Read news MOST/Preemiecare news archives
The week of June
6, 2005
News and Updates from MOST (Mothers of Supertwins), Inc.
MOST members in the News:
Can your school top this?
Multiples make up 9% of the student body in this one school!
CHICAGO - Having twins or even
triplets in your class at school is not as big of a deal these days as
it once was, but for students at one suburban Chicago school the magic
of multiples seems to have worked overtime.
Lisa Jacobson said her quadruplets are excited about moving on to middle school, though she is not sure whether that means her job as a mom just got easier or harder.
"Every day is a different challenge," Jacobson said. "I have a feeling their teen years are going to be an even bigger challenge." (Stay tuned Lisa: MOST is now starting an online network for families of children who have reached those double digits- 10 or older!) "My kids feel normal here versus being the only multiples in an entire school," she said.
“I moved to this area because there is a great school district. I didn't realize how great it would be for our quintuplets.” said Bridget Collins. “Because they have so many multiples in the school, they feel more normal. Ironically, their friends do not think it is a big deal with there being five of them, probably because of the large population of multiples.” Collins continued “I talked with the principal before we moved in. The office was willing to work with us on keeping them together in the same classroom or splitting them. I agreed it was time to split them this year-in second grade. The principal reassured me that unless I requested it she would not split my five into more than two classrooms, for my own sanity! (Very thoughtful) I was asked how I would like them split up and she compared my comments to the notes from their first grade teacher. We matched! The teachers go out of their way to make sure assignments are similar; and in most cases the same. I work with the teachers to take turns helping in class, but no one expects me to put in five times the help a mother of one would put in-and many times are surprised I am there and not enjoying a moment of peace.”
Ann Szeplaki, mother of first-grade twins C.J. and Carla, said the 8-year-olds are immune to the attention they can sometimes draw. "They really don't realize there is anything unusual about themselves, which is a good thing," Szeplaki said. "I like the fact they can be special within their own family, but not necessarily to everyone else. They can be normal kids here, which are how it should be."
"It is just amazing," Principal Terri Russell said. "Wheatland is such a special place and with 9 percent of our population are kids from multiples; it just makes it a little more unique and special." The school boasts one set of quintuplets, one set of quadruplets, two sets of triplets and six sets of twins. "When it comes to class placements, it gets interesting," Russell said. "When a parent has three or more children, we meet with them to get input on how to divide them and more information about each one's personality and strengths. However, the most sections of one grade we have are three, so there is bound to be some in the same class together." Russell was unaware of any other school with as high of a multiple population as Wheatland. She said if there is one thing her staff has learned from the students is that just because they are related doesn't mean they act the same. "Despite being from the same family, they are all individuals and all have their own personalities," Russell said.
MOST member families in
the News!
What does one MOST member family and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy have in common? Tune in June 15th on Bravo Television and find out what one of our Dads of quints had to learn. http://www.bravotv.com/Queer_Eye_for_the_Straight_Guy/About_Us/
International Attention Given to MOST Research Projects:
On June 29, 2005 Dr. Kelly Ross, Maureen
Doolan Boyle and Lauretta Shokler will be attending the ISTS (International
Society of Twin Studies) min-conference in California where Dr. Ross will
be presenting the results of a study they did in a presentation entitled:
Postpartum Depression in Mothers of Higher Order Multiples: Increased
Incidence and Obstacles to Diagnosis (To learn more about this study
and the results: please visit the MOST
website next week when the abstract and results will be posted.)
New on our Home Page www.MOSTonline.org
Have you just found out
you are expecting multiples?
Did you recently
become the new parent of multiples?
Are your multiple
birth babies crossing-over into the toddler phase?
Will your multiples
start or be in school next Fall?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you'll want to visit our new website feature:
MOST by the Stages located on MOST's
home page
www.MOSTonline.org (right hand side about 1/2 way down the page)
MOST unveils its newest online interactive tool! Along with the
current grams to pounds weight converter ( http://mostonline.org/forums.htm ), visitors to the MOST website will soon be able to estimate infant birth weights based on multiple type (triplets, quadruplets, or quintuplets) and current pregnancy gestation.
Using data from over 1300 MOST Birth Survey responses, MOST was able to establish a formula that approximates the typical birth weight of triplet, quadruplet, and quintuplet infants between 22 and 40 weeks gestation. Check for this new feature here: http://www.mostonline.org/BirthWeightConvCombo.htm
Monday, June 13th we will be officially premiering the newly updated Supertwins Statistics Pages (16 full pages!) on the MOST website. This is an enormous amount of information on HOM conceptions, pregnancies, births and NICU experiences! We believe that this is the largest amount of shared data in the world. Please be sure to visit these pages (they can be accessed through the left side bar on our homepage www.MOSTonline.org) and if you have not already completed your MOST birth survey we ask that you please consider doing so (Info@MOSTonline.org ).
We are hoping that by sharing this information we will be able to:
To help educate families who may be expecting or parenting higher
order multiple birth children so that they can make informed healthcare
and educational decisions.
To ideally give medical professionals additional resources and
insights into the higher order multiple birth pregnancies and families.
To encourage more higher order multiple birth families to participate
in this and other research surveys MOST conducts.
To bring about a better understanding within the general population
of the unique aspects of multiple birth pregnancies and parenting.
To encourage donations from private and corporate donors so that
we may continue to provide such support, education and resources for families
and professionals.
We will have a full page color ad in the upcoming premier issue of Preemie Magazine to take a look at the MOST and PreemieCare ads go at the very bottom left hand side of the MOST home page www.MOSTonline.org
Is your family experiencing any particular type of challenge and
you would like to speak to another MOST member family that has been down
the same (or similar) road? MOST has just recently updated our 
National Resource Volunteer
Listings on our website: http://www.mostonline.org/volunteers.htm
The MOST Board of Directors held its annual board meeting at the
MOST office in
The Executive Board
(* notes newly elected position)
Maureen Doolan Boyle: Interim Chairman* & Executive Director.
Diane Wipfler: Vice Chairman*, Asst. Medical Director & Affiliate Program Coordinator.
Heather Sasser: Secretary* & Treasurer.
Lisa DiBona: Director of Adopt-A-Family & Book Review Program Coordinator
Lauretta Shokler: Director of Information Technology
Tina Lomaka: Director of Ages and Stages*.
Wendy Noriega* Director of Volunteer Services.
The MOST General Board members are:
Mona Baker: Pregnancy and Infancy Coordinator*
Shirley Baker: Grant Coordinator*
John T. Boyle, M.D.
Carrie Burke: Special Family Services Coordinator*
Debra Dolan-Sweeney: Fundraising Coordinator & Woman to Woman Coordinator*
Julie Eade: Website Coordinator
Lisa Jacobson: School Age Coordinator*
Michal Moyer: Member Email Networks Coordinator
Wendi Mazer: National Volunteer Liaison
Sandy Ramsey: Bereavement Coordinator (assisted by Debbie Lustberg)
Kelly Ross, M.D., Director of Research & Chairman of Medical Advisory Board
Lora Sattler: Toddler Coordinator*
Amy Yarns: Assistant to the Chair of PreemieCare*
The Board of Directors has an exciting year planned. There are many new board members who bring new ideas and talents to our organization. Our goal is to provide support to our members in every stage of child rearing, as well as to meet the unique needs of our families, through our magazine, volunteers, email networks, online forums, information packets and our award winning website!
We look forward to serving you.
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MOST NOTEPADS:
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PRICELESS bumper stickers |
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Do you have a website? Please consider adding a link to the MOST website and the PreemieCare website to your site:
http://mostonline.org/linktous.htm
http://www.preemiecare.org/linktous.htm
Do you have friends
or family members that you would like for us to include on our email updates?
If so, please let us know: http://mostonline.org/email.htm
Do you have a family website? Let us know!!
Do you know me? MOST website family of the week:
If this is your family be sure to contact the MOST Office for your prize. If you would like to submit a picture for the member family photo album visit our website home page for more info.
Stay tuned for more exciting new programs and services being offered by MOST in the coming weeks!
New: MOST/PreemieCare have updated our website privacy policy for your protection: http://www.mostonline.org/privacy.htm
info@MOSTonline.org