ELLISVILLE, Miss. (WDAM) – Two Ellisville families added three bundles of joy to their respective households just in time for Father’s Day this year.

Two women with the same last name, living in the same small town, gave birth to triplets in the last six months.

One set of Crawford babies is named: Birdie, Bronc and Barnett.

The other Crawfords are Jack, Rivers, and Cherish.

The last name isn’t the only thing these families have in common.

Both sets of triplets were delivered by the same doctor just months apart.

“The two families didn’t know each other,” said Dr. Joe Washburne, Obstetrics and Gynecology attending at Merit Health Wesley, “And what was even more special to me was spontaneous triplets occur in one in 8,000 pregnancies. So it’s really rare, and then for them to come from the same small town of Ellisville, which is roughly 4,500 people.”

The similarities go on.

Both couples already had one child and decided to try for another, but they got more than they bargained for this time around.

“It was pretty apparent what was going on. It wasn’t the typical like, ‘oh, my look at the little baby,’” said Dusty Crawford, father to Birdie, Bronc, and Barnett.

Dusty and his wife, Marisa Crawford, couldn’t see their eyes or ears at their first ultrasound appointment.

“For the longest time, I kept trying to tell the ultrasound tech that she had the wrong patient pulled up,” Marissa said.

On the other hand, Nicole and Jason Crawford had also been trying for another child.

Nicole was having some medical issues that were making conceiving complicated, but soon enough, everything fell into place.

“When we found out we were pregnant with not one but three, we were really, really shocked,” she said. “Especially because I didn’t do any type of fertility or anything like that. It was just completely spontaneous.”

After an early delivery, both families spent time in the NICU.

Washburne says this is common with multiple-fetal pregnancies. Despite the hurdles, he got to hold all six of the babies he had been keeping an eye on for nine months.

“Nothing makes me happier when I get to see healthy moms and healthy babies,” Washburne said. “And these ladies and these babies were so fortunate to have successful outcomes without complications.”

The Crawford moms got in touch with one another on Facebook after hearing through the grapevine that they were both on the same journey.

“I reached out to her when I found out she was about to have the babies and that she was in the hospital through Facebook,” Nicole said, “and me and her kind of have talked back and forth and kind of been a support to each other through the roughness sometimes of triplets.”

Now they have years of playdates, graduations, and triple birthdays ahead.

“She just had so much good insight, and she was so calm about everything, and it made me relax and understand that we will make it,” Marisa said. “We will survive this.”

Jack, Cherish and Rivers were born at 31.5 weeks. They are now six months old.

Bronc, Barnett and Birdie were born at 32.5 weeks. They are 2 months old.

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