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All hands are on deck as triplets Nathan, Jacob and Elijah Gardner, born prematurely last August, are baptized.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 10, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- Three tall white candles trailing yards of tulle. Six thick white towels. Three bottles of olive oil. One priest. Two proud parents and three babies, alternately smiling, wriggling, crying, but never quite still.
That was the scene recently when family and friends gathered at St. Stefanos Greek Orthodox Church for the elaborate baptismal ceremony of triplets Jacob Robert, Elijah Mark and Nathan David Gardner.
Days leading up to the almost two-hour service, their mother, Anne Gardner, had been nervous about how her three infants would behave during the ceremony that would include anointing with holy oil, immersion in a brass font, a symbolic hair cut and a change of clothes.
"I fretted over it for a while," she admitted.
"Having three is not like having one. You can kind of console one."
June 2, however, brought Mrs. Gardner, 38, a measure of inner calm as she paused to consider her great fortune.
"I think I was just blessed that I had three to be baptized. I didn't care what they did. They're babies," said the Seminole resident, who had tried to become pregnant for six years and eventually turned to in vitro fertilization.
The baptism, which took place shortly after midday one recent Saturday, drew family from as far away as Iowa. It was a chance to celebrate the birth of the infants who had arrived weeks ahead of schedule last August. Delivered by Caesarean section, they weighed little more than 2 pounds each and spent 9 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit at All Children's Hospital. Now they weigh between 16 and 17 pounds.
Like his wife, David Gardner Jr. couldn't help counting his blessings as he watched his sons being baptized. What was he thinking?
"I suppose probably that we were even there," he said.
"You still are kind of awe-struck," said Gardner, 44, who owns All American Pawn and Jewelry Store in St. Petersburg.
"It was a beautiful ceremony. I definitely got goose bumps standing there."
The service, steeped in symbolism, was held in St. Stefanos' bright, colorful sanctuary. In the minutes before the ceremony, the church echoed with the excited chatter of about 50 friends and family. Among them was the babies' brother, Matthew Sehner, 16, who last August used his learner's permit to rush his mother to Bayfront Medical Center for the infants' birth.
This day, the babies waited for their baptism in identical blue and white outfits, blue and white booties and blue socks. Only days earlier, their parents had been remarried in St. Stefanos, 3600 76th St. N, so that their children could be baptized in the Greek Orthodox church.
The service, the Rev. George N. Patides said to the congregation, would begin at the entrance to the church. There he asked the godparents to renounce Satan on behalf of the babies. As a sign of that renunciation, he also asked the godparents to metaphorically spit on the devil.
"It's just a passionate renunciation of Satan and all his ways," Patides explained later.
The priest conducted the service primarily in English, but at times he used Greek in deference to the babies' great grandmother and honorary godparent, Stacy Stephanopoulos. Mrs. Stephanopoulos is the widow of a Greek Orthodox priest and mother of two priests. She also is the grandmother of former White House senior adviser George Stephanopoulos.
"We just wanted to make her an honorary godparent," Mrs. Gardner said of her 89-year-old grandmother, who busied herself pinning the priest's voluptuous sleeves to prevent them from getting wet, made sure the babies' baptismal crucifixes were ready and generally made sure that everyone knew and kept their place.
"She is amazing," Mrs. Gardner said.
From the beginning, it was obvious that the early afternoon event would be lively.
"Unite them to a radiant angel," read Patides, as Jacob, the eldest triplet, persistently grabbed and pounded the priest's prayer book.
"They are so completely different," their mother said.
"Jacob is the real feisty one. He's crawling. He's into everything. Just very curious. Elijah, which was my smallest one, he's a daddy's boy. Give him a toy and he'll play with it. He's just good like that. Nathan is a lover. He just hangs on to you and just hugs you. Even their cries are different. When we hear them on the monitor, we know who it is," said Mrs. Gardner, adding that at that very minute while she spoke on the phone she was shooing Jacob from the dog's bowl.
In preparation for their baptism, the babies were undressed and wrapped in white towels. Their chorus of wailing almost drowned Patides' words as he blessed the water in which they were to be immersed.
Tears streamed down the face of Nathan's godmother after his baptism. The children's godparents were relatives. They included David Gardner's three oldest sisters, Cheryl Fulton, from Ocean Springs, Miss., who was Jacob's godparent. Janet Regennitter, who flew in from Iowa, was Nathan's, and Barbara Roling, who also traveled from Iowa, was Elijah's godparent.
Mrs. Gardner's brother, family practitioner Dr. Mark Varidin, was godfather for all three boys. Since David Gardner was out of town during the babies' unexpected arrival, it was he who stepped in and remained with Mrs. Gardner until their birth.
During the baptism, he took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves to assist Patides in the babies' anointing.
There was one tiny slip-up.
"I forgot the sheets," Mrs. Gardner said, explaining that they were supposed to protect the boys' godfather from the oil.
Later the babies were dressed in new clothes to symbolize their new lives. With the baptismal candles alight, their godparents walked around the font three times. And according to Greek Orthodox custom, the children then received communion. Elijah, who had been crying without ceasing during this part of the service, was silent for a brief moment after getting his sip of wine.
"This is not the end. It is the beginning," Patides said later as he spoke of the baptism. "It is the first of many steps in spiritual growth."
The Gardners, who had been planning for the event for six months, are exhaling.
"Considering there were three of them," Mrs. Gardner said. "It went okay. It was a long process."