Gabriel

I received some very sad news today. A fellow triplet mom here in Austin, who delivered her trio at 22 weeks in May, lost the surviving triplet baby boy Gabriel yesterday.

A triplet pregnancy is high risk. There are many success stories but occasionally those that break your heart. Brenda's babies were born too early and she lost Michael and Raphael within the first week. Their third, Gabriel, is a miracle baby and was doing well enough to be discharged from the NICU last Wednesday after seven months of care.

Sunday night he had had a fussy night, so they increased his oxygen and he seemed to be fine. Then Monday morning he was fussy again and she thought it was because he was hungry. They fed him, but he didn’t calm down right away. When they thought he was starting to calm down, she said he was actually taking his final breaths. George performed CPR and they rushed him to the emergency room, but unfortunately he passed away.

My heart goes out to this family. First for facing infertility, then for losing two of their trio and finally after months of intensive care and holding on to hope losing their third baby. They gave little Gabriel so much love in his short life and you could see the joy he brought them. No one should have to lose a child.

It reminds me not to take anything for granted and how incredibly fortunate we are that our trio were born close to full term and healthy.