EARLY ARRIVALS:THREE OF the country's newest citizens came close to being born in a snow-bound house in the mountains after deciding to arrive two weeks early.
Aaron, Finn and Ryan Hayden-Freeman were born on Wednesday morning at Wexford General Hospital – but only following a dramatic few hours after their mother Mandy Hayden-Freeman woke up with labour pains at 5am.
A quick look out the window of the family’s home in Ballindaggin revealed seven inches of snow on the mountainous surrounds and Mandy and husband John realised they had a job on their hands to travel the 25 miles to Wexford.
“I was booked into Holles Street for December 15th to have a Caesarean section but they decided they weren’t going to wait that long,” Mandy said yesterday of her impatient new sons. “There was a bit of a panic yesterday morning.”
John contacted the emergency services and, while they tried to organise a helicopter, two regular ambulances and two with four-wheel-drive set off to the isolated spot near Kiltealy in the Enniscorthy area.
“It was fairly hairy at one stage. I thought I was going to have them in the house,” Mandy said.
Eventually one of the ambulances reached the house, with two midwives on board, and got the expectant mother to Wexford at about 8.15am.
Little over half an hour later, Aaron made his first appearance, followed three minutes later by Finn and, after another minute, Ryan. The couple have a daughter, Chloe, who will celebrate her ninth birthday next week.
The triplets weighed 4lb 4oz, 4lb 1oz and 3lb 15oz, respectively and, while perfectly healthy so far, will spend the coming weeks in the hospital’s special care unit because of their size and arrival after 32 weeks of pregnancy.
“They’ll be there for Christmas,” said Mandy, who is due to be discharged on Sunday or Monday. She is originally from Tallaght in Dublin, and John is from Enniscorthy.