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House of Dreams<br />
Camille Anding<br />
Just how<br />
little is a<br />
two-pound<br />
baby?<br />
Melinda Pickle knows.<br />
She had triplet preemies:<br />
Austin - 2.5 pounds,<br />
Brendan - 1.9 pounds, and<br />
Christopher - 2 pounds.<br />
Each preterm infant of<br />
twenty-seven weeks had<br />
a head the size of an apple.<br />
After the triplets’ birth,<br />
Melinda went to the Neonatal<br />
Unit at River Oaks Hospital<br />
every day for three months to<br />
visit them while caring for her<br />
three-year-old son, Matthew.<br />
Melinda had the option of taking one baby home at a time for a gradual adjustment,<br />
but decided taking all three at the same time was the best option. This was to be a new<br />
way of life for the entire family, so she addressed the caretaking in the way it would be<br />
for the years ahead.<br />
She remembers the feeding, bathing, changing and getting them to sleep as a routine<br />
that had to be repeated by the time the third one was fed and changed. It was a 24/7<br />
necessary routine. At times it was an emotional overload for Melinda, but she soon<br />
learned a fact describing her situation: “It takes a village to raise a family.”<br />
62 • SEPTEMBER 2023
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