By Jaime Schwartzwald

Fairbanks- The delivery of triplets is something that rarely takes place in the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital (FMH) Women & Infant Center (WIS). It is so uncommon of an occurrence that no current staff could recount the last delivery of triplets at FMH. That all changed in late March.

At 11:22 and 11:23 on the morning of March 25, Ashley Zartman and Jesse McKenzie II added Jesse III, Jaedan and Aniyah to their family that already included 15-month old Koree.

Over 40 staff from across the Foundation Health Partners’ spectrum combined for the successful Cesarean delivery of the triplets.  Hours of planning and coordination had already gone into the delivery, scheduled for April 5.  The pre-planning would pay dividends when Zartman and McKenzie showed up weeks before that scheduled delivery date.  

“I was treated lovely, we were taken care of very well when we got here,” Zartman said. “All the nurses remembered me from when I had my first child.”

Their arrival was unexpected, but the team was prepared.

“We knew about her, but this was still an unscheduled happening,” said WIS Director Annie Perez. “She just dropped in and triaged, we couldn’t wait for her scheduled date.”

Staff made the decision at 9 a.m. to move forward with the Cesarean, which is the most common delivery method for triplets. That decision put into motion the coordination of nearly 40 staff, including the two OB physicians, Drs. Jessica Highfill and Kerry Wappett of TVC OB/GYN.   Also included were staff members from the WIS, OR, Respiratory, Denali Pharmacy, NICU and Anesthesia departments.  With any birth, there is the chance of complications.  However, a Cesarean presents a greater possibility of blood hemorrhage, or full codes for the mother or child.  Add to the fact that this was a delivery of triplets at 34 weeks, presenting a greater potential for codes and other complications.  

“Almost 40 people in the two ORs.” Perez said. “We had other labors happening, we had other mothers on the floor needing care, and we just had to make sure we also had those areas covered when we took this huge staff over to the OR.”     

The OR schedule was also altered to accommodate the two ORs needed for the delivery. One room was dedicated for the delivery, while the other was set up for post-delivery care of the triplets, with a pediatrician assigned to each infant and neonatal crash carts on hand, in the case of any needed emergent care.    

“We, as a hospital and unit, scheduled everything to make sure all staff had everything they needed,” said WIS RN Manager Tammy Pierson. “It was orchestrated well, and there were no spectators, everyone had a role”

The best part of this story, mom and the triplets are healthy and doing well.  Zartman says she is blown away with the attention, and care provided by all involved staff.

“It means the world to me that everyone would drop what they were doing to come help me and our children when we arrived.” Zartman said. “It’s a blessing that we have the care up here, and it was a blessing to be able to deliver my triplets here in Fairbanks.”

“It was crazy how well they took care of us,” McKenzie said. “Nobody seemed frazzled.  They had their teams prepared and ready.  They all made us feel special and like family, it’s hard to put into words how thankful we are for everyone involved.”

Perez, who has seen triplets delivered during previous employment at larger hospitals, described the event as a once in a lifetime opportunity at a small hospital like FMH.   However, there is another set of triplets scheduled for delivery at FMH in the near future.  If the events of March 25 are any indication, the staff will be again prepared to put patients first.