Mother gets big surprise when triplets arrive

April 1987

THE mother of triplets – the first born in the Louth county hospital – gets a surprise.

Dorina Crimmins believes she is expecting twins!

A scan reveals that she is, indeed, expecting twins.

‘But after hearing of a woman who had triplets when told she was expecting twins, I decided to have a second scan,’ says Dorina, Emer Terrace, Castletown Road.

‘It too revealed that it was twins I was expecting, but clearly one of my daughters was determined to hide.’

Laura (3 lb. 8 oz.), Alison (3 lb. 11 oz.) and Nicola (3 lb. 10 oz.) arrive about six weeks early, and are delivered by Dr. Fallon, consultant at the Louth.

Dorina and her husband, Gerard, are delighted.

‘Naturally, there was great excitement in the hospital,’ recalls the proud dad, a native of Newry, who didn’t even get time to make it to the hospital between the call to this home and the births.

‘I wondered why everyone was running around and looking at me when I arrived, and at first I thought it was because we had twins.

‘Imagine the shock I got when I learned of the triplets.’

There is a history of multiple births in Dorina’s (nee Gartlan) family. She has twin sisters, and her great-grandmother was one of triplets.

After their birth, the girls are immediately taken to the special care unit at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, and are progressing well, while mum recovers in the Dundalk hospital.