Abstract
In my role as the author of this chapter, I would like
to be a voice for the parents who are asking for help
from medical professionals as they seek to realize the
best possible outcomes of their multiple-gestation,
high-risk pregnancies. I speak from personal experience, having given birth to triplets born at 29 weeks’
gestation over 21 years ago, as well as from contact
with and the detailed medical questionnaires from
approximately 1500 expectant parents of multiple
births each year (more than 30 000 since 1983). Our
detailed medical questionnaires are completed by
members and are sent to The Triplet Connection,
the largest organization of its kind in the world.
From this ‘bird’s-eye’ perspective, I try to keep
abreast of what is going on in the medical field
of obstetrics concerning multiple births, as well as
to read and hear comments and perspectives from
thousands of women for whom I act as a quasispokesperson. I know of their fears, their need for
knowledge and involvement, their sensitivity and
need for compassionate and expert care, and of their
desire to have healthy outcomes as well as adequate
support and resources during pregnancy and afterward. From the beginning of pregnancy to the care
of their multiple-birth offspring, these women desperately need the understanding and positive support of those who will guide them through one of the
most emotionally charged and physically challenging
experiences they will ever undergo.