Quad Cities-area mom delivers triplets on National Triplet Day
Closely monitored by UI Health Care experts, Lori Pinckney carried three boys to 35 weeks.
As any fan of the old Schoolhouse Rock songs knows, "Three is the magic number." In the case of the Pinckney family, that takes the form of triplets — three healthy baby boys to complete this happy family from Coal Valley, Illinois.
“My husband always wanted four kids, but after our daughter was born, I told him I thought I only had one more pregnancy in me,” Lori Pinckney says. “Turns out, we both got our way! Two pregnancies, four kids.”
It wasn’t quite as easy as she makes it sound, however.
During Pinckney’s first pregnancy in 2021, a preeclampsia diagnosis led the couple to University of Iowa Health Care. She was at 29 weeks.
While understandably anxious, Pinckney and her husband, Tevien, knew she’d be in good hands because of UI Health Care’s reputation as one of the top hospitals for maternity care and its track record of positive health outcomes for extremely premature babies.
Goldie (short for Marigold) was born at 30 weeks and spent more than 10 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Now, she’s a thriving preschooler, but even that experience couldn’t have prepared the couple for what lie ahead.
After unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant again, the Pinckneys turned to UI Health Care for fertility counseling. Her doctors prescribed medicine that helps stimulate egg production and ovulation. At first, it didn’t seem to work.
And then it did. Times three.
Upon learning they were pregnant with triplets, Pinckney says, “My husband’s first comment was, I’m glad we have a membership to Costco!”
Pinckney says they knew without question that they would go back to UI Health Care for this entire pregnancy because of the care they had received with Goldie.
“High risk pregnancies are scary, but with my team at UI Health Care, I felt cared for and listened to,” Pinckney says. “They explained every single thing they were doing, and they gave me hope that everything was going to work out because they had been here before.”
With triplets, providers prefer patients to get to 35 weeks before delivering, if possible, but about 75% of them are born before that milestone. Because their daughter was born five weeks earlier than that, the couple didn’t think there would be any chance they’d make it past that point.
Mark Santillan, MD, PhD, one of Pinckney’s obstetricians, credits the high-risk pregnancy team’s significant experience as the key factor in why some women decide to deliver at UI Health Care instead of their local provider.
“No matter how good our diagnostic criteria, or how excellent the monitoring technology is, there is still no replacement for clinical experience and judgment,” Santillan says. “We are trained to see the subtleties that can easily be overlooked.”
Santillan is a part of Iowa’s most experienced maternal-fetal medicine team and has been at UI Health Care for close to 20 years. He sees moms and babies from all over the state.
“We have so many experts and resources concentrated here at UI Health Care,” Santillan says. “Of course, we wish there were no high-risk pregnancies and deliveries, but when there are, we are absolutely set up to handle it. We have the monitoring and processes in place to protect our patients from the worst-case scenarios. Our clinical experience on top of our resources can make a world of difference in an emergency situation.”
When Pinckney’s pregnancy reached the 30-week mark, the doctors determined that while she was again exhibiting some signs of preeclampsia, it wasn’t severe enough to schedule the delivery just yet. They were able to get her blood pressure under control and monitor other symptoms. They also continued to monitor the health of the babies, while allowing them to continue to grow and get closer to the recommended delivery time for triplets (around 35 weeks).
As that milestone approached, the OB team determined it was time to welcome the triplets to the world. A cesarean section was scheduled for March 3, 2025, when Quincy Craig, Wesley Kenneth, and Theodore Wilson were born, each weighing more than 6 pounds.
It just happened to be National Triplet Day.
“I wish we could say we planned that,” says Santillan, with a chuckle.
Quincy and Theo had to spend some time in the NICU, but Wesley went home with mom and dad just a few days after being born.
“Through it all, I felt so cared for and that I was always in capable, expert hands,” Pinckney says. “We really got to know all of our providers and they played a role in our story.”
With the three baby boys now two months old, life looks a little different than before at the Pinckney home. Lori and Tevien divide up the daytime, evening and nighttime ‘shifts’ so they can get some rest. A nanny helps out a few days a week, and other family members and friends assist when they can.
It’s a busy life, but all things considered, Lori feels like she’s been blessed and is looking forward to Mother’s Day this year. When asked how she’d like to celebrate, she says nothing’s been planned yet except one thing.
“A nap,” she says with a smile.
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