Amber and Cameron Goff had the surprise of their lives on March 5, 2024, when they went to Amber’s doctor for her 9-week ultrasound: she was pregnant with triplets.
The Houston couple had not had any IVF or reproductive procedures and claim there are no twins or triplets on either side of their family. “Everyone always asks that,” says Cameron Goff, 28, an internal medicine resident.
Then, during their 14-week scan, the first-time parents discovered that their babies were males and the triplets were identical.
Two weeks later, at a 16-week checkup, they received a more concerning update: the boys had a rare form of Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, in which all three shared a single placenta. In addition, they were in two amniotic sacs. (Normally, the infants would be in one amniotic sac or in three distinct sacs, according to Cameron.)
“The doctor said, ‘We’ve never seen this kind of triplet,'” recalls Amber, a 26-year-old accountant. “That was crazy.”
Blood vascular connections in the placenta allowed the brothers to share a blood supply, although it was not distributed evenly. “Baby C” was supplying a lot of blood to his siblings, “Baby A” and “Baby B.” The increased blood volume may overburden Babies A and B, straining their hearts. Furthermore, Baby C was born with little blood and amniotic fluid, causing him to be significantly smaller than his siblings.
“This is a very serious situation,” said Dr. Ahmed Nassr, a fetal surgeon at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. “This is a big problem.”
Nassr estimates that without therapy, all three newborns had a less than 10% chance of survival.
“It was scary,” Amber Goff says. “Doctors said, ‘You’ll just have to take it day by day.'” And I’m like, “When can I stop taking it day by day?” They say, ‘I don’t know.’ So it is difficult to hear.
Doctors stated that they had to undertake a complex procedure while the infants were in utero. Even if the treatment successfully disconnected the kids’ blood vascular connections, physicians were unsure if “Baby C,” the tiniest baby who was donating his blood, would survive. However, if the procedure was not performed, the other two would most certainly suffer from cardiac failure.
“I remember thinking, ‘This is the only option, so we’re doing it,'” Cameron explains. “They’re telling us we need this; let’s do it.”
Amber underwent ultrasounds every day, and physicians hoped to wait until 18 weeks, in mid-May, to do the surgery.
“We followed the pregnancy closely,” Nassr explains. “We tried to give her some time.”
However, at 17 weeks and two days, Nassr says there were early signs that the infants’ hearts were failing.
Nassr severed the infants’ connections on May 9 in what he characterizes as a “very complex surgery.”
Amber is happy that the physicians remained cool and did not suggest worst-case possibilities until the treatment was completed successfully. “They were worried—but they didn’t make us feel worried at all,” Amber claims.
“I felt a lot of peace throughout the entire process, which sounds so weird,” Amber said. “Everyone is asking, ‘Are you scared?'” And I felt really serene. Perhaps it was a hallucination. Who knows? “I just had a strong sense that everything was going to be fine,” she recalls.
Although the infants’ official due date was in October, triplets are often born between 32 and 35 weeks, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Amber Goff intended to have the kids in August, near her birthday. However, she went into labor a month earlier, and the kids were born via C-section on July 16 at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women.
Lelan Corder Goff weighed 1 pound, 15 ounces; Bennett Corder Goff weighed 2 pounds, 3 ounces; and William Corder Goff weighed 1 pound, 12 ounces at birth.
“I was so nervous. I was thinking, “The babies are too small,” Amber Goff recalls. She raises her cell phone and says they were “maybe a little longer.”
“They were tiny,” Cameron adds, only slightly larger than their parents’ palms.
The brothers were in the NICU for almost 100 days. They shared a corner room, and each baby got a devoted nurse.
Amber describes how terrible it was to have 1-2 pound infants in the NICU.
“When they were in the NICU, it was quite terrifying. However, you don’t really have an option. You need to turn up. And you can’t be a hot mess every second of the day because you’re dealing with physicians and sitting at the bedside,” she adds. “Even if you’re scared, you have to get up and be a parent.” I was also learning how to be a mom. It isn’t about me anymore. Today, the focus is on his oxygen saturation.
The couple lived 10 minutes from the hospital, so they would return home to sleep before rushing back to the NICU.
“It was a lot of brave face,” Amber Goff explains. “I feel more emotional now since it was all about survival. I was hyper-focused on all the info streaming through my phone and everyone contacting me all the time…it almost feels more raw now, since I’m in a safe area to experience all the fear and stress.”
She was especially anxious about Lelan, who had undergone bowel surgery. “At one time, they informed me that based on his operation, his survival percentage was around 50%. “It’s literally a coin flip,” she admits. “He nearly died many times. “It was a nightmare.”
On September 27, Lelan underwent surgery to remove the damaged piece of his bowel, and he was transferred to a higher-level NICU than his brothers.
Bennett and William’s NICU stay was quite uneventful. They learned to bottle-feed and were ready to go home at 44 weeks old. They returned home from the hospital in early November.
About two weeks later, on Thanksgiving, Lelan returned home.
Amber and Cameron had become full-time parents to three small children. “It’s really made us work as a team even more and communicate,” according to Cameron. At least one of the children always needs care or is crying. They say, ‘Sleep while the baby sleeps.’ However, it is difficult to get all three of them to sleep simultaneously. By the time we finish the third one, the following one will be awake in 20 minutes.
In May, the boys weighed around 15 pounds. They each use eight bottles each day (and their mother has started pumping breast milk, so she claims they wash around 50 bottles every day due to the stored milk).
“They’re so different,” Amber explains. “Bennett is a hypermuscular dude. He is really active. You pick him up, and he’s like a tiny ball of energy. We call William “the brains of the operation.” He intends to manage things. He is a genius. Then there’s Lelan, who is the softest, most cuddly tiny insect. He simply melts onto you, whereas Bennett attempts to leap off of you somewhere. And William attempts to take my earrings out.”
The triplets are now one year old. They celebrated their first birthday with a huge celebration themed ONE Silly Goose. Amber Goff crafted and embroidered birthday crowns. They welcomed everyone who helped them through their pregnancy and NICU stay, including two NICU nurses.
“In the NICU, the nurses were just so sweet,” Amber adds. When she takes the infants to the hospital for physical treatment, the nurses come to see the boys if they are present. “We formed really great relationships,” she confesses. “The nurses in the NICU and the doctors were just wonderful.”
The triplets are prospering. Lelan now weighs 16 pounds, William 18 pounds, and Bennett 19 pounds.
“They’re doing really well,” Amber says. “They are eating. They simply started clapping at each other. William is really close to crawling. And all Lelan wants to do is eat Ritz crackers while watching golf.”
Despite the bustle of having triplets, the couple is glad that their children are safe and healthy.
“When they’re screaming because they’re hungry or crying and peeing all over the couch because their diaper took too long to put on, you just have a lot more perspective,” Amber adds. “Things make things easier because you’re not bothered that they’re yelling. You’re simply glad they’re here, which sounds trite and ridiculous. But you’re simply glad that everyone got home healthy.”
“At the end of the day, they all returned home. They are very typical, healthy infants. And it’s in itself a miracle.