Reunion Celebrates The Fruit Of Labors -- Proud Parents Praise UW Fertility Clinic For The Bundles Of Joy

All Dugal and Cindy Easton dared to hope for was a sibling for their daughter Carrie. They ended up with triplets.

Yesterday Dugal Easton stood in a courtyard near the University of Washington campus, watching over the brood. Carrie, 3, frolicked around his feet while her three 6-month-old brothers sat lined up in a row nearby. Their father savored the moment, one of the few times he hasn't felt pulled in four directions at once.

"Your entire focus becomes them. It takes all your time to take care of them," said Dugal Easton, 47, the manager of telecommunications for Seattle Public Schools. "You feed and diaper one and settle that one down, by the time you finish three, it's time to start all over again."

But he wasn't complaining. He's one of the lucky ones, a family man four times over as a result of the UW Medical Center's Fertility and Endocrine Center. Yesterday the center held a reunion for families whose children were conceived through in vitro fertilization and other "assistive reproductive technologies" during the past 10 years.

Since 1984, when the center opened, more than 442 babies conceived here with such assistance have been born - including 85 sets of twins, 29 triplets and one set of quadruplets - for families throughout the nation and from as far away as Africa.

For many of the infertile couples who come here, other therapies have failed and this represents their last chance for bearing children. At best, there's still only a 20 percent chance of pregnancy during each cycle with the techniques used at the center.

"They do God's work," said Ken Prussing of Redmond, whose two boys were born through the program. It took more than five years of trying before their first child was born three years ago. "We would not have children without them. We could say `thank you' every day of our lives and it wouldn't be enough."

Stephen Adekoya of Seattle, whose daughter was born in the program, said he brought his family so doctors can see the fruits of their effort. "This is the best compliment we can give them for a job well done," he said. "Money cannot buy this."

After four tries, Steve Dwyer, 51, and his wife, Debbie Dwyer-Oshiro, 43, had their first child, Erin, through the program. The Redmond couple, concerned that their child-bearing years were over, at first viewed the program as "science-fiction," Steve said, but became believers when Erin was conceived.

The process can be a difficult one. Both partners can face batteries of tests and procedures. Mothers-to-be often undergo a series of daily shots, as well as ultrasound and blood tests for weeks at a time.

The Eastons tried six times before Carrie was born, at a cost of $8,000 per attempt.

"She's a $48,000 kid," Dugal Easton said as she scooted past him chasing a balloon, "but she was worth it."