Family surprised with triplets following a miscarriage

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — April is multiple birth awareness month, and Children’s Hospital Colorado is drawing attention to the challenges and joys families face during these rare pregnancies.

Ludmila Feitosa and Raphael Santiago, a couple from Brazil, moved to Colorado in June of 2023 so Santiago could start a clinical fellowship at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Shortly after, Feitosa learned she was pregnant, after experiencing a miscarriage a few months earlier.

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“When we got there to do the ultrasound and see if there is everything okay, there is one baby there,” Feitosa said. “We went and saw the three babies.”

Feitosa said she remembered that moment well, including her husband’s reaction.

“Their dad was pale and I was passing out,” Feitosa laughed.

Even the day after, Santiago still didn’t believe it.

“I was like, ‘It wasn’t a dream?’ And she’s like, ‘no. It wasn’t a dream,'” he explained.

But, amidst the joy and happiness, the couple said there was a niggling of fear.

“We are physicians and we know there is more complications with multiple gestation in pregnancy,” Feitosa said.

Having triplets is considered a high-risk pregnancy, according to Children’s Hospital Colorado.

“One of the — the biggest — risk [for multiple-birth pregnancies] is delivering early,” said Dr. Michael Zaretsky, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at the Colorado Fetal Care Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado. “Any risk that you can have with pregnancy like high blood pressure, diabetes — these are going to be multiplied for her.”

The family and doctors decided to have her wait as long as possible before delivering. Feitosa was scheduled to deliver the babies at 36 weeks, on Nov. 2. But, when she went in for a routine appointment, she was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia.

“Once we had the diagnosis of severe preeclampsia, it was time for delivery. And so we, you know, got her all set up for a C-section which is necessary in this case,” Dr. Zaretsky said.

Since it was so sudden, Santiago was performing surgery on another floor, unaware of what was going on.

“Someone stepped into the room and was like, ‘So, I believe that they are about to deliver your babies. I think you, you got to go.’ And then I look at my attending and he was like, ‘What are you doing here, go!’ So, I was able to find them before the delivery and then was able to be there with her,” Santiago remembered.

Dr. Franklin Chow performed the C-section, assisted by Dr. Zaretsky, who was the first to hold the babies.

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“It is exciting even delivering one baby,” Dr. Zaretsky said. “I always have the honor of being able to hold each baby, and then I get to show the family each baby before cutting the cord and then handing off to the NICU team, which is an amazing team. So, I got to do this three times. And it just, it never gets old. It’s one of the most exciting things you can do in medicine.”

The delivery went smoothly until Feitosa began hemorrhaging shortly after.

“She went to surgery the same night and they were able to stop the bleeding,” Santiago said. “But it was scary.”

Now, all of them are happy and healthy and while it can be challenging at times, being a new parent to three babies instead of one, the family said they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“There is a saying in parenthood that says, ‘The days are long, but the years are short’,” Santiago said. “I know it’s sometimes it’s exhaustive, it’s not easy at all but at the end of the day, when we see them… growing up like healthy, we are like, you know what, I think it doesn’t matter if we are tired I mean we can do it, let’s do it.”

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