Two of a kind,

three of a kind,

full house

Twins join triplets at

Hammeschmidts' home

By TONY ZIEBOL

Journal Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD -- Sitting in the living room of Gina and Rod Hammerschmidt of Springfield, their triplet 5-year-old sons Caleb, Cody and Cole refuse to sit still.

Wrestling with each other and jumping on their parents, the boys won't stay in the same place for more than a minute.

The elder Hammerschmidts are accustomed to handling three bundles of energy, but their parenting task recently became more difficult.

Gina gave birth to twin girls on Nov. 28.

Cheyanne Alice arrived at 12:58 p.m. at New Ulm Medical Center, weighing 4 lbs., 9 oz. Her sister Cassandra Ann entered the world one minute later at 12:59 p.m., weighing 5 lbs., 5 oz.

"All of sudden I was pregnant one day, and six months later they told me I had twins," Gina said. "When I told (Rod) we were having twins, he was like, 'Don't tell me that.'"

Even Gina's doctor was surprised.

"He kept telling me, 'No, you're going to have a big baby,'" Gina said.

However, an ultrasound confirmed what she had suspected already she was having twins.

The Hammerschmidts say having twins runs in the family, but triplets were something new.

In actuality, the triplets were almost quadruplets, as a fourth fetus was lost about half way through the pregnancy.

Gina was taking fertility drugs to get pregnant, but three months into the pregnancy, the Hammerschmidts received quite a shock to discover that three babies were on the way.

"That was a little hard to take," Gina said. "Then (with the twins), we got used to having one, and we found out we had two. I thought we were done with the boys, but I guess we weren't."

Rod agreed.

"The grandmas got their wish," he said. "They wanted girls."

The Hammerschmidts' biggest concern is the possible financial strain the five children may cause and having enough room in their house.

"I thought we had a big enough house, but the more I look at it, I don't know," Gina said, adding that they plan on remodeling the house. "They're healthy. That's what's most important."

Currently employed at Coleman Powermate Compressor Inc. in Springfield, building air compressors, Rod has been putting in 50-60 hours a week to provide for the family.

Gina plans to go back to work in January, working a couple of days per week at St. John Lutheran Nursing Home in Springfield.

As for having five children, Gina comes from a big family and has eight brothers and sisters, so it's not an issue for her.

"I've been around babies for a long time," she said. "For me, it's a piece of cake. It's a little different for (Rod)."

Rod comes from a smaller family. He has three brothers.

Besides financially, he said the biggest current problem is that there's little free time outside of the immediate family.

"There's no time anymore for anything else," he said.

On the positive side, the triplets, now in kindergarten, have welcomed their sisters with open arms.

"They like (having them around)," Rod said. "I don't think they understand what they can and can't do, but they'll adjust. "They want to hold them and feed them and do other things with them."

Rod said telling the boys apart is easy because they have different sizes corresponding to the order of their birth and are not identical.

The Hammerschmidts are still awaiting the results from testing the girls to see if they are identical.

"If they're not going to be (identical), they're going to be very close," Gina said. "One has a mark on her leg and that's how I tell who she is. Otherwise, I wouldn't know (the difference)."

Although still in the distant future, the Hammerschmidts wonder what the kids will be like as they grow up together and worry about peer pressure.

"I just wonder if they'll be doing the same thing or go their separate ways," Gina said. "If they're all going to want their own cars."

Another concern is how to pay for college if they all want to go.

"Hopefully, grandma is sticking money away," Rod said.

For now, the newborns obviously don't do much, and the triplets have more basic interests.

"Horses," Gina said (The Hammerschmidts own horses and a couple of cows and each son has a pony). "That's all they talk about."

And they talk to each other a lot.

"They fight, but they get along," Rod said. "If one's gone, they wonder when they're going to be home."

"And if one is sick, they get worried," Gina said.

Despite the troubles of raising a twins and triplets, the parents are happy and enjoy the young ones.

Most of the time.

"You know better than that, to fight with the babies in the room," said Rod, as the boys started wrestling again. "You guys settle down now."