Since the ‘first’ photos of popular musician, Yinka Ayefele, and his triplets surfaced on the Internet, a lot of people have been celebrating him – and the mum and babies. While the artiste deserves such and more, here are some facts you should know about triplets:
1. In Yorubaland, (Ayefele and his wife, Temitope, are Yorubas), triplets are called Ibeta, with each called Eta, as ‘eta’ means three.
2. Myths
Perhaps because triplets are not as common as twins, there are not too many myths around them. But it is understandable that they too were regarded as unusual children and linked to the gods in the past.
3, Very rare
Medically speaking, they’re more rare than you think unless fertility treatment is involved
“Depending on your point of view, you’re lucky if you have triplets. And in fact, statistically speaking, it’s quite a stroke of luck: as per a CDC study published on Multiples of America, only 4,123 mothers gave birth to triplets out of 3,978,497 total births in 2015. That’s a 0.1 percent chance of having triplets. For comparison, twin births were 32-times the number of triplet births.”
4. Choose a Doctor
The best doctor to trust during your triplet pregnancy is called MFM Specialist, which stands for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. They are much more experienced in the field of high-risk pregnancies and have additional schooling in the area than most OB/GYNs.
5. High-Risk Pregnancy
All pregnancies with 3 or more children are considered high-risk. The extra complications and demands from your body create a situation different from a single child term, so additional care must be taken. 5/100,000 births are triplet or higher.
6. On your left!
“In any pregnancy, laying on your left side is promised to do wonders for your body and improve the pregnancy. It adjusts the placement of your uterus so it no longer presses into two major blood vessels, and it can help minimize side-effects like dizziness and shortness of breath.”
7. Delayed Interval Delivery
In a delayed interval delivery, one or more of the babies is born preterm, and the body then stops the labor processes. Depending on the length of the term, doctors may induce or suggest you wait a little longer to birth the other.
8. Different Delivery Dates
Sometimes the birthdays can be different! As crazy as it sounds, there is even cases of twins and triplet being born in different years or centuries! Deliveries that happen around midnight can cause this, or a condition called delayed interval delivery.
9. Mixed triplets – two identical and one fraternal (a pair and a spare!) occur when two eggs are released and fertilized separately, and one of those fertilized eggs splits again.
Identical triplets share 100% of their DNA, are the same sex, have the same blood types, hair and eye colour, hand and footprints but have different teeth marks and fingerprints.
10. The Delivery
In the US, Less than 4% of triplet pregnancies are delivered vaginally. Having a C-section for multiple births is the most common way to go, and puts less stress on your body. Multiple babies born vaginally are at a higher risk of being properly monitored and cared for following delivery.
SOURCES: Yoruba culture, www.romper.com, Tripletsmum.com and www.twinsuk.co.uk
