As soon as c.o.v.i.d 19 arrived in 2020, Kellee Briggs realized she was pregnant. The first ᴜʟᴛʀᴀsᴏᴜɴᴅ showed that the woman was pregnant with triplets, but ʟᴏsᴛ two of the three ꜰᴇᴛᴜsᴇs due to sᴜʙsᴇǫᴜᴇɴᴛ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs, and so only one boy, Chase, was born on September 24, 2020. Then, 10 months after her first birth, more freshman news ʙʀᴏᴋᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ in the family, and Kelle was pregnant with triplets again. Getting pregnant with triplets is rare enough; only about 1 in every 9,000 births are triplets. Two triplet pregnancies back-to-back is crazy-rare, about 1 in 64 million! In March 2022, she gave birth to two boys and a girl.
“Doctors have said that it is common for older women to have more ᴇɢɢs in their ᴡᴏᴍʙs due to ɪᴍᴘᴇɴᴅɪɴɢ ᴍᴇɴᴏᴘᴀᴜsᴇ,” Briggs said. The difficulties of her first pregnancy were very ᴡᴏʀɴ ᴏᴜᴛ. “I’ve never been pregnant before, but I saw something wrong on the doctor’s face. He just sᴄᴀɴɴᴇᴅ and sᴄᴀɴɴᴇᴅ the screen, and I didn’t understand what he was looking for when I saw all three of them,” the mother said. Then he was told that the other two babies had already been ʟᴏsᴛ.
“Chase is our only baby who sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴇᴅ the pregnancy and developed nicely inside the ᴡᴏᴍʙ, while the other two ꜰᴇᴛᴜsᴇs remained just a ʙʟᴏʙ. Because of the ʟᴏss of my babies, I went through a very difficult time at the time,” said Kellee Briggs.
However, the second triplet pregnancy was even more depressing for the family, as Kellee had not received any ʜᴏʀᴍᴏɴᴇ ᴛʀᴇᴀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ, and there had never been any multiple pregnancy in the family.
“It was so natural and it came so fast, but I couldn’t imagine what it would be like with three at a time,” she said.
Doctors, however, strongly referring to what had already happened, strongly suggested that she stay with one child again because it is much safer, but the woman insisted on keeping all three of her ꜰᴇᴛᴜsᴇs.
The couple was very happy, but at the same time, they ꜰᴇᴀʀᴇᴅ that the ᴛʀᴀɢᴇᴅʏ would happen again, as the experts kept saying that there was only room for the healthy development of a child inside.
“I was immediately reminded of when we ʟᴏsᴛ our other two babies during my first pregnancy.”
Doctors said there was no way she could give birth to children before week 24 with a chance of sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴀʟ, so they could only be confident that Kellee would give birth as close as possible to week 32. But as the ᴄᴏɴᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴ ᴘʀᴏɢʀᴇssᴇᴅ, doctors once again came up with the worrying news that the closer half of Kellee’s pregnancy was approaching, the more she was exposed to the onset of ᴅɪᴀʙᴇᴛᴇs, and an impending ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ.
“I was worried because my dad also ᴅ.ɪᴇᴅ of a ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ when I was little,” Kellee said.
Doctors were right, over time, Kellee developed ɢᴇsᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ʜʏᴘᴇʀᴛᴇɴsɪᴏɴ and ᴅɪᴀʙᴇᴛᴇs, but managed to pull the pregnancy out by the 32nd week, making the ᴄᴏɴᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴs a degree safer. The birth had several surprises, for example, the C child was much smaller than the other two, and the ᴜᴍʙɪʟɪᴄᴀʟ ᴄᴏʀᴅ was also a problem for the doctors, but Briggs eventually gave birth to three children: Aiden, Isaac, and Addalyn. After giving birth, Briggs struggled with Bell’s ᴘᴀʀᴀʟʏsɪs, a very common consequence in mothers who give birth to triplets, and the children grew stronger in the ɪɴᴄᴜʙᴀᴛᴏʀ for 55 days.
Fortunately, they are all at home now and trying to shape their daily lives so that the tasks with four children go as smoothly as possible. Briggs must have learned one thing from the kids: sometimes you have to let go of a cramped attachment.
“Just stop and calm down, drift with the tide. That’s all you can do to get your head out of the water. It has been a huge shift for me to admit that I am not able to do everything alone and I need people to help me,” said Kellee Briggs.
