealed extremely high hCg levels, an indicator of twins.

“I knew we were probably having twins when we went in for our scan at six weeks,” Amy said. “We saw the two sacs and the babies looked like little grains of rice. Then the doctor said there’s a third. I just started laughing in disbelief.”

The Kroekers kept the news to themselves until after their nine-week scan.

“My parents had always told me that if I had three kids, they would move to Kansas,” Amy said laughing. “I called them and said ‘guess what? You’re moving to Kansas.’”

Given the high-risk nature of carrying multiples, Amy was put under the care of Midwest Perinatal Associations physicians. She was also told to plan to deliver at Overland Park Regional, because of the hospital’s maternal-fetal medicine expertise and its NICU.

Early on, Amy experienced some bleeding scares and was told she would likely need to go on bedrest months before her December 29 due date. As a teacher, she would be on her feet more than was safe for her pregnancy. Amy went to school in early August for a planning session to prepare for her absence, but even that relatively little amount of activity sent her into contractions. She was admitted to the antepartum unit for a few days, then released to go home on bedrest. Contractions started again and by the end of August — 17 weeks pregnant — Amy was admitted to the antepartum unit for 24/7 monitoring until she delivered.

Amy began having contractions again at the end of September. Although she was given medicine to try and stop them, by early morning, Tuesday, Oct. 2, it was clear the babies needed to be delivered. Amy was 27 weeks and four days into her pregnancy.

“It was like a super-sonic event,” she said. “Suddenly my room was filled with people, and the last thing I remember was asking where my husband was and then I was out.”

Starting at 6:41am, doctors safely delivered identical twin boys, Carson John, two pounds, 11 ounces; Alex Patrick, two pounds, seven ounces; and their sister, Avery Elizabeth, two pounds, four ounces. With four caregivers each, the babies were rushed to the NICU. Amy had, however, developed a fever, which meant she couldn’t see the babies for another day.

“My husband took videos and they looked like little aliens and sounded like kittens,” Amy said. “When I was finally able to go to the NICU that next evening, the nurse for Avery let me hold her. I put my arms through the isolette and she fit in my two hands. She had all these tubes. I just stood there crying.”

The Kroeker babies were in the NICU for nine weeks. Initially intubated to help them breathe when they were born, all were weaned off in less than 24 hours. Each of the triplets was born with a slight heart murmur, among other preemie-related complications. It wasn’t until their last three weeks in the NICU that the babies became “feeders and growers,” an important milestone before safely going home.

“The specifics are blurry now,” Amy said. “Each baby had different problems and at times we were overwhelmed with information. But the doctors and nurses were very good at telling us exactly what we needed to know for each moment. They kept us where we needed to be and helped us keep track of what we needed to be doing for each baby.”

On December 4, Amy and John took the boys home. Avery, the smallest and sickest, followed a day later. All three had reached five pounds.

“We were excited, but terrified to go home with the babies,” Amy said. “It was truly like leaving my family. While the babies were in the NICU, my husband would drop me off every morning and I was there from eight in the morning to eight at night with the people who were taking care of the babies. We didn’t want to come back because that would have meant the babies were sick, but it was really hard to leave everyone.”

With such premature babies, the risk of eye problems, heart problems and developmental delays is always present, however, the Kroeker triplets were growing well by one year with no apparent long-term issues. When they were three years old, they were released from follow-up care.

“It was a crazy stressful time,” Amy said. “But we would not have wanted to be anywhere else. The doctors and nurses were amazing. They always gave us time and whatever we needed. They were compassionate and never rushed us. We loved them like family and they treated us like family.”