When Bianca Robertson learned she was carrying triplets, she intended to give birth to them all naturally because many mothers fear having just one kid.
“Of course, I was nervous,” she admits to Essential Baby.
“However, as an athlete who has studied movement and the human body, it was a fascinating trip that I was eager to embark on.” Bianca found out she was pregnant triplets at eight weeks after undergoing reproductive therapy to conceive a second child.
“I was astounded,” the wellness coach confesses. “My hands reached up to cover my lips. The worst concern I had was that the doctor would suggest that I reduce them.”
Bianca assumed she was pregnant with twins when a pregnancy test revealed her hormone levels were greater than one-to-two weeks before she’d even gotten out of the bathroom.
“I was terribly unwell for six weeks and had to flee the doctor’s office. I had to take some medicine. It was completely devouring and incapacitating.” Bianca informed her husband, Pete, of the results of the scan. “‘Oh my gosh,’ he exclaimed. Then I’d best get back to work.’ He couldn’t say anything for 48 hours. ‘I’m simply digesting stuff,’ he said.” At 10 weeks, the doctor brought up the possibility of terminating the pregnancy.
“They show you this amazing and frightening bar graph showing all the ʜᴀᴢᴀʀᴅs, such as three times the rate of physical and mental ᴅɪsᴀʙɪʟɪᴛʏ, and here are all the infants that ᴅɪᴇ – 140 out of every 1000.”
“So, you want me to terminate one right now because it may be one of the 140, but what if it’s one of the 860?” I said. Bianca’s body will suffer as a result of the pregnancy, according to the doctor. “I was told I’d require a full-time caregiver starting at 28 weeks, that I’d be housebound, and that I’d feel like I’d burst,” she says. “Thankfully, none of those things occurred.
“I just knew I’d make as many concessions and sacrifices as possible for my children. This would be the most significant physical achievement I could make.”
Bianca was carrying a 12-pound baby at 30 weeks and was so large that people would stop her in the street. She was unable to breathe or move at 33 weeks. She was gasping for air and was placed on a ventilator, which did little to relieve her symptoms. Doctors felt it was time to undergo an induction at that point. Three medical teams, as well as countless students and onlookers, crowded into the birthing room for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to observe triplets born ᴠᴀɢɪɴᴀʟʟʏ.
Bianca’s waters were burst, and she was given an epidural to help her cope with the discomfort if a hand had to be inserted inside her. “I had a pretty pleasurable labor,” she claimed, even sending her husband and closest friend, who also happens to be her photographer, to the bar for a bit. She was ready to start pushing her first baby out after eight hours of labor.
After 20 minutes, the first baby came, followed by a 25-minute wait for the following two. Each baby had grown up in its own sack, with its own placenta. Bianca had elected not to find out the gender of the infants, which she claimed added to the general excitement in the room.
Hendrix, the third child, was a footling breach extraction. She is still nursing the infants, as well as supplementing with formula, at four months old. She usually breastfeeds two of them while bottle-feeding the third.
“It may be pandemonium and unpleasant when they wake up at the same time at night.”
I’m not a rigorous, schedule-driven mother. I can usually handle two at a time and one will give me a rest. Bianca posts about her life as a mother of four children under the age of three on Instagram and Facebook, and she receives a lot of comments from people who say they think of her when they’re having a bad day.
