READY OR NOT

“We were like, ‘Um, can we have an hour or so to do some things first? We didn’t come here expecting to have four babies today.’” After calling the grandparents, arranging care for Elsie, juggling coaches for a huge swim meet and packing their bags, Erich and Sally were back at Sanford prepping for C-section. On Mar. 8, 2019, (just a few weeks after big sister Elsie turned 2) four tiny, healthy, beautiful babies were born: Virgil Erich, 2 pounds, 14 ounces; Ruby Bridget, 3 pounds, 4 ounces; Jax Aaron, 3 pounds, 7ounces; Kit Jessalyn, 2 pounds, 5 ounces. Supermom Sally handled the delivery like a rock star, and true to their calm nature, not even having four babies in the NICU caused Erich and Sally to panic. Ruby was born with a hole in her heart, which healed on its own but still requires quarterly EKGs, and also needed an eye surgery early on. Kit, after failing the newborn hearing screening multiple times, needed tubes inserted in her ears to reduce fluid. Even so, the chill parents just rolled with it. “I just told the NICU staff, ‘You guys tell me when to worry. I’m not going to Google everything. I don’t need that stress. I’ll worry when you tell me to.’” Big sister Elsie got to know her baby brothers and sisters by watching NICU videos at home and listening to her parents’ stories. After five to seven weeks in the NICU, each baby came home one by one during a two-week period in late April. Each welcome home celebration was a day to rejoice as Elsie met her siblings.