James Kilpatrick has always had a busy schedule.

His daily commute to campus from his Lawrence, Kan., home is two and a half hours each way. Recently though, the assistant professor of Spanish became a lot busier.

James and his wife Christy, a sign language interpreter currently working on her master’s degree in deaf education at the University of Kansas, were married in 1990.

The couple loves to travel, so while they tried to have children in that time, they were in no big rush. This year, they decided it was time to try harder.

Christy was put on a medication called Glucophage, which is normally taken by diabetics, but has also been shown to regulate hormones in women and help couples conceive. The Kilpatricks found out Christy was pregnant in mid-January.

In February, the day after her 35th birthday, Christy felt sick. Worrying she was having a miscarriage, she went to the doctor. After doing blood work the doctor thought it necessary to do a sonogram, and gave Christy some unexpected news – she was pregnant with triplets.

“I was pretty devastated,” Christy said. “It was not even on my radar.”

Christy’s first reaction was to call her husband in the middle of a class he was teaching. Since she never called him while he was teaching a class, he thought that something bad had happened.

“I immediately told her that it was OK if she’d had a miscarriage,” James said. “We’d get through it.”

After his wife told him to sit down, she gave him the shocking news.

The couple was advised many complications are normal for a multiple pregnancy, like high blood pressure, gestational diabetes and forced bed rest for the mother and an early-term labor. However, Christy had almost a model pregnancy.

The triplets were delivered Sept. 7 by Caesarean section. Abigail Jean, five pounds, eight ounces was born at 8:04 a.m., Emma Grace, four pounds, eight ounces was born at 8:05 a.m. and Calvin James, four pounds, seven ounces was born at 8:06 a.m. Two of the babies were full term, which is very uncommon, and only one, Emma Grace, was kept in the neonatal intensive care unit.

“We didn’t expect two of the children to be in the room with us the same day,” said Kilpatrick. “We were pleasantly surprised.”

The first obstacle the couple dealt with was the simple act of shopping for baby clothes. Outfitting three instead of one has proven to be such a large job Christy is forced to make charts of which baby has what.

To assist with the care of the children, Kilpatrick’s mother-in-law has been staying with the family, and friends have been cooking hot meals for them, as well as filling their freezer with prepared meals. Christy talked to other moms with triplets and has joined a national organization “Triplet Connection,” which offers new parent packets, newletters, products and other useful items.

“We’re first-time parents; it’s not like we’re pros at it,” Christy said.

The Kilpatricks expect there to also be many tough milestones in the future having three children starting new things at the same time – most notably the first day of Kindergarden, all three wanting to get their driver’s license at the same time and paying college tuition for all three. Kilpatrick even thinks about going through the “empty nest” syndrome in the future if all three leave home at the same time.

The triplets are the first grandchildren on either side of the Kilpatricks family.