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Last Triplet Finally Gets to Go Home

(This is part of a series of periodic articles about the parents of triplets in neonatal intensive care. The Tribune has followed the babies from their first weeks through their homecomings.)

As Nicole and Matt Kivisto packed Jayden up Thursday afternoon to leave the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Alexius Medical Center, the bareness of the empty isolettes that his brothers Cade and Lucas had occupied filled the room, along with the sadness of a final farewell.

The couple’s journey of having their premature triplets in the NICU officially ended after more than a month of late-night visits and constant worrying.

“It feels so funny leaving,” Nicole said as she left the NICU with Jayden. “This has been like our home for so long.”

After putting in so many hours in the unit, the Kivistos formed friendships with the nurses and couples who were going through the same emotional roller coaster that comes from having a baby in the hospital fighting to grow healthy enough to go home. Their commonality threaded them together like a family.

“There are a lot of memories from the nights,” Matt said. “They would get their baths at night and the first time I got to hold them was usually at night. Whenever they had problems it would be at night. It was also nice having the company at night. We had a lot of fun.”

But the joy of the babies leaving the NICU and having his family all together at home made the goodbyes easier, Matt said. He also is looking forward to not having to balance his time between the hospital and home.

“Life will never be routine,” Nicole said. “But for Matt it will be a little easier. He would go to the NICU from 9 at night until 2 in the morning and then come home and try to help with feedings.”

Nicole said she will also miss the reassurance the nurses gave the couple when the babies were sick and on machines.

“As you ride that course in the NICU you watch the monitors and they haven’t dinged for weeks, so that makes us feel better,” Nicole said.

Now that the triplets are all home, the Kivistos are looking forward to watching them interact with one another, which they never did in the NICU because they were in their own isolettes. They hope that from watching them together they will start to be able to tell them apart.

“I have no idea which one is which,” Matt said. “Lucas has the birthmark and I think that Jayden has less hair.”

Looking back, Nicole can’t believe how lucky the family is and how this whole experience turned out.

“In the beginning, I was just a nervous wreck with the pregnancy and worrying about how everything would turn out,” Nicole said. “I never dreamed it would come together this well. We have finally made it to this point. It has been a smoother ride than I had anticipated.”

By SHEENA DOOLEY, Bismarck Tribune

(Reach reporter Sheena Dooley at 701-250-8225 or [email protected].)

© 2003 The Bismarck Tribune. Reprinted courtesy of The Bismarck Tribune

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