Identical triplets bring joy

• By LAURA FAULK
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Apr 7, 2008 - Page: 2B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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YOUNGSVILLE — If you’ve seen one of Chris and Danielle West’s sons, you’ve seen the other, and the other.

The Wests are proud parents of identical triplets, a rarity that occurs once in about 200 million births.

“We don’t know what happened,” Danielle said. “We just wanted one together.”

Chris and Danielle, who have been married for three years, also have a pair of 7-year-olds — one each from previous relationships. Chris’ daughter, Kiersten West, lives in Mississippi, and Danielle’s son, Hadley Trahan, lives with them and the triplets.
“It’s like we have twins and triplets,” Danielle said.

A trip to the doctor’s office at the beginning of Danielle’s pregnancy yielded two heartbeats. A sonogram then revealed three.
“They kept finding baby after baby after baby,” Danielle said. “That’s how we found out we were having triplets.”
The news drew mixed reactions. Chris was excited and started talking about having a baseball team, while Danielle’s head started spinning.
“I was scared. I started crying,” she said.
The triplets, now 19 months old, were delivered by cesarean section on Aug. 24, 2006, some three months before their Nov. 22, 2006, due date.

“They didn’t expect him to survive,” said Danielle, 27. “Now he’s the healthiest one.”

The triplets were in the hospital for three months, building strength and undergoing eye and hernia surgeries as well as dealing with complications from an early multiple birth.

Garrick and Garren both have cerebral palsy, and Garren is also legally blind. When the triplets came home, saying that the house was turned upside down is a gross understatement.

“We just lived in the living room for the first eight months of their life,” Danielle said. “Every three hours they’d wake up for a bottle, and when you were done feeding them, one-half hour later it was time to feed them again. It was hard. No sleep, no nothing.”
Chris, a native of Mississippi, said that Danielle would jump up for any little noise the babies made.

“She was scared,” said Chris, 28.

Time and trial eventually gave way to a set routine.

“Nowadays it’s pretty good. I can do it by myself now,” Danielle said.

The routine has the triplets up for breakfast at 7 a.m., with lunch at 10 and a nap at 11. They wake up at 1 p.m., have supper and a bath at 4, and retire for the night at 7.