Mother’s Long Journey Ends But Another Begins For Mom Of Quints

Joyce Bowman was practically a prisoner for two months, but she was afraid to be set free.

Bowman has stayed in a room at Sacred Heart Medical Center since April 19, fighting to keep the five flip-flopping babies inside her for as many weeks as possible.

“I’d look out and always thank God for another day, another day,” she said.

The ordeal ended last Thursday, when the Richland woman gave birth by Caesarian section to quintuplets held 30 weeks in the womb. The quintuplets are believed to be the first born in Washington state.

On Wednesday, Bowman talked about the emotional gamut she’s run - from fear to joy to tears. She ticked off “what ifs” before the birth. What if the babies weren’t held long enough? What if they weren’t OK?

“There was fear,” she said, tugging at her husband’s blue sweatshirt and reaching for his right hand. “There was so much going on.”

She teared up, talking about her new babies and her long journey. Through it all, she’s worn three tiny medals, pinned to her hospital gown. Two are medals of the Virgin Mary, and one is a St. Gerard medal, for the patron saint of pregnant women.

“These are the medals that have helped me through this,” Bowman said Wednesday, wearing a pink hospital gown and sitting in a wheelchair.

These are the medals she nearly didn’t have as medical staff prepared for the birth. Nurses searched her room, finally finding them pinned to a crumpled gown in a hamper.

She wore them Wednesday to visit her babies. Joyce and Roger Bowman and their 6-year-old son, Matt, spent about a half hour with the quintuplets Wednesday afternoon, the first time the mother has felt in good health since Thursday.

The Bowmans angled down the hallway in separate wheelchairs to visit the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Roger Bowman is a quadriplegic, paralyzed in a motorcycle accident 15 years ago. Joyce Bowman is still recovering from major surgery. She stepped slowly through the unit, which held 19 babies besides her five.

The strawberry blonde with piercing blue eyes looked at the five incubators with amazement.

“To see, ‘Bowman, Bowman, Bowman, Bowman, Bowman,”’ she said. “To know that they’re yours. I was so tickled.”

When she left the room, she broke down crying. “I lost it,” she said. “Because they’re just so perfect. They’re so perfect.”

The quints were listed in serious but stable condition Wednesday. Clint Eugene, Randi Michelle, Sierra Nicole, Rachel Elizabeth and Danielle Marie are all doing well, Dr. Hrair Garabedian reported.

They open their eyes, but they have eye patches to protect them. They sweat under hot lights. They move around inside their incubators. Three have dark hair; Danielle and Sierra have blond hair.

On Wednesday, Danielle waved her legs and arms like she was trying to crawl through air. All the children have long arms and legs, like their 6-foot-10-inch father. Looking at them, Roger Bowman envisioned a future pit crew for drag-racing.

“I’m working on building a car to race,” he said.

Joyce Bowman had other visions. “I couldn’t believe they came from inside of me,” she said. “I looked at them and I kind of went, ‘How did you fit?”’

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo