A Triplet Connection

 When I first found out that I was having triplets, I set out to find the “What to Expect When You are Having Triplets” guide to my pregnancy.

I dunno why, but I automatically just assumed that there would be such a book out there, somewhere. There just HAD to be or so I thought.

There are books literally about every other aspect of pregnancy, so naïve little me figured of COURSE this book exists. After all, triplets aren’t all that rare, at least not to me!

My very nearly three month’s pregnant self headed out to begin my search for the perfect triplet owner’s manual. I was very optimistic. I waddled into Barnes and Noble and headed back to the baby section.

I was very excited and ready to learn as much as I could about what I was going to need to prepare for the arrival of my tiny trio. I skimmed through the shelves in the back, ready to pounce on the triplet section once I found it. I ended up skimming and skimming and skimming.

I thought, “This can’t be right.” I wasn’t finding much of anything. There were pregnancy planners and books about regular singleton pregnancies. I even saw a LOT of books on carrying twins.

After about thirty minutes of going back over the selection again & again, I did manage to find ONE book about multiple births, just one.

Of course I purchased it, telling the sales associate behind the counter how surprised I was to find that there wasn’t really anything about higher order multiples in stock. He just stared at me blankly for quite a while.

After a very lengthy pregnant pause, he FINALLY did say that he thought that the subject matter was a bit rare because not very many people ever had multiples. What do you say to that, really?

I just smiled and took my apparently “Rare” book and headed home. Being optimistic, I tried other bookstores around town. I only was able to locate one more book on the subject. My library at home now consisted of literally only two books.

What’s a mom to do? I tried the internet even only to realize that there really just isn’t much out there for people like me.

I had just started going to my specialist and he had recommended that I join the multiple birth mom’s clubs and organizations around town. I was ready to join, so I went home and hit the phone book and searched the internet.

I found a few contacts for local groups and sent them an email. I received ONE response back, just one. That response wasn’t positive. This lady reported that due to lack of interest, this division of the organization was no longer active.

What’s a girl to do? I was to go on mandatory bed rest at five months. I found the triplet forum and was able to get a little information out of that. Then I ran across the many family’s out there who have had triplets and as a service to other mum’s they documented it online for others to read.

I spent the next few months devouring these sites and watching the discovery health channel for anything I could relate to. I later found out that the reason there aren’t many resources out there is that each case is totally different. My pregnancy, too, was unique, especially for a triplet pregnancy. I would just have really liked to have been able to find out a little more than I did before finding out the HARD way!

The funny thing is, once you have multiples, other sets seem to come out of the woodwork to find each other! I hear from people all the time that we are the only set of triplet’s that they have ever met.

Oddly enough, I have now met many sets, young and old. I meet them in the grocery store; I meet them in Wal-Mart, and in the Target parking lot.

I accidentally ran into a set whose mum was selling a stroller in their garage sale-it’s the reason we have our stroller today! In fact, that lady is the lady who taught me how to successfully grocery shop- “Push the stroller, pull the cart,” which is the best advise I have had since the baby’s births!

We run into each other and people who know us all the time now. It’s really neat to know that we aren’t alone in the world!

Originally published THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007

Originally published THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007 BY MIMI RANKIN WEBB

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