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The 39th annual NICU/ICN grad party set the stage for a heartfelt reunion between three premature siblings and their caregivers.
“The day we found out we were pregnant was the happiest and craziest day ever! Dad tested positive for COVID … Mom tested positive for something else! Little did we know, there were three of you in there!”
In January 2024, Orlando and Abigale Cardona became first-time parents of spontaneous triplets—siblings conceived without fertility treatment. They were told they would have two identical girls and one boy. The odds of naturally conceiving triplets are one in every 10,000 pregnancies. The Cardonas also have no family history of multiples.
“This journey looked a lot different than any of us imagined in the beginning,” Abigale says.
Navigating a high-risk pregnancy
At about seven weeks, Abigale was not feeling well. Her pregnancy symptoms were worse than anticipated, so she ended up going to an emergency room to get checked out.
“At the end of our eight-hour visit, we were informed that Abigale was pregnant with triplets,” Orlando recalls. “As you can imagine, it was quite the shock for us, and we just started laughing when we heard the news.”
The Cardonas eventually transferred their care to the Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford to ensure the healthiest outcomes possible for their unborn children and Abigale. Packard Children’s is the only children’s hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area—and one of the few in the country—to offer complex obstetric, newborn, and pediatric services all in one place.
Welcoming the triplets
Mateo, Parker, and Lennon Cardona made an early appearance at just 27 weeks and 2 days. They were placed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where they received care for their complex needs.
“We knew the NICU was always going to be a part of our journey,” Abigale says. “Anybody we talked to said, ‘Stanford Children’s is the place to be.’ We felt super-blessed that we had the support of our nurses and doctors from the beginning. As scary as it was, we wanted to walk with joy, knowing that our babies were in the best hands they could be in.”
Mateo underwent surgery for an intestinal perforation two days after birth, with other follow-up procedures. Despite his medical trials, his blond hair became a talking point for the NICU staff. He thrived under the touch of kangaroo care, and by late March 2024, Mateo was the first of the triplets to go home.
Lennon, who has the loudest laugh of the three and loves to chat, went home a week later. And Parker, who was known as “the boss around the NICU” and loves being carried, moved into the Immediate Care Nursery (ICN) in June. Then, after 166 days in the hospital, Parker completed the trio’s homecoming.
Reunion with their caregivers
The triplets turned 8 months old in September and reunited with their care team at the 39th annual NICU/ICN grad party. The event on Sept. 21 brought together nearly 500 children, families, and caregivers in a monumental celebration of life and perseverance.
“This is a special day for us seeing children be healthy and running around and getting to reconnect with families,” says Melissa Scala, MD, neonatal-perinatal medicine specialist at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. “Some of them you remember quite well because you spent many sleepless nights at the kids’ bedside. It’s a partnership to get a baby home. Having families who partner with us in the care of the baby to get the kid home is an incredible gift.”
For parents like the Cardonas, the event was a chance for them to say thank-you to the many care providers who helped them and their babies through the difficult days in the hospital.
“We became very close with the nurses and staff in the NICU,” Abigale says. “Some of my favorite memories involve celebrating our firsts, like when I got to hold our babies for the first time. We really had a community there that was celebrating with us. These are relationships we want to have forever, so to be able to show our babies’ caregivers how well they’re doing is huge for us.”
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford is recognized as one of the top children’s hospitals in the nation and as a “High Performing” hospital for maternity care by U.S. News & World Report.
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