GREELEY, Colo. (KDVR) — A mother of triplets was recently found in labor outside in the cold on a porch in Greeley, Colorado.
Father Eric Mayeda told NewsNation affiliate KDVR that police found his 24-year-old girlfriend in pain as it snowed and rained in the early morning hours of April 18.
Four officers arrived to help deliver two of the babies before she was rushed to the hospital to deliver the third.
“Being gifted three – going from none to three – I’m just over the moon about that,” said Mayeda, who became a first-time dad with the three little arrivals.
But getting them here wasn’t easy.
“This opportunity, or gift, would not have landed in our laps if we couldn’t handle it,” Mayeda said.
He said his girlfriend had been staying at her mother’s house when she began experiencing contractions.
“So, she walked to her neighbor’s house which is one of her friends that lives like a block away,” Mayeda said. “She made it two houses down from his house and her water broke. At that time, it was starting to rain, and it was cold out.”
Mayeda said the neighbor didn’t realize who she was at first. “She was wrapped in a blanket screaming at three in the morning,” Mayeda said. “That’s the last thing you’re going to expect, is one of your friends to show up at your door screaming bloody murder.”
Her friend called 911. Shortly afterward, four officers arrived and called the paramedics.
Then, they heard the first cry from a baby boy, and he was turning blue in the cold.
Officers tied the umbilical cord with bread ties, cut the cord and rushed the infant into a patrol car. Once the officer was inside the car, the baby stopped breathing. The officer started infant CPR and chest compressions, according to the Greeley Police Department.
The mother told the other officers that she was expecting triplets. Her friend talked with Mayeda via FaceTime during the delivery.
“He said, ‘Hey your kids are being born here on my porch,’ and I can see two GPD jackets,” Mayeda said.
The new mom and two babies were taken to the hospital, where the third baby was delivered.
The three boys were born 14 weeks early, yet Burt, Kikutaro and Billy-Bob have strong heartbeats.
“Words can’t even describe how happy I am to be a father,” said Mayeda.
The preemies were put into the neonatal intensive care unit, and Mayeda is anxiously waiting for the day he can hold them.
“I have to sit by and watch through a piece of plexiglass. Yes, I can reach in and do hand hugs, but to me, that is only so fulfilling,” he said.
Mayeda is thankful for the first responders who helped bring his babies safely into the world.
“With as cold as it was and everything, it was perfect ingredients for a perfect storm, for it not to end well had it not been for those guys,” said Mayeda.
He said his babies will remain in the NICU for at least four more months.
Their original due date was July 25, and while the couple knew they would come earlier, they did not expect a “spontaneous trifecta.” As a result, Mayeda has started a fundraiser to help with medical bills and supplies.