Giants reliever Dave Righetti and his wife became the parents of triplets Friday afternoon-but neither father nor mother was present for the births.
Righetti revealed that the babies, born in an undisclosed Southern California hospital, were carried by Kayla Campbell, sister of Righetti`s wife, Kandice. Campbell volunteered to serve as surrogate mother for the Righettis, who are unable to have children on their own.
The two girls and a boy were born at seven months. Righetti was informed before Friday night`s game in Montreal that Wesley David, Natalie Paige and Nicollette Lee were alert and healthy. ”It`s a happy occasion; that family`s incredible,” he said. ”How do you measure it? How do you repay it? We`ll never be able to.”
The in-vitro fertilization consisted of extracting egg cells from Kandice Righetti and fertilizing them with her husband`s sperm, then injecting the fertilized eggs into Campbell. The Righettis have been married for 2 1/2 years.
”My wife`s known practically her whole life that she might have to do this,” Righetti said. ”She knew since she was 15 that she couldn`t carry a baby to term.
”We talked about it before we were married; she let me know about it after we had dated two or three times. I told her, `I didn`t fall in love with you because I wanted to have kids with you; I fell in love with you because I love you.` ”
Campbell, 28, is married to an undercover Los Angeles police officer, and they have two children of their own.
