Lise and Brian Boldt and their son MacKenzie welcomed triplets into the world last week. ____________________________________________________________
MacKenzie Boldt now has three sisters, and the two-and–a-half year-old son of Brian and Lise Boldt loves it.
The Boldts welcomed the arrival of triplets last Thursday, the first time in nine years a tot triumvirate has been born in North Bay.
“Their heads are so soft,” MacKenzie said. “I love them.”
Feeding and thriving Lise said it was “amazing, great, unbelievable” to have held her newborn daughters so early.
All three girls were born via caesarean section.
Emilie, 3 lbs, 13 oz., arrived first at 10:24 p.m., May 27, followed by her identical twin Micheline, 3 lbs, 10 oz at 10:25 p.m. Two minutes later their fraternal sister Brianna was brought into the world, weighing in at a sturdy 4 lbs, 2 oz.
They’re feeding and thriving in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the North Bay General Hospital, and are expected to be released in several weeks.
“It’s actually through the blessing of in-vitro fertilization that we’ve had the girls,” said Brian Boldt.
Roller coaster ride Boldt said he and Lise have been married for 17 years, “really love children, but had had problems conceiving them despite trying “for a long time.”
“We had MacKenzie through IVF and we decided we wanted one more, so countless thousands of dollars and quite an an emotional timelater, we found out we were pregnant again,” said Boldt, adding the couple had worked with Dr. Arthur Leader and his team at the Parkdale Clinic, at the Ottawa Civic Hospital.
The experience, Boldt said, was “a roller coaster ride.”
“Initially we found out we were pregnant, which was great, another child, just what we wanted, and the initial ultrasound showed we were having twins,” Boldt said.
A second ultrasound showed the twins had turned into triplets while the third showed they were all boys.
But a subsequent ultrasound revealed the boys had become girls.
“So we’ve been up and down and around the corners,” Boldt said, “and we didn’t care one way or another whether it was boys or girls. We were just ecstatic.”
Healthy at birth Lise did not go full-term and delivered at 33 weeks, Boldt said.
“She went into labour last Tuesday and started to dilate,” said Boldt, a military man stationed with 21 Wing at CFB North Bay.
“We would have liked to have a gone a little longer in the womb, but I think the girls were ready to come out.”
The babies were healthy at birth and didn’t require any assistance breathing, Boldt added.
Scary for a while Boldt admits the logistics of what’s going to happen over the next little while “and indeed the next few years” are “staggering.”
“One of the articles I read mentioned 40 diapers a day, so logistically that’s going to be scary for a while,” Boldt said.
“We’re not afraid of the challenges ahead of us, though because we’re just looking so forward to having the girls come home and starting the process all over as we did with MacKenzie.”
Babies in his tummy Boldt said he and Lise had prepared MacKenzie for the birth of his new siblings.
“In fact throughout the pregnancy he said he was carrying three little babies in his tummy,” Boldt said.
“We got him a doll too, so he could associate the size and so forth, and he goes in there and pats their head and is very gentle with them. He’s also really a big helper around the house, loves to help and I think that’s going to be a real asset to us.”
MacKenzie also received special big brother instructions from his folks, Boldt said.
“We told him he’s going to have to fail Grade 9 three times so he can ride shotgun for his sisters.”
