Last Updated on 7/3/2009

Published on 12/1/2008

By Clayton Stairs
cstairs@gtowntimes.com

This has already been a very special holiday season for three sets of new parents delivering at Waccamaw Community Hospital.
Each of the couples recently welcomed a pair of twins into the world, and in an unprecedented turn of events at the hospital, all three sets of twins were in the maternity ward at the same time.
Feeling doubly blessed are Matthew and Susanne, with their twin girls Grace and Ruby (born prematurely on Wednesday, Nov. 12); Daniel and Natasha, with their son Caleb and their daughter Kylee (born full-term on Thursday, Nov. 27); and Stacy and Alan, with their twin daughters Taylor and Brooklynn (born full-term on Friday, Nov. 28).
“In all three families, these are their first births,” Cheryl Kilbourne, clinical director of Waccamaw’s Women and Children’s Unit, said. “This was a nice surprise. It is awesome to see.”

Proud parents
Susanne, one of the mothers who is a nurse at the hospital, says she was excited to see first a second set of twins in the nursery, then yet another a day later. Her daughters are temporarily on feeding tubes and are being monitored constantly.
“There is one boy out of the six,” Susanne said. “ I told Grace she has a boyfriend already and I showed her.”
Her twins were born prematurely on Nov. 12 at 34 weeks. Grace weighed 4 pounds 15.7 ounces and Ruby weighed 3 pounds 14.8  ounces Both were measured at 18 inches and both have gained weight steadily to reach around 5 pounds.
She says she is ecstatic about having twins.
 She and her husband, Matthew, have been trying for several years using fertility treatments.
“I’m a little bit older, so I’m really really happy to have two children now,” Susanne said. “We still can’t believe it .”
Daniel and Natasha say when they found out there were two other couples with twins at the hospital, they were amazed. Natasha said it might have been four sets of parents if her mother’s friend, who gave birth at the beginning of the month, would have still been there.
“It is a twinful year,” Daniel said.
He explained that having twins was a shock at first, but they have now embraced the idea.
“At that first appointment, you go in there expecting to catch the baby’s first heartbeat and there is two of them, so that was surprising,” Daniel said. “I think it is fantastic because this way we get it all done in one fail swoop — a ready made family.”
When asked if she is planning to have more children in the future, Natasha quickly answered, “No. This is it for me.”
Caleb weighed 4 pounds 12.5 ounces and measured 17.75 inches. Kylee weighed 4 pounds 11.1 ounces and measured 17.25 inches.
Stacy and Alan said they are looking forward to taking home their bundles of joy and they are glad to be part of this momentous occasion at the hospital.
“I have never even known of any hospital to have three sets of twins at the same time,” Stacy said. “It is wonderful.”
At birth, Taylor weighed 6 pounds .3 ounces and measured 18.5 inches long. Brooklynn weighed 6 pounds 2.2 ounces and measured 19.25 inches.
Alan says the hospital staff has been great through this whole process, but the whole situation is a little overwhelming.
“We don’t know whether it is overwhelming or what,” Alan said. “We haven’t gotten them home yet, so we’ll figure that out later.”
His first daughter, Allison, and Stacy’s mother, Linda, were at the hospital with them. Linda says having twins makes for a welcome addition to the family.
“I think it is totally awesome,” Linda said. “I have one grandchild who is 8 years old, so I’m just tickled to death to get two girls.”
All Allison could say is, “Wow.”
Stacy says she might even try for one more after the twins, to hopefully have a boy.
“If you’d asked me yesterday, I would have said no,” Stacy said, “but we probably will.”

Change in status
Kilbourne says that having three sets of twins was not something the hospital could have anticipated. However, they have seen a rise in higher risk births since they achieved their level-two status — which means they can now take in cases they would have had to turn away before — and renovated and enlarged the hospital’s nursery facilities.
“We achieved our level-two status with the state back in April, so we have had higher acuity infants and we have a higher level of care that we can provide in our nursery,” Kilbourne said. “Before, we were a level one-facility, which only allows delivery of well babies with no high risk situations — below  36 weeks.”
She says they have been working with the Medical University of South Carolina Hospital (MUSC) in Charleston to increase their level of experience and education to achieve the status change.
“It is something we are very proud of,” Kilbourne said. “We are in some high volume months right now and our numbers are increasing almost every month.”