Triplets born at Saint Francis Medical Center

Lexy and Scott Nees are celebrating this week. Their triplets -- daughters Payton and Kennedy and son Lawson -- were born Wednesday at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

Her husband Scott was the only one allowed in the delivery room with her, Lexy Nees said. "He came with me Monday when we got here, and he wasn't able to leave the hospital at all," she said. "I was glad I could have him here."

Born at 8:24 a.m. on April Fools' Day, she said, the triplets were eight weeks early, and are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for now, as they learn to eat and breathe on their own.

Babies and mother are doing well, she added. "They're progressing really good."

The plan was to come up from their home in Marmaduke, Arkansas, in three weeks for a C-section, she said, but she had preeclampsia, so the babies needed to come early.

"We came in Monday and had them Wednesday," she said.

But they weren't quite prepared yet.

"We have everything we need at home, but I had planned on, if I did have them early, we could go back and forth between home and the hospital," she said. "But, with them in the NICU, we can't leave."

Nees said she's grateful for family members who are getting things ready at the house. "I don't know what we'd do if we didn't have them," she said.

Dr. Maryann Reese, president and chief executive officer of Saint Francis Healthcare System, said, "Even in this time of crisis, it is comforting to celebrate our OB Team and the safe birth of triplets. This is a joyful occasion and reminds us that life triumphs."