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For the Brown family, blessings — and little miracles — come in threes.
Former Ardmoreites Cory and Lori Brown had a better chance of winning the lottery than they did becoming pregnant with identical triplet girls — a one in 200,000,000 chance of occurring naturally. But their lives will be three times richer because of the blessings they have been given, even if it costs them three times as much monetarily.
In the living room of Cory’s parents’ house near Springer, the couple relaxed recently as they talked about the life paths that brought them to this special place as the future parents of three little girls they have already named Kyra, Kendree and Kami.
Cory formerly was the service manager at Fenton Honda in Ardmore and Lori worked for Michelin for more than five years before they moved to Houston last October for Cory to fulfill a dream to get into the pro racing industry. Currently, he attends the Houston School of Automotive Machinists as a full-time student and works part-time in admissions for the school itself. When he graduates, Cory will be a master machinist designing pro race engines.
“I guess as a kid, my family has always been interested in racing and I wanted to take it a step further,” Cory said. “I’m a gearhead and I like to build and design. I don’t really care to drive. I checked into this (school) in 1998 and finally got to go in 2007.”
The total duration of the school is 18 months and Cory has 41/2 months left. He always said he wanted to be a father by the time he graduated, so he and Lori set out to become parents. It wasn’t long before they discovered their dream had been realized. Shortly after that, an ultrasound revealed they were blessed three times over.
The radiologist reading the ultrasound gave the Browns their first glimpse into their unexpected situation.
“She said, ‘I can’t say for sure. The doctor has to confirm it, but that looks like a baby and that looks like a baby and that looks like a baby,’” Lori said. “We were totally blown away. We both laughed until we cried and just thought it was the coolest thing ever! We do not have any multiples at all on either side of our family, nor did we take any fertility drugs. We simply were blessed by God with these three babies.”
For the Brown family, blessings — and little miracles — come in threes.
Former Ardmoreites Cory and Lori Brown had a better chance of winning the lottery than they did becoming pregnant with identical triplet girls — a one in 200,000,000 chance of occurring naturally. But their lives will be three times richer because of the blessings they have been given, even if it costs them three times as much monetarily.
In the living room of Cory’s parents’ house near Springer, the couple relaxed recently as they talked about the life paths that brought them to this special place as the future parents of three little girls they have already named Kyra, Kendree and Kami.
Cory formerly was the service manager at Fenton Honda in Ardmore and Lori worked for Michelin for more than five years before they moved to Houston last October for Cory to fulfill a dream to get into the pro racing industry. Currently, he attends the Houston School of Automotive Machinists as a full-time student and works part-time in admissions for the school itself. When he graduates, Cory will be a master machinist designing pro race engines.
“I guess as a kid, my family has always been interested in racing and I wanted to take it a step further,” Cory said. “I’m a gearhead and I like to build and design. I don’t really care to drive. I checked into this (school) in 1998 and finally got to go in 2007.”
The total duration of the school is 18 months and Cory has 41/2 months left. He always said he wanted to be a father by the time he graduated, so he and Lori set out to become parents. It wasn’t long before they discovered their dream had been realized. Shortly after that, an ultrasound revealed they were blessed three times over.
The radiologist reading the ultrasound gave the Browns their first glimpse into their unexpected situation.
“She said, ‘I can’t say for sure. The doctor has to confirm it, but that looks like a baby and that looks like a baby and that looks like a baby,’” Lori said. “We were totally blown away. We both laughed until we cried and just thought it was the coolest thing ever! We do not have any multiples at all on either side of our family, nor did we take any fertility drugs. We simply were blessed by God with these three babies.”
Lori was put on bed rest at 20 weeks, after experiencing some severe pain at 16 weeks, her body undergoing “growing pains” as it made room for its three new occupants. She went on medical leave from her job as an automotive service adviser for an automobile dealership in Houston. Lori moved to Ardmore to stay with her mother to be closer to her doctor in Oklahoma City and the hospital where her babies will be born. Her plans are to move into an apartment here for the duration of her pregnancy.
In the meantime, Cory is attending school in Houston and working part time there, living in a vacant house across the street from the school, provided to him by the owners of the school.
Because of their unique situation, Lori immediately started seeing a high-risk perinatologist at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. Being of Choctaw heritage, Lori has always used the Indian clinic for her medical needs and decided it would be more cost effective to use the hospital in Oklahoma City, which has a level III neonatal intensive care unit for the girls. Because she’s not working and Cory works part-time, the family has also qualified for SoonerCare, which will help with medical care for the girls.
In the meantime, they are closely watching their little girls grow and keeping an eye on their health. Dr. John Stanley is keeping a close watch on Kami, the smallest of the three sisters. Lori said an ultrasound revealed that the blood flowing through Kami’s umbilical cord isn’t constant and the other two babies are getting more nutrition than she is. So the goal is to get the pregnancy to at least 28 weeks before the babies are delivered. Lori’s task is to gain as much weight as possible — up to 60 pounds — constantly drinking protein shakes and eating protein bars in hopes of boosting Kami’s weight.
It seems like keeping track of each baby in the womb would be difficult at best, but Lori said it’s been easy so far. The challenge will be keeping track of who is whom after they are born.
“They’re all different weights and from the beginning, they were in certain positions and we’ve been able to keep track of which one’s which,” Lori said.
“We already have the little ankle bracelets made because by the time they get out of the hospital, they’ll be about the same weight, and they should look the same. They have to have color coordination so we don’t get them mixed up,” she said. “We have each name with a different color, so that’s how they’re going to grow up in their lives, with those colors, because we have to know who they are. We can’t very well tattoo their names on the bottom of their feet.”
Kyra’s color is hot pink, Kendree’s is light pink and Kami’s is purple. Cory and Lori hope the girls like the colors they chose for them, or at least will get used to them in time.
Family, friends and even strangers have been keeping up with the progress of the Brown pregnancy through the couple’s MySpace page at www.myspace.com/coryloribrown. Ever since they got the news of the pregnancy, Lori has posted weekly updates, especially after it was discovered she was having identical triplet girls. The Web page includes blogs about doctor visits, ultrasound pictures and week-to-week belly photos.
Looking ahead, the Browns know the babies will be in the hospital NICU for one to two months after delivery and invite anyone who wants to to pray for the girls and their healthy delivery. Until then, the family has been busy making plans for the new arrivals — in triplicate.
“We aren’t going to necessarily need three of everything right away,” Lori said. “Originally, these type of triplets will sleep together for about the first six months because they’re used to being together. They’ll want to sleep together to sleep peacefully. We’ve already started reading books on what they babies can share and what they’ll need individually.”
The Browns are registered online at Walmart.com to make it easier on family members and friends to pick out gifts for their upcoming Jan. 17 baby shower. But they will still need custom-made items to accommodate the triplets. And the first step after the births is to get a mini van.
“Looking down the road, there’s a lot you have to think about,” Cory said. “Our main goal right now is for her to eat well and make sure the babies are healthy and safe.”
Anyone who wants to donate items to the family can contact family friend Rebecca Harris at (580) 465-0885, or drop them off at 704 9th Ave. SE in Ardmore.
