‘Look — one, two and three’
Sudbury family coming to grips with the fact triplets are on the way

By Lara Bradley/The Sudbury Star
Life - Wednesday, August 24, 2005 @ 11:00


Carolyn Acasaki and her partner Don Meilleur are expecting triplets in October.

Photo: Lara Bradley/The Sudbury Star
The odds were one in 8,100.

Carolyn Acasaki had a feeling that she might be carrying twins. But she was completely unprepared when the ultrasound technician talked about babies a, b and c.

When she showed her partner Don Meilleur the photo of the ultrasound, he didn’t react at first.

So, Acasaki said, “Look — one, two and three.”

Meilleur was sitting, but he seemed to sag back in his chair.

“He went white,” she said. “He almost fell backwards.”

“That was a shock,” Meilleur said. “One we can handle, three I don’t know.”

“I’m excited but scared,” Acasaki said.

Multiple births in Canada are definitely on the rise with the incidence of twins having increased 35 per cent and triplets, up almost 300 per cent, between 1974-1990.

Of course, infertility treatments play a large role. It’s estimated that in Canada, 15 to 17 per cent of multiple births result from infertility treatments with 60 per cent of triplets, 90 per cent of quadruplets and 99 per cent of quintuplets directly due to them.

However, in Acasaki’s case, she was not taking any infertility treatments, which makes the arrival of the triplets that much more rare. In fact, the pregnancy was unexpected to begin with.

The couple received the news of the triplets at the beginning of July.

Calista Acasaki, six, is looking forward to the arrival of her siblings. But Calista told her mother she will only look after the girl babies.

The couple is unsure of the sex of the triplets. All they know right now is that two are identical and the third fraternal.

Altogether, Carolyn has four children, although three — Mercedes, 13, Tony, 11, and Joshua, 5 — do not live at home with her, but with their grandmother. The three children have special developmental needs.

Having had other children, Carolyn has an idea of the non-stop attention three infants will require.

“Hopefully, we can get them on some kind of schedule,” she said.

A study on infant care revealed that a mother of six-month-old-triplets expends an average of 197.5 hours per week (out of a possible 168) between herself and paid/volunteer assistance, on her children and home. These hours did not include a time allowance for the mother to bathe, dress, sleep, eat, relax or talk with a partner.

Besides extra work, triplet infants cost more to feed, diaper and clothe. A study done in the 1980s showed that parents of triplets needed an additional $7,967 a year for their care compared to that for one infant.

The couple is not well off — Meilleur is on a disability pension and they live in low-income housing — so any help, whether it be through the donation of baby clothes, bottles, diapers, formula or larger items such as cribs, a stroller and car seats, would be appreciated.

Jana Carter, founder of the Rainbow District Multiple Births Association, said that certain formula companies if you contact them directly sometimes offer product, but with multiples on the rise, it’s just not as rare as in the past so it’s harder to get.

Even the manufacturers of strollers are taking into account the increasing numbers, designing strollers with multiples in mind. The Sudbury association has one set of triplets as members.

So far, Carolyn’s pregnancy, at the 28-week mark, has gone well, with only a “normal” amount of morning sickness.

Multiple-birth babies are more of a risk to carry. They represent two per cent of all Canadian births but account for 16 per cent of the low birth-weight infant population.

Almost half of all twins are born prematurely and/or have low birth-weight. That number rises to more than 90 per cent with the triplet, quadruplet and quintuplet babies.

Meilleur said he doesn’t care if they’re girls or boys. “As long as they are born healthy.”

If you have any baby items the couple could use — clothes, car seats, stroller and so on— give them a call at 566-7487.

By the numbers

Canadian statistics:

-- In Canada each year, more than 75 sets of triplets, quadruplets and quintuplets (combined) are born.

Average incidence of multiples (without fertility treatments):

- Twins is one in 90 births

- Triplets is one in 8,100 births

- Quadruplets is one in 729,000 births

- Quintuplets is one in 65.61 million births

Postnatal costs:

-- The following is a cost comparison using 1987 prices between a three-person family with one infant and families with twins, triplets, quads and quints (two parents) based on Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto’s Guides for Family Budgeting.

- Single: $20,246

- Twins: $24,033 (increase of $3,787)

- Triplets: $28,213 (increase of $7,967)

Contact Information:

- To become a member of the Rainbow District Multiple Births Association, call Jana at 705-692-9936 or Ida at 705-692-1781.

- If you have any baby items the couple could use — clothes, car seats, stroller, crib, diapers, bottles, formula — give them a call at 705-566-7487.

Source

www.OttawaMensCentre.com