High-Risk Pregnancy: Coping with a Multiple Birth

There are a number of factors to consider when identifying high risk pregnancies: high blood pressure, diabetes, and my linguistic favorite, the "incompetent cervix." Carol Addison, pregnant with twins, begins to dilate at 30 weeks. With premature births, every extra day in the womb can make a tremendous difference in the baby's health and development--my own daughter, born sixteen years ago, was a 4 lb. 14 oz. preemie--so I remember. Addison, confined to bed rest at the local hospital, is seen reading to her young daughter while her husband looks on; later, in a wheelchair, Addison briefly tours the ICU and nursery. Eventually, healthy twins are delivered, the first twin born vaginally, and 30 minutes later, the second by C-section. This brief case doesn't really begin to examine the treatments for high-risk pregnancy, or--to put it another way--is so generically universal, that a patient would do better talking to her own doctor about her specific medical situation and setting up her own detailed tour of the local neonatal ICU. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: C, P. (N. Plympton)