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These are the thoughts of a cantankerous ol' gynecologist who remembers when things were a little different. I try to find a little humor in my life and the people I meet along the way. Come meet the characters in my world.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Issues with Multiple Birth Babies

Yesterday I entered my first patients who "have the same birth date and last name". My EMR (Electronic Medical Record) put up a great big warning box.  “Are you sure you want to enter this patient” type thing.  Of course I did.  The patient was the second triplet that I see. 

I am very concerned.  I haven’t entered triplet # 3 yet.  I am scared.

Since my own children are triplets, this has come up on occasion.  Our insurance company got a little bit twitchy when they all got prescriptions on the same day for something.  The pharmacy had to call and explain that, yes, they are triplets. 

The forms for school get really boring.  I used to have to fill the same form out 4 or 5 times for each child.  I would get confused about which child I was filling it out for, which brothers I had to list, etc.  Now they have figured out that one form can be entered in the computer for each child, so I only have to fill out three of them. 

I love it when people ask me how many children I have.

“Three.” 

“How old are they?”

“Seventeen.”

Big Pause.

Sometimes a light will come on, sometimes (usually) not.  If not, I gently explain that they are triplets, and all are the same age.  It’s revenge for all the stupid questions people ask about multiple babies. 

What to say and not to say to the family with twins, triplets or more


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