Edward Hospital's 2000th Multiples

Madison Josephine Lange and Dylan Jeremiah Lange may not know it yet, but they’re very important babies.

They represent the 2000th set of multiples cared for at Edward Hospital, something their parents didn’t even know in the moment.

“And everyone was snapping photos and I was like ‘maybe they do this for all twin births or maybe all the doctors get excited every time’,” said Sarah Esche-Lange, Madison and Dylan’s mother.

“It was like a big celebration, like yeah this is great!” said Erik Lange, the twins’ father.

Sarah was admitted to the hospital with contractions on July 14, just 27 weeks into her pregnancy. She spent eight and a half weeks there, trying to get the twins to full term.

“Then we went home for about a day and a half and turned around and came right back because these guys didn’t want to wait any longer,” said Esche-Lange.

Madison and Dylan were born on Saturday September 15, just shy of a full term pregnancy. Dr. Robert Covert said pre-term births are one of many risks of pregnancies with multiples.

“Mom can have a lot of complications from multiples births,” said Covert, medical director of the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Edward Hospital. “Hypertension, bleeding, the obvious, most frequent is preterm birth because at least 50 percent will be born before 37 weeks so will be considered preterm.”

Luckily, all indicators point to a happy, healthy mother and babies.

Many of the other parents of Edward’s multiples travelled from out of the area for the hospital’s reputation. Edward’s NICU is designated Level III, meaning it can handle even the most at-risk newborns.

Rate of multiples is nearly three times higher than the national average for that reason. That reputation gave the Lange’s an extra sense of security.

“The NICU was what made us decide we wanted to deliver here in the first place, just in case,” said Esche-Lange. “We had decided that right off the bat because we knew that if there were any complications, this is where we wanted to be.”

Dylan and Madison weren’t just a special arrival for their parents, but the nurses as well. September 15 is Neonatal Nurses Day.

Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.