| A Tribute to Mothers When Megan was 29 years old, she found out she was pregnant with BBG (boy, boy, girl) triplets. She and her husband had tried for 10 years without success. She had wondered if it would ever happen, or if they would have to adopt. She had almost given up when she got the news of her pregnancy. But as timing would have it, with the good came the bad. She also got the news that her mother had non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and might not make it for the birth of her triplets. Prior to taking off from work for pregnancy, she had to juggle her visits to the high-risk OB with escorting her Mom to oncology treatments and appointments. Megan knew she would have to take off from work earlier then usual because of her type of work. As a second grade teacher who worked in special education, she often consulted students with behavioral problems that sometimes required physical intervention. With a high-risk pregnancy, she needed to be realistic about the stress of her job. She finally had to take off work early because she was too taxed and wanted to spend as much time with her Mom as she could. She figured she could be off for two years and then return to work. “So eventually I had to stop working because the stress of trying to take care of a sick parent and trying to carry these babies was too much. I felt as though I was leading two full-time lives and I couldn’t do it anymore. I really wanted to be there for her.” It was a challenge and a struggle above and beyond a standard triplet pregnancy. Not knowing what to expect with triplets and not knowing how to handle her Mom’s prognosis. She tried to enjoy every day and luckily her pregnancy went fairly smooth. At 35 weeks she was hospitalized for pre-term labor and she delivered three weeks later. Her mother was also admitted to the exact same hospital for a life saving stem-cell transplant; the odds of it working were about 20%. While on bed rest at the hospital, she was allowed to go visit her mother. “I was on bed rest and she was on the 8thfloor having this transplant in an isolation unit. I would just wheel up to see her, and I’d have to scrub down and put on this space suit, to go in and see her with this huge belly.” To receive support from her mother when the babies arrived seemed improbable, so she relished this time with her mother. Megan could only take it one day at a time. Like all triplet Moms, she had to come up with a plan, but she had much uncertainty at this stage of the pregnancy. She knew her husband would fill in as much as he could. As a physical therapist, her husband is a hard-working and conscientious person. During their eleven and a half year marriage, he had gone back to school and earned his doctorate. So she knew how committed he was. As an only child, he had no experience with younger siblings. Luckily he worked only twenty minutes away. The support network she had always had, her Mom, was tenuous. The roles were reversed. She wanted to be supportive to her Mom even though she herself needed lots of support. As it turned out, her Mom made it through the transplant. “She did great. Six days before I delivered, she went home and then was able to come up and be with me. So, she was here every single day. I have these little teddy bears for the babies that she had on her windowsill [in the hospital]. She brought them down to me. It was just so emotional, you know?” Megan’s Mom made a remarkable recovery. She was motivated to get well to be with her new grandchildren and her daughter. Not only was she there for the last week of Megan’s hospital stay, but she was able to help out every week for a two or three days a week during the first six months. Her husband, also ended up being a tremendously supportive Daddy. “Seeing my husband at work as their Daddy is amazing. He takes the lead. I always say, it’s the one thing that surprised me the most about being a mother, other then the fact of how incredibly hard it is. Like the Harvey Karp book, The Happiest Baby on the Block, he read it front to back one night. And for the next two weeks, he was like the baby whisperer. He was shushing and jiggling. He had that swaddling technique down.” I called Megan before running this column to see how her Mom was doing. I hadn’t talked to her in six months and at that time her mother had been a little under the weather. She told me mother had just gotten a clean bill of health. She was tumor-free and symptom-free. I was very happy to hear the good news. She had other great news for me: she was four months pregnant. It was going to be an amazing Mother’s Day for them. I hope it is wonderful for all of you fellow mothers of multiples and your Moms. Happy Mother’s Day to all! Julie Reynolds-Gillespe | 
