Triplets

What's it like being a triplet? This is a question that I am asked almost everytime someone finds out that my sisters and I are triplets. And probably the most difficult of them all. Asking me this question is equivalent to me asking someone that is not a triplet what it's like to not be one. Throughout my life I have never known anything other than being a triplet so I am not all that familiar with what it's like not to be one. I'm not sure about how close "singletons" and their siblings are, but I have come to notice that I am definitely closer to my sisters than I am either of my brothers. I have always assumed that it was because we were all girls, however while researching twins I have come to find out that this is not the case. The most likely cause is because we are triplets and were treated the same by others as a result of this. Our parents dressed us alike when we were younger and had our birthdays together which makes it harder for each one of us triplets to separate ourselves from another. As we became teenagers we did get a little more independent as far as hanging out with different friends. I was always the social butterfly so I had many different friends of different cliques whereas one of my sisters only hungout with her boyfriend and another couple, and the other had a group of a few close friends. However, after high school our relationship with each other grew way beyond what it was as a child and continues to get stronger and stronger. (I was one of the lucky few that actually got to keep in touch with my two very best friends after high school) :) Even today, if there is something going on in my life it is my sisters that are the first (and sometimes the only) ones I tell. The trust and bond between us is undeniably very strong and it would take alot for it to be broken!

Coping with Trauma

Last week my niece had a baby by c-section and within 3 days toxemia was developed and she has been in a life-or-death situation since that dreadful Thursday night. Everyday while we have been waiting at the hospital I have people-watched to see how everybody has reacted to the situation. I have watched single-birth people as well as my sisters and myself and my twin aunt and uncle. As we sat in the waiting room I realized that my sisters and I were all sitting together and across the room from my brother, which is the one we should have been sitting with and consoling. My twin aunt and uncle were also sitting together in the room but yet across from their other brother and sisters. I just found it ironic that the multiples in the family seemed to grouping together to cope with the problem, even separating themselves from their spouses. And ironically there was another set of twins (they looked to be identical) whose mom was also in ICU at the same time and they have been sitting together across the room from the rest of their family as well. Coincidence?? I'm not sure but hopefully in my research I can find more statistics that can either prove or disprove this!

The sisters

From the day we were born, the three of us girls have been inseparable. My sisters (Alisha and Amanda) are the people I am closest to, aside from my daughter. Three girls born naturally within 7 minutes, wow, I really feel for my mother. (and no, no fertility drugs were used) Each of us have entirely different personalities. I am the more analytical, stubborn, hard-headed one, whereas Alisha is the more down-to-earth tomboyish one that gets frazzled easily and Amanda is the hypochondriac that is full of emotion....from one extreme to the other (she gets her feelings hurt easily). But no matter how different we are, we have a closer bond than any "singleton" ever thought possible. Now we aren't the only children in the family. I have a brother that is 2 1/2 years older than us and another brother that is 1 1/2 years younger (yes my mother and father were brave people). Anyhow, none of us are alike physically either, all different shapes and sizes. The only thing that we have in common is brown hair, brown eyes and we were all born on the same day and have the same parents and number of siblings.