Triple the fun

The nurses moved the cords and adjusted the blankets, and then Vanessa Burleson got to hold her baby girl Braylea for the first time Wednesday since she was born two weeks ago.

Braylea is one of triplets born to Burleson two weeks ago. All three girls - Addisyn, Jayci and Braylea - were born prematurely at 30 weeks. Until Wednesday, the girls weren't stable enough to hold.

"She's so light compared to my chunk," Burleson said.

Burleson's "chunk" is her 18-month-old son Bradyn.

Burleson and husband Justin now have a six-member family with the addition of the triplets.

"At first I was in denial, but I gradually learned to accept it," Burleson said of learning she was going to have triplets.

Burleson, who said she has always had a difficult time getting pregnant, was undergoing fertility treatments when she got pregnant. But, Burleson insists she's not like other moms who have recently given birth to multiples.

"People say, ‘Oh, you're like that Octo-mom,' and I always say ‘Oh, hell no,' " Burleson laughed. "We've always done fertility treatments ... this time it just worked a little too well."

Burleson said she's been busy preparing for the three new additions and had to buy three of everything. The former Medical Center Hospital nurse said the hardest part of caring for triplets is that she will have three babies at all at the same time.

"I've been pointing to my belly saying, ‘Sissies,' " Burleson said of explaining the addition to her son Bradyn. "He's still too young to understand what that means ... but we wanted (our children) close in age."

All three girls were born by Caesarean section to avoid complications. Jayci, the smallest, weighed in at 2 pounds 14 ounces. Addisyn weighed 3 pounds 3 ounces at birth and Braylea, the biggest at birth, weighed 3 pounds 5 ounces.

All three girls are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at MCH. Although the girls appear fragile, Registered Respiratory Therapist Malynda Nowell said looks are sometimes deceiving.

"We know exactly how to touch the babies," Nowell said. "Parents get really afraid to touch them or hold them, but it's important for them to."

"Are you going to smile?" Burleson cooed to Braylea. "You are so pretty."

"It really helps for moms to hold and touch them as soon as they're stable," registered nurse Cathy Caskey said.

Burleson's mother, Sherry Renfro, said originally she wasn't thrilled with the prospect of triplets because she "knew it would be too many."

Now, the doting grandma was hustling about the NICU helping the nurses change diapers, talking and cooing.

"They had to grow on me," Renfro laughed. "But now, I wouldn't take anything for them ... they will be (spoiled) rotten."