Oh baby!

A couple in Ankeny are seeing triple again, less than 18 months after welcoming Chase, their first-born son, who is the surviving child of a triplet set himself. What’s unique about these trios, is that they are “spontaneous” triplet sets for Kellee (Wilson) and Nick Briggs.

Kellee, a 2003 Creston High School graduate, gave birth to fraternal triplets Aiden, Isaac and Addalyn on March 9. Recalling their journey from a couple to a family of six shocked the couple.

Leading up to their eight week appointment, Kellee said she had a hunch she was having a multiple birth again. But it was confirmed as the sonographer at their appointment continued to scan Kellee’s belly.

“Within like three, four second of her scanning around her stomach we both just looked at each other like, ‘Uh oh. Can we see multiples?’ Then Kellee asked ... and the tech’s like, ‘Yes. So I see one, I see two, I see three. I think we got three,’” Nick said. “Basically our jaws dropped. Every emotion you can think of went through our bodies in that 10 minute time period.”

Kellee said she had taken a blood test prior to that doctor’s appointment, showing she was nearly 18 weeks pregnant, which she knew was wrong.

“My levels were super high,” she said.

The news of triplets was overwhelming. At first she was excited, but cried for days at home.

“When I started calculating the cost of daycare, I thought, ‘There’s no way we can do this,’” she said.

The thought of everything they’d need to change overwhelmed the Briggs, such as a new vehicle and the size of their home.

“Everything you can think of started running through our heads,” said Nick.

Kellee joked her husband made the greatest sacrifice by trading his truck for a new Honda Oddessey minivan, which took three month to arrive due to pandemic-related supply chain issues.

“Dad had a hard time with that,” she said. “We had to sell a little bit of pride for that one.”

The cost of childcare for four children in Ankeny would run the family $1,200 a week, so the Briggs enlisted the help of their son’s former daycare teacher to care for all four children at home as their nanny.

When it comes to the purchase of all the baby gear in trios, Kellee said family, friends and even strangers have been more than gracious.

“It’s been amazing,” she said. “Our coworkers, our family, friends, have really rallied around us and we have had so many donations on hand-me-down clothes, bought some used cribs, we really haven’t had to buy hardly anything.”

Kellee said gifts poured in such as a stroller, carseats and diapers.

“People have just really supported us and it kind of came together,” she said. “We had strangers dropping off food for us that we had never met before. ... It’s just been amazing the support we’ve received from everybody.”

Kellee wrote often about her journey on social media, which captured the attention of followers beyond their immediate friends and family, who offered shared in their excitement as new parents and offered encouraging words when the pregnancy got tough, or when Kellee needed to advocate for herself and the health of the triplets.

Journey

To conceive a second set of triplets naturally is an oddity – one that is said to be a chance of one in more than 62 million pregnancies. As much as the Briggs wanted to marvel at their luck and be excited for their fortune, darkness loomed.

Two of their three embryos were lost within the first trimester of their first pregnancy. Even though it was early and somewhat common in pregnancy, Kellee said she took it very hard.

“It seemed that once I found out that could of had triplets, I just kept seeing twins and triplet things everywhere,” she said. “I just kept thinking, ‘What would it have been like?’ I was hard because I was wanting to be so excited about my one son that I knew survived, but I was still grieving those other two.”

She wondered if they would be boys, girls and what life could have been like with all three.

“I just felt like I was robbed of the experience and just felt so heartbroken that was taken away from me,” she said.

Nick said he was just happy to have one healthy baby.

“As bad as this sounds, I was almost thankful, I guess, at the time there was only one, just this being our first child and not knowing what to expect,” he said. “Obviously after having Chase now and being a parent for awhile and we had triplets again, I was in to it right away the second time around because I knew I could handle it. But being a new time parent that first time around, I was almost like ... ‘You know what, it was early on. We have one healthy baby.”

Kellee said the nurses attempted to reassure her that one baby was ideal, telling her it’s safer for her and baby.

“The nurses were all, ‘Oh, this is what you want. You don’t want to carry three,’” she said. “I remember that conversation vividly. Especially when I got pregnant again with triplets. ... That just kind of stuck with me later on.”

Second chance

When the Briggs found out they were expecting triplets the second time, they were referred to a perinatologist – a doctor who handles high-risk pregnancies – early in their pregnancy.

“He sat us down the very first appointment and said, ‘This is high risk. It’s high risk for the mom, it’s high risk for the babies. Chance of survival is only 50% if you can’t make it past week 24,’” Kellee recalled. “It just scared the heck out of us.”

Kellee said she felt informed, but scared.

“I didn’t want to get attached to them,” she said. “It took us forever to name them and I think that was part of it. I didn’t want to put a name to one of these kiddos and then to have them pass away like the other two.”

Nick said they didn’t choose names for the children until three weeks before their birth date. Kellee said she didn’t want to buy any clothes until she knew for sure they were safe.

“It was just a different process the second time around knowing how fragile life is and how easy it can be taken away,” she said.

Later in the pregnancy, Nick said he noticed his wife struggle more with carrying triplets in comparison to her first pregnancy. The doctor had told them, the triplets could be delivered via C-section between 24 and 36 weeks.

“By week 26, I was noticing Kellee was really starting to struggle and realized I may have these babies at any day,” Nick said. “I could see her struggling just moving around the house, resting, and even sitting down to eat dinner. She could only about two bites before she’s like, ‘I need to lay back down again. I’m not feeling good.’ It started to be worrisome.”

Worries

Kelle’s pregnancy faced many challenges, such as severes features preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, high-blood pressure, facial twitching, muscle cramps, influenza multiple times, due to her weakened immune system.

“Pretty much everything that could go wrong with this pregnancy did,” said Kellee.

After delivery, Kelle spent three nights at the hospital, before she was released March 12. However, she had to turn around pretty quick.

“By Sunday morning I had one eye that was completely closed. My face was kind of drooping and I couldn’t use a straw,” Kellee said.

Kellee thought she had a stroke and was told to go to emergency obstetrics.

“Within three minutes of us being there, there was eight or nine doctors and nurses in the room giving her stroke tests asking, ‘Can you say these words? Can you move this? Raise your eyebrows? Smile big?’ And then all of a sudden they said they needed to take her out to give her a CT scan of her brain.”

Nick said that was the scariest moment for him. He called their mothers to update them.

“I was on the phone, bawling, crying to both of them, just trying to get the words out to let them know what’s going on,” he said.

It was discovered that Kellee was suffering from Bell’s Palsy, an unxeplained and unexpected episode of facial muscle weakness or paralysis, which worsens over 48 hours. The condition can strike anyone of any age.

“I should be able to recover from it,” said Kellee. “A lot of people who carry multiple babies do get Bell’s Palsy.”

Homecoming

Kellee is now home recovering, which she said is going well overall. The Briggs triplets remain in the hospital, where they are gaining weight and strength every day. It’s anticipated they will come home May 2, two days after their original due date.

“It’s just hard emotionally more than physically at this point. Emotionally splitting time between the NICU, our time at home,” she said. “When I’m here I want to be there and when I’m there I want to be here. It’s hard splitting your time and not feel like you’re not letting someone down.”

The Briggs go to the hospital daily, where they get practice feeding, holding and changing their children at the same time.

“It still seems unreal,” Kellee said.

As much as Kellee and Nick are eager to bring their children home, they are taking advantage of the time to get the house ready and relax. They do however daydream about what life will be like.

Kellee said she likes that Chase is so close in age to his younger siblings, so he will feel included. Nick said he’s looking forward to all the phases of life he gets to experience with them.

“The first two years are going to be rough, ... but I’m looking forward to that 7, 8, 9 years old where they start getting in to Little League baseball, soccer, dance and some of those activities. Then all of a sudden they are going to be 13,14, 15 years old and you’re going to have to order five pizzas for dinner because they are all going to be eating a pizza themselves. It’s fun sitting here right now and thinking about all the different phases of life and how some are going to be more challenging than others.

“And the friendship they are all going to have,” said Kellee. “And It’s a second chance and I love that.”