Hospital reports births of twins, triplets within 12 hours

The maternity ward at St. Francis Medical Center was hopping more than usual Dec. 31 when two local mothers gave birth to sets of twins and triplets within 12 hours of each other.

"We had all of these babies in the neonatal intensive care unit, and then all of a sudden, we had five more," said director of maternal child services Karen Thomas, R.N. B.A.

Rhonda Young of Benton, Mo., gave birth to twins Elizabeth Page and Karabeth Pauline Hale around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Around 5 p.m., Amy Ives of Cape Girardeau gave birth to triplets Madalyn, Mallary and Macey Ives.

"This is the first time it's happened here at St. Francis, and in my 37 years of working in obstetrics, I've never seen it happen," Thomas said. "It's pretty incredible."

Each of the five babies weighed just over three pounds and were delivered by cesarean. Dr. Ann Uhls delivered the triplets and Dr. Paul Clark delivered the twins.

"They're all doing beautifully," Thomas said. "It was all pretty exciting, but there was no anxiety on the staff's part. Everyone knew what to do."

St. Francis' NICU opened in September of 2001. Since that time, the unit has seen the birth of six sets of twins and two sets of triplets.