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Striving for a Healthy Pregnancy

Prenatal Care for Moms of Multiples

By Lisa Marie Metzler

Pages: 1 2 3 4

More and more women today are pregnant with twins or higher order multiples. Delayed childbearing and techniques to treat infertility have brought an increase in multiple births – and with multiple babies comes special care for the expectant mom.

A multiple birth automatically puts a pregnant woman in the "high-risk" category, but that doesn't necessarily mean there will be problems during pregnancy. Obstetricians will watch for potential complications such as preterm labor, hypertension, gestational diabetes, loss of one or more babies or other difficulties. With conscientious prenatal care, both Mother-to-be and Babies can thrive.

When Laci Mulick of Omaha, Neb., found out she was pregnant with twins, she was already 18 weeks along. "I didn't have time to worry," she says of her successful delivery of two healthy babies at 35 weeks. "I was in shock for so long that it was time to deliver before I knew it."

If you are pregnant with multiples, you will see your doctor more frequently than a mother carrying one baby. This close monitoring of you and your babies will help a physician detect potential problems and help to ensure you carry your babies as long as possible.

"The most important thing we watch for is preterm delivery," says Dr. Michael Pluvial, physician of maternal-fetal medicine at Brown Medical School's Women and Infant's Hospital in Providence, R.I. According to Dr. Pluvial, if moms-to-be of multiples deliver at 32 weeks or later, the babies have a greater chance for survival and fewer complications in general. The goal is to reach 36 weeks for a twin pregnancy, 34 weeks for a triplet pregnancy and 30 weeks for a quadruplet pregnancy.

Pages: 1 2 3 4

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