Amy Clements
“A triple pregnancy is automatically high risk. They were incredible.”
In early 2020, just as New Brunswick was beginning to recognize the reality that the world was facing a global pandemic, Amy Clements and her husband Shawn, arrived at The Moncton Hospital to receive some other life-changing news.
“At eight weeks, I went in for my ultrasound with my husband who was still allowed to be with me. The tech was doing the scan and I could see the look on her face. She got really quiet and I was like ‘there’s two isn’t there?’ We kind of thought we might be having twins because they do run on both sides of the family. I said ‘there has to be two’ and she’s like ‘no, actually there’s three’. We were pretty shocked when we found out.”
“A triple pregnancy is automatically high risk, so we had lots of appointments. I did develop gestational diabetes because I had three placentas, so there were extra hormones on board. I worked until I was put on bed rest at 20 weeks, then I was admitted at The Moncton Hospital at 24 weeks. Ben, Avery and Levi were born at 27 weeks.”
“Towards the end my husband was no longer allowed to come in. I was completely alone with no visitors. None of my personal belongings could be there unless it was something that you could wipe down on a hard surface, so not even my own clothes. It was just an extremely difficult time.”
Amy’s husband was allowed to be there for the delivery, but when she went into labour just past midnight, the babies had a different plan in mind.
“It was a very quick process, over in 45 minutes. I had this sense of calm for some reason, and after it was done, I was just waiting to go see them. I was in recovery right after until 6:30am and immediately I was wanting to go down to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NNICU). I forced myself out of bed and my husband and I went down at 7am. It was just overwhelming. I don’t think it hit me that they were my children until probably a few days later, when I was actually able to hold them.”
“I’m an LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) myself working in Orthopedics, but I had never had a surgery before my C-section. Even though I knew what it entailed, it was still very scary. The nurses in the NNICU are a different breed of nurses and I hope one day, I can be as incredible as they are. They were terrific. I now have a better understanding of the patient side and I’ll probably change the way I nurse when I go back to work.”
As with all premature babies, there are a lot of follow up appointments, so the staff at The Moncton Hospital see the triplets on a regular basis. Amy and her husband are very thankful for all the support they receive. The couple is very busy with the three new additions to their family.
“It was incredible that something that small can affect you so much. It was just the size of them. You don’t realize how strong they are until you’re right there and see what they have to go through. They’re fighters.” – Amy Clements, Mother of triplets (former NNICU patients)
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