7:54 a.m. 7:55 a.m. 7:56 a.m.
For Dana and Rudy Hindelang, everything about Wednesday will be remembered and recorded, especially the passage of those three minutes when they welcomed into the world their triplet boys.
Rudolph Joseph came first, weighing 4 pounds, 4 ounces. Next out was Christopher Jacob, weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces. And finally Alexander James at a whopping 5 pounds, 7 ounces.
"Four feet, 15 pounds total," said proud papa, Carson City Sheriff's Department Deputy Rudy Hindelang, in announcing the arrival of his sons to a roomful of family at Carson-Tahoe Hospital. "No girls in there."
Married for six years, the Hindelangs lives changed forever following a visit to a Reno fertilization doctor in August.
"He said the chances of all three implanted eggs surviving was less than 2 percent," Hindelang, 31, said. "But I say, don't gamble in this state."
Since December, Dana, 36, who has been on bed rest, has been helped by her 18-year-old daughter Jessica Walters, who decided to forego the final semester of her senior year for a homestudy program. The time allowed her to be there for her mother.
"She did that just to help us out and I love her for it," Hindelang said.
Shortly after the caesarean section, four generations of Dana's family -- her parents Sandy and & Daryl Wicker, grandmother Nancy Schutte, sister Terri Wicker and Jessica -- along with Hindelang's parents Rudolph and Charmaine, crowded into the hallway of the nursery and peeked through a small curtained window at the newborns.
Christopher and Alexander shared a bed and Rudolph was alone in another bed nearby on oxygen.
"They're so big," the triplets' great-grandmother exclaimed. "Dana had to be uncomfortable, but she was calm and relaxed."
By the afternoon, Christopher joined his brother Rudolph on oxygen and mom got to enjoy holding her biggest son.
"They're beautiful," she sighed during a phone conversation. "Alex is doing the best and so he is with me now."
"You always wonder what your babies are going to look like, but I don't think they could look any better."
The four are expected to spend the remainder of the week in the hospital.
Dana said she will take another eight weeks off from her job at Transpower Technologies in Reno, then head back to work. She and her husband, who live in Indian Hills, will share the baby duties on alternate shifts.
Hindelang said Sheriff Ken Furlong practically forced him to take time off.
"This is my weekend," he said. "But the sheriff told me, there's always going to be bad guys out there. Family comes first."
"I just want to thank everyone at the Carson City Sheriff's Department for their concerns and support and to my family and the doctors for all their help," he said, admitting the enormity of the event had yet to hit him.
"And also a special thanks to God for helping us the way he has."
