Staff members at a Kansas City hospital must be seeing double this week.
According to a news release, staff members in the neonatal intensive care unit at Saint Luke's Hospital are caring for 12 sets of twins, believed to be a record at the Missouri hospital, KSHB reported.
“We are very busy,” NICU nurse Kyla Anderson told the television station. “We have 12 sets total, and it has been very, very busy. Lots of babies.”
"We always see multiples in here but not 12 sets at one time," nurse Danielle Gathers told KMBC.
Hospital officials said it has been a challenge to have enough staff members on duty to keep up with the needs of the infants. All of the twins were born between five and 14 weeks premature.
Any baby born under 36 weeks is taken to the NICU at Saint Luke's because the infants face a higher risk of illness and other complications, Anderson told KSHB.
The babies spent Thanksgiving Day in the NICU, but hospital officials hope to send them home soon.
Parents like Amanda Tollifer can hardly wait.
"We're hoping that they'll be home by Christmas; it's our ultimate goal," Tollifer told KMBC.
