Two quintuplets go home

[Times photo: Dan McDuffie] Nurses Robin Zocchi and Angie Deshony carry Evan and Dante Somoano out of Tampa General Hospital on Friday while parents Kathy and Jack Somoano look on. The three remaining children, Cody, Alyssa and Brianna, will remain in the hospital for another month.

Despite some scary moments, the Somoano siblings are getting stronger.

By CARY DAVIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 1, 2000

TAMPA -- Sound asleep and dressed in matching baby blue suits, Evan and Dante Somoano on Friday took a huge step in their young lives, leaving behind the hovering nurses, incubators, tubes and flashing monitors.

At a little more than 4 pounds each, Evan and Dante have grown strong and big enough to go home with their parents, Jack and Kathy Somoano.

"God has seriously blessed us," Jack Somoano said.

Within a month, the other three members of the Somoano quintuplets are expected to be released from Tampa General Hospital to join Evan and Dante at the family's four-bedroom house in Wesley Chapel.

The release of Evan and Dante marks a significant turnabout in the lives of the quintuplets, the first ever born at Tampa General. All have made great strides from their fragile beginnings, which included a brush with death for one of the five.

"We're excited and sad at the same time because we're leaving some of them behind," Jack Somoano said, warming to the glare of television cameras that were much more interested in his two sons than him. "But we'll all be together soon."

Dante Joseph, Evan Patrick, Cody Louis, Alyssa Marie and Brianna Lynn were delivered April 25 -- 12 weeks premature -- by Caesarean section. Dante and Alyssa, at just 1 pound 2 ounces each, were the smallest. Evan was the largest, weighing 2 pounds 2 ounces.

Alyssa dropped to just 12 ounces shortly after birth -- about the size of a Coke can -- and is still in an incubator. At a little over 2 pounds now, her curled up fingers and toes are the size of a pencil eraser.

And a month ago, Brianna developed a deadly staph infection that nearly killed her. For about 30 seconds, the monitor hooked up to her body flatlined and her parents feared they had lost her. Brianna remains in an isolation unit, but at more than 3 pounds, she is expected to go home in a few weeks.

"She's a winner," said Brianna's nurse, Kathleen Jenkins. "But she's given me about 15 gray hairs."

Had Cody not caught a cold last week, he would have gone home Friday with his brothers, his parents said. Cody and Evan are identical twins.

When nurses took Dante's measurements for the last time Friday, he weighed 4 pounds 5 ounces, making him the heaviest of the set.

His father attributed Dante's weight gain to a laid-back personality that includes little movement and a lot of eating and sleeping. As Jack Somoano fed him with a bottle Friday morning, Dante slept soundly while sucking down the formula.

The personalities of each of the quintuplets are beginning to emerge, their parents say. While Dante prefers to cool his heels, Evan is curious, and always hungry. Brianna is independent and stubborn, traits that her parents say helped her beat the deadly infection. Alyssa is the most alert and active. And Cody? Well, his parents say, he's the whiner.

The quints are the Somoanos first children, and at one point, the couple didn't think they'd ever get pregnant. When they started fertility drugs, doctors told them they had a 50 percent chance at success.

For the past two months, the couple has been spending about 12 hours a day at the hospital, feeding the babies, changing their diapers, staring at monitors and sometimes just looking in amazement and counting their blessings.

The couple said they were anxious about taking Dante and Evan home for the first time.

"We've gotten so used to having all the nurses and machines around," said Kathy Somoano, 28.

Said her husband: "We have no idea what it's going to be like. We have absolutely no clue. I guess we'll just learn as we go."

One thing they already know for sure: They're going to need diapers, lots of them, maybe as many as 60 a day when all five children are home. Jack, shaking his head, estimated that it will cost about $4,500 a year to keep the quints in fresh diapers.

But Friday night, Jack and Kathy weren't thinking about diapers or the expense and headaches of raising five children at once.

It was raining when they got to their home in the Lakes of Northwood subdivision at about 5 p.m., so Jack opened an umbrella and, with Kathy at his side, they carried Dante and Evan inside and lowered them into the crib they will share.

"We just fed them, and they're doing good," Jack said Friday night. "I'm still a little nervous, and I haven't calmed down yet.

"But so far, so good," he said. "It feels great to be home."

To donate

Anyone interested in donating diapers or anything else to the family can send items to: Internet Extreme Inc., care of Jack Somoano, P.O. Box 5450, Wesley Chapel, FL 33543-9242.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.