Edward Hospital celebrates birth of 2,000th set of multiples
As new parents Sarah Esche-Lange and Erik Lange of Aurora welcomed twins over the weekend, everyone involved with newborns at Edward Hospital in Naperville stood amazed.
The proud parents - still beaming two days later - didn't understand all the extra excitement, all this talk of the 2,000th something-or-other and of special recognition.
"Everyone was snapping photos, and I was like, 'Maybe they do this with every twin birth,'" Esche-Lange said.
Not so.
The hoopla around the birth of Madison Josephine Lange and Dylan Jeremiah Lange at 2:19 and 2:20 a.m., respectively, Saturday came because the duo marked the 2,000th multi-baby birth at Edward since the hospital gained capacity to care for the tiniest and neediest premature newborns in 1996.
Dr. Robert Covert, a neonatologist and medical director of the Newborn Intensive Care Unit, called it an "important landmark" in the history of care at the hospital.
Over 22 years, doctors and nurses at Edward have managed the live deliveries of 65,592 babies, including 1,931 pairs of twins, 64 sets of triplets, four sets of quadruplets and one instance of quintuplets, of which four babies survived.
The hospital's multiples rate now stands at 3.1 percent - nearly triple the national average of 1.3 percent, Covert said. He chalks up the difference to the high rate of fertility treatments in DuPage County, which can increase the likelihood of multiples, and to the hospital's reputation as a destination for quality premature newborn care.
The family that came to be the 2,000th case chose Edward because of that reputation.
"The NICU is what pretty much made us decide that we wanted to deliver here," Esche-Lange said. "We knew that if there were any complications that this is where we wanted to be."
The family actually became minor celebrities at the hospital before the twins' births.
That's because Esche-Lange, 36, spent roughly two months in Edward from July 14 until Sept. 12 as doctors worked to control the early contractions she began at 27 weeks - 13 weeks short of the pregnancy finish line.
With a combination of medication, injections, nutrition and time in bed under the care of doctors such as Covert and Donald Taylor, medical director of maternal fetal medicine and a specialist in high-risk pregnancies, Esche-Lange kept the babies inside for 36 weeks and one day.
"Edward did such an amazing job keeping them in the best incubator, which was me," she said.
While it was tough for Esche-Lange to give up her plan of working at her job in human resources until the births, she and Lange, a 34-year-old fitness instructor, said they were pleased with the care she received.
Covert said antepartum steroids helped prepare the babies' lungs for life and to slow Esche-Lange's contractions, although she continued to experience them throughout her months in the hospital.
"We pretty much moved in here," she said.
Now with two healthy newborns, who didn't need the NICU after all, the couple are ready to go home Tuesday.
"I think we're going to stay away from the hospital for a little while," Lange said.
For their part in the hospital's milestone show, 2-day-olds Madison and Dylan slept quietly through 45 minutes of camera snaps and questions.
The duo earned their parents' endorsement as great kids so far, eating and sleeping at the same times. Tuesday's homecoming will unite Madison and Dylan with their half-brother, 11-year-old Jordan, Lange's son from a previous relationship.
Jordan said he originally wanted just a sister but now is excited for both of his 5-pound siblings, looking forward to teaching them how to play basketball. Little Dylan looked ready for the challenge, wearing a white baby cap with black swirls and the Air Jordan Jumpman logo in Chicago Bulls red.
Amid smiling hospital executives proud of the 2,000th set of multiples, the Lange family stood, sat or slept - united and thankful.
"We're in this together," Lange said. "And this is just the beginning."