BATESVILLE — Nineyear-old Madison Taylor always wanted a sibling. Last Christmas she got three.
Chaney Wes III, Ty Eastin and Sophie Grace Taylor may not have arrived Christmas day, but for Chaney and Leah Taylor of Batesville they are nothing short of a Christmas miracle. Three to be exact.
On Saturday the triplets born prematurely at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock will turn 1 year old. For the mom, Leah Taylor, it’s been a year full of excitement.
“There’s never been a dull moment, has there, Marcella?” asked Taylor, talking to her aunt while at home one recent afternoon.
“I think they’re wonderful,” Marcella Ramsey said, smiling, while holding Sophie. “They’re the most wonderful things ever, and I love them to death.”
Taylor learned in June 2008 that she was expecting triplets. However, with a due date of Feb. 28, 2009, what she wasn’t expecting was going into labor six weeks early. So when she did, “it was quite a shock,” Taylor said with a laugh.
Christmas Day for the Taylors, who were also busy settling into a new home, came and went. At 5:30 the next morning, however, Taylor’s water broke. Born premature and delivered via Caesarean section, the triplets spent six weeks at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.
Th e s e d ays t h ey a re healthy, easygoing, happy babies. Sophie, Taylor said, “she’ll just play by herself,” while young Chaney is “just a thinker. He’s easygoing, too. He takes it all in,” Ramsey said. Ty, who’s a little shy and weighed the least at 3.1pounds when born, hasn’t had any trouble since coming home from the hospital.
“They’re all happy babies - three little miracles, four with Madison,” Taylor said, smiling. And Madison, she said, is a wonderful big sister.
“She’ll feed them and help. She carries them around like they’re her dolls,” Taylor said with a laugh.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 20 on 12/20/2009