Teeming Up

A room at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange was packed with kids and moms Wednesday morning--but not in equal proportions. For every mother present, there were at least three children. The occasion: the hospital’s 16th annual multiple-birth reunion.

“It’s just a lot of fun,” said Valerie Orleans, the hospital’s director of marketing and organizer of the event.

The custom started in 1982, when five sets of triplets were born at the hospital.

“That was such an incredible thing for us,” Orleans said. “We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to get all the babies back together?’ The nurses pushed for it because, what tends to happen is, they take care of these babies and then never see them again.”

So they have come every year since, some of the 30 sets of triplets and three sets of quadruplets born at the hospital since 1982. This year, 12 of the triplet sets and two sets of quads--ranging in age from 3 months to 10 years--were on hand to exhibit their antics for the doctors and nurses, visit with Santa Claus and partake of chicken nuggets while their moms grabbed a much-needed opportunity to socialize and schmooze.

“It’s an opportunity for them to talk with each other and catch up on what’s happened over the years,” Orleans said. “It’s nice for the parents of the infants to see the people who have gone before them, that the children are doing well.”

That certainly seemed true for Susan Hasson, 40, whose four daughters were born on Mother’s Day, 1996. “It was great,” she said of Wednesday’s party. “I never get a chance to go out and meet other mothers of multiples. I enjoy just talking to people and saying, ‘My God, are you going as crazy as I am?’ ”

Pamela Morris, whose three sons and one daughter are 5 years old, said she found the gathering rejuvenating.

“It’s always fun to go back and see the children from previous years,” she said, “how they’ve grown and how happy and healthy everyone is. It’s just amazing how God does his miracles.”

Susan Sirovica, the 38-year-old mother of two boys and a girl, said that she got some valuable advice on a subject near to the hearts of all parents--toilet training.

“We talked about the hazards of potty training three children at once,” he said. “It’s quite challenging getting them all to the bathroom. You talk to other moms and find out that you’re not alone with the issues you face.”