Triplets born at CentraState

PHOTO COURTESY OF CENTRASTATE MEDICAL CENTER Proud parents of triplets, Elena Goertz with newborns Joseph (l) and Nicole; Alexa (middle); and Joseph Goertz with newborn Ryan.

CentraState Medical Center, Free-hold Township, is celebrating the second set of triplets born in the hospital's 36-year history. Elena and Joseph Goertz of Whiting welcomed the birth of one daughter and two sons on March 26.

Nicole, Joseph and Ryan were delivered by staff obstetrician/gynecologists Dr. Joseph Cipriano and Dr. Susan Pacana of Colts Neck Obstetrics and Gynecology. The babies weighed 4 pounds and 12.75 ounces, 6 pounds and 2.25 ounces, and 4 pounds and 15.5 ounces, respectively. They were cared for in CentraState's Special Care Nursery following their deliveries.

The birth of the Goertz triplets occurred 26 years after the first set of triplets was born at CentraState Medical Center (then known as Freehold Area Hospital) in 1981. The deliveries for the Woolfmueller family were performed by Dr. Louis Barth, who is still on staff at CentraState, and Dr. William Altshuler, now retired.

According to information provided by the medical center, in 2005 CentraState doubled the size of its Special Care Nursery - for the care of high-risk babies such as triplets - from four to eight bassinets.

The Special Care Nursery is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by neonatologists and highly skilled nurses and is licensed by the state Department of Health and Senior Services as an intermediate-care, level-two special care nursery.

The Special Care Nursery is for premature babies born after 32 weeks gestation who require oxygen, antibiotics, close observation or other specialized care.

In 2002 CentraState doubled the size of its maternity department, adding the First Impressions Maternity Pavilion, a 20-bed unit dedicated to postpartum care (the original 20-bed unit is now dedicated to labor, delivery and recovery).

Over the past six years, births at CentraState have increased nearly 50 percent, from 1,253 in 2000 to 1,878 in 2006, setting birth records for each of the past four consecutive years, according to the medical center.