Advice for parents of triplets:
Don't turn away help'
By Staff
HARPER TRIPLETS The Harper triplets are now 21 years old. Pictured are Lauri, left, Traci and Angi. They all live in Meridian. Their mother, Nell, said her advice to multiple parents is slow down and enjoy them while they are young. Submitted photo
By Penny Randall / staff writer
March 23, 2003
When Nell Harper of Meridian arrived home with her newborn triplet daughters in May 1981, she looked out the window and said, "I'll never be able to go outside again. I'm stuck right here in this room."
Now nearly 22 years later, Harper still gets excited when she remembers the day her girls came home. And said she is elated for Meridian's newest parents of triplets.
Her advice: "Enjoy them. I know they feel like, I'll never be able to do anything again,' but you'll turn around tomorrow and they'll be 21 years old," said Harper, who also has a son, Patrick, now 31.
Harper's husband, Don, a physical education teacher at Southeast Lauderdale Middle School, has this advice.
Nell, 52, took no fertility drugs.
A trip to Jackson
The girls were born five weeks early at Woman's Hospital in Jackson, but all were healthy. Traci weighed 4.5 pounds, Angi was 4.55 pounds and the smallest, Lauri, weighed 3.6 pounds.
Now about to turn 22, the girls each have their own interests and personalities.
Traci and Angi both attended the University of West Alabama and now work in Meridian. Lauri is still a student at the University of West Alabama majoring in elementary education.
Nell said some of the most memorable moments came when she took the girls out in public.
Triplet toddlers
When Susan Thaggard, 40, of Meridian found out she was having multiples, she was thrilled.
Greg and Susan Thaggard brought home their triplets Julia, Burke and Alec, who joined their older sister, Olivia, now 4 shortly after their birth on May 18, 2001.
Susan's advice: "Get help at night."
She also said do little things like double- and triple-make the baby beds so that when they spit up, you just rip off the dirty one and there's a clean one.
When Clair and Brad Huff of Meridian welcomed home their triplets Laura, Miles and Meredith on Oct. 10, 1994, their life also changed.
Huff triplets
The Huff triplets were born about six weeks early, but they all weighed more than 5 pounds and were healthy at birth.
The children, now second-graders at Poplar Springs Elementary School, joined older sister Sarah Margaret, who is now 12.
Clair, who took one cycle of a fertility drug to help her conceive, also has advice for Meridian's new triplet parents.
Clair said it helps to be organized and encouraged the new parents to spend as much individual time with their children as possible.
