They wanted one more baby … they got three

By Maureen Gilmer, Riley Children’s Health senior writer, mgilmer1@iuhealth.org

It might be triple the work, but it’s also triple the love.

That’s how it feels for Brad and Heather Kercheval as they adjust to life with triplet NICU babies.

Verity, Asah and Temperance Kercheval were delivered at 32 weeks April 21 at Riley Hospital for Children’s Maternity Tower.

Verity was the biggest at 4½ pounds, followed by Temperance at 3½ pounds and Asah at just over 2 pounds. They’ve spent the past several weeks growing in the Maternity Tower NICU in Downtown Indianapolis, before recently making the move to Riley at IU Health North Hospital to be closer to the family’s Westfield home.

The girls’ names are a nod to relatives and family history, including Puritan and Quaker roots in centuries past, Brad explained.

With two older daughters at home, ages 4 and 6, Brad is already well-qualified as a girl dad, but now with three more baby girls he is entering uncharted territory.

Last year, he and his wife decided they wanted to have one more baby. Instead, they got three, despite no use of fertility drugs. There is a history of multiples on both sides of their family, but the couple’s first two children were typical births, so they expected a similar scenario to play out this time.

It was during an eight-week ultrasound that they got the news.

“Right away we could see that there was more happening than just one,” Brad said, “so we kind of laughed, but it looked like a litter of puppies in there.”

Though shocked, the couple continued to laugh as they recalled how friends had joked about this very thing happening a day earlier.

“Wouldn’t that be funny,” they responded at the time.

They laugh even now, despite facing the practical challenges of making room for three more babies in their home, while also confronting the medical ups and downs of preemies in the NICU.

“It’s been a crazy journey,” Brad said as he and his wife divided their time among their little ones in adjoining rooms in the Riley NICU.

Rather than feeling overwhelmed, they both went into logistics mode.

“We need a new car, how do you breastfeed three babies, how do we rearrange the house, what do we need,” Heather said as she ticked off items on their list. “But we didn’t really freak out.”

They got that new car, Heather is pumping for three babies (“it’s like a full-time job,” she said), and they’ve reconfigured their home to make space for a nursery for the girls, while their older two will now share a bedroom.

“Our motto through this whole thing has been that tomorrow will worry for itself,” Heather said. “Anxiety comes when you try to think way too far ahead instead of being in the moment. Right now, I feel really blessed to be in the NICU while recovering from a C-section, with our nurses helping establish a routine.”

The couple have been sustained by their faith, family and friends for the past several months and count on that to continue.

“Matthew 6 has been a key chapter for us this whole time,” Brad said of the Bible entry, which speaks about the power of simple, humble prayer and trusting in God’s providence.

“I struggle with anxiety, so when we are faced with this scenario, there’s only one way to handle it,” he said. “I can’t worry about what might happen.”

There’s a lot of growth in the whole experience, Heather agreed. Learning to accept help, being part of a community and relying on others is humbling, she said.

For now, the babies are doing reasonably well, and their parents are hopeful that at least one of them will be able to come home soon.

“We are thankful for the level of care we’ve received,” said Heather, who spent a month before the births under observation in the Riley Maternity Tower.

“All through the pregnancy, we wondered if they would survive. We are thankful that they did and they are cared for,” she added. “Learning to trust God and pray faithfully has been big for us.”

Photos submitted and by Mike Dickbernd, IU Health visual journalist, mdickbernd@iuhealth.org