FYI

November 12, 2008


Grandma who gave birth to triplets is Mansfielder

By Lou Whitmire
News Journal

MANSFIELD—Jacilyn Dalenberg will have someday.

The 56-year-old Alpine Drive woman on Oct. 11 gave birth to her own grandchildren as a surrogate for her daughter Kimberly Coseno of Ashland.

The triplets were born at Hillcrest Hospital/Cleveland Clinic in Mayfield Heights, about nine weeks early and weighed between 2 pounds and 2 pounds, 14 ounces.

“They’re going to know right from the beginning. We’ve kept journals,” Dalenberg said. “There’s already a photograph in their room.”

Triplets Elizabeth Jacilyn (Ellie), Carmina Ann and Gabriella Claire, are doing fine, their mother said Wednesday.

“We’re bringing Ellie home on Friday,” said Coseno, a registered nurse who will now be a stay-at-home mom. She and her husband, Joe, a firefighter and paramedic at Ashland Fire Department, expect all three girls to come home by Thanksgiving.

Coseno, 36, had a hysterectomy, leaving one healthy ovary. She and her husband were considering international adoption when her mother approached them with the surrogate idea.

On Wednesday, Dalenberg, the mother of four grown daughters, said she was feeling wonderful.

“I actually thought about if for a year before telling her I would do it,” she said.
Dalenberg said she has nine granddaughters now.

“I am sure I am the oldest grandmother in the United States to carry triplets,” she said. “My physician, Dr. Robert Kiwi researched it,” she said.

She loved being pregnant with all her now-grown girls.

“This pregnancy was the same. I was so healthy,” she said.

Dalenberg, currently still on maternity leave, took off two days before their delivery date. She is employed in medical records at the Cleveland Clinic in Wooster.

“I just did it because I love all my daughters and I want to see them happy. I know the struggles they (the Cosenos) went to trying to adopt. They’re a wonderful couple. Kim has two children by a previous marriage and he treats them like they are his,” she said.

Before specialists would even meet with Dalenberg, she underwent a series of tests because of her age.

She had some good company during her pregnancy. Youngest daughter Keli Henry, 31, of Mansfield was pregnant at the same time. She delivered a baby boy Sept. 6.
Dalenberg gained 18 pounds during pregnancy and reported no cravings.

She said everyone is extra thankful this Thanksgiving. She is having dinner for the family at her Mansfield residence — but without the triplets. Coseno will keep the premies at home, safe from germs.

“They have had a lot of donations,” Dalenberg said. The Cosenos moved into a smaller house three days before delivery to be more financially prepared.

To help with the diaper changes and feedings, Dalenberg plans to spend two nights a week at her daughter’s house. “Her mother-in-law Claire will also come and help and Joe will a hands-on dad,” Dalenberg said.

Her own mother, Elizabeth Dalenberg, 83, helped throughout the pregnancy, providing moral support and cooking meals.

The Cleveland Clinic program Partnership for Families paid for a third in vitro fertilization, which costs from $12,000 to $13,000, in March after two earlier attempts failed, Dalenberg said.