Alysha Clark Went Into Labor With Triplets at 27 Weeks and Reached a Wisconsin Hospital With No NICU, So Staff Set Up Three Warmers and Delivered Them

By the time Alysha Clark reached SSM Health Monroe Hospital in Monroe, Wisconsin, she was already 7 centimeters dilated, and the hospital has no NICU. She was 27 weeks and 4 days pregnant with triplets, according to WMTV.

Staff set up three warmers, delivered the babies by emergency C-section and handed each one to its own pediatrician and nurse. The station’s report ran Oct. 2, about six weeks after the births, and it remains the most recent account of the family.

From a Planned Rockford Induction to a Monroe Delivery Room

Clark, who lives in Freeport, Illinois, and works in Monroe, had planned to deliver at a Rockford hospital with a NICU. WMTV reported that the plan was an induction at 34 weeks, more than six weeks after the day the babies came.

A few days before labor, she had contractions and lost her mucus plug. At the hospital, staff told her that was normal and that her cervix was closed, WMTV reported.

Labor began while she was at work. Clark told the station she was definitely scared, and that the contractions took over everything. She told her employer she had to go.

Three Warmers and a Team for Each Baby

Staff first prepared to transfer Clark to Rockford, WMTV reported. About 20 minutes after she arrived, they determined she would not be moved, and the hospital shifted to delivering the babies itself.

Doctors readied three warmers and assigned at least two staff members to each baby. Clark’s mother, Stephanie Baird, said it was “amazing that they had a pediatrician for each baby, a nurse for each baby.”

Two OB doctors were in the room, the station reported, along with respiratory staff, additional medical residents and a newly oriented nurse. Staff also arranged NICU transport vans, and Rockford NICU teams were already on their way to Monroe when the delivery happened.

Nurse Alyssa Pax said the team trains and drills for situations like this one, and this time the training had to be put into action. Charge nurse Alicia Hammon, who has worked at the hospital for 15 years and had never been part of a triplet delivery there, said the team simply jumped in and delivered babies.

Two Girls, a Boy and Three Ambulances to Rockford

The triplets are two girls and a boy. Each weighed a little more than 2 pounds, according to WMTV. Clark described them as “just so little.”

All three babies traveled to Rockford in separate ambulances. Staff notified the family each time one arrived safely. Jacques Smith, who spoke with the station, called the babies “so precious.”

The station did not give the babies’ names, the exact date of the births or the name of the Rockford hospital, and those details are left out here. Clark told WMTV the delivery felt like “more of like a God thing.”

What Doctors Say About Babies Born This Early

Babies born before 37 weeks are premature. The CDC says about 1 in 10 U.S. infants, or 10.4%, was born preterm in 2022, and that babies born before 32 weeks face higher rates of death and disability. The agency lists women carrying twins, triplets or more among those at higher risk of preterm birth.

The March of Dimes calls babies born under 32 weeks “very preterm.” It says they usually stay in the NICU until their organs can function without medical support, which can take weeks or months, and that a baby generally needs to weigh at least 4 pounds, stay warm without an incubator, feed by breast or bottle, and breathe on their own before going home.

A neonatal unit’s leaflet from University Hospitals Birmingham in England says the average baby at 27 weeks weighs about 930 grams, close to the 2 pounds reported for the Clark triplets. It adds that babies born at this stage often need breathing support, which can start with oxygen or CPAP.

Breathing help is part of that care. MedlinePlus says premature infants are typically placed in a warmer or incubator and monitored for breathing, heart rate and blood oxygen, and that CPAP, delivered through small nasal tubes, is used for milder breathing problems. Clark told WMTV that the two girls were having their CPAP monitors removed that Friday.

Hospitals with a NICU are organized by levels of care. The American Academy of Pediatrics says infants should receive care matched to their needs, an approach first proposed in 1976, and its 2023 standards set minimum requirements for each level of neonatal care.

The Staff Who Still Talk About It

Six weeks after the births, WMTV reported, the babies were getting bigger and continuing to grow stronger. The boy was “a little behind,” Clark said, but getting stronger each day.

At the hospital, the delivery has stayed with the people involved. Pax told the station the staff still talk about it, and Hammon said the team is always talking about those babies. Hammon said everybody was needed in the room that day.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Corey Coyle – CC BY 3.0/Wikimedia Commons