Different cultures view multiple births in diverse ways. For the Mayans, identical twins were seen as a blessing from God and a sign that they shared one soul which had been split between the two. In Roman culture twin boys were also viewed as a blessing, but unfortunately this belief did not extend to twin girls.
Within Greek and other European mythology, twins and other higher order multiples all feature, with their existence being attributable to the blessing or alternately, a curse from an almighty God. In some ancient cultures, multiple births were seen as an outward sign that a woman had been unfaithful to her husband and the existence of more than one baby was indisputable proof of this.
Without any means of disproving this theory the poor women and their babies were often left to fend for themselves. It goes without saying that we have much to be thankful for in terms of our current understanding of science and reproductive biology. But no matter how smart we have become and irrefutable evidence now supports our knowledge, there is still a little mystery and specialness surrounding multiple births.
However, you might not have heard about a much less famous set of quintuplets born in There are twins in my family, and as soon as I found out that I would need a truckload of fertility drugs, the blessings of a priest, and probably some serious Hogwarts magic to get pregnant, I was sure I'd end up with two or more.
And honestly, somewhere deep in my hindbrain, where memories linger and fear lives, I may have triggered the sinking fear that I'd end up with my own set of Dionne quintuplets. Or sextuplets. Whatever 10 babies are called. Enough that would make people tell me that I was giving birth to a hockey team.
Multiples scared me. It's not that I don't think they're awesome, it's just that it was something I knew I had very little control over. He tells Romper, "Because it's happened, we know that it is a possibility. It was a true multidisciplinary team effort to prepare for the arrival of five babies.
Planning began one month before delivery once fetal viability had been achieved. The team thought of every detail—even down to having hats ready to be customized with the babies' names and birth order on them! When the big day arrived, the group split up into two operating rooms to accommodate all five babies. More than 30 clinical team members were present for the delivery, including two neonatologists, three NNPs and multiple nurses and respiratory therapists.
Each baby had a dedicated neonatologist or NNP at the bedside in addition to a respiratory therapist and nurse or two! The team worked together seamlessly and had every baby out, intubated and back in the NICU in less than 15 minutes. After a nearly three-month stay in the NICU, the quints are all doing well and have been working hard to meet the developmental milestones needed to discharge—maintaining their temperature, eating and breathing on their own and consistently gaining weight.
Because premature babies are at risk for failure to thrive and many other developmental delays, early intervention is critical to improving outcomes.
Since Heather resided in the postpartum unit four weeks before delivering, the care team grew very close to her, and that relationship has flourished with both mothers and, of course, now with the babies. The quints will go home at different times as they each meet their milestones, which can sometimes be more stressful for the parents as they juggle having babies at home and in the NICU simultaneously.
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