Two Times Triplets Equals Family’s Joy Times Six

WASHINGTON — She had been here before, so Paula Robinson figured the obstetrician couldn’t be serious when he delivered the news. Twins? A shock, but wonderful news. Joy times two. But the doctor wasn’t done peering at the sonogram, which revealed more. Three babies were on the way.

“I thought he was kidding,” Paula recalled.

One could hardly blame her.

Twelve years ago, Paula delivered her first set of triplets, Jamie, Michelle and Michael. When she delivered Joshua, Nicole and Jordan on May 7 at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, she became a rare woman indeed. Mother of six--two sets of triplets.

The odds of Paula, 34, conceiving triplets were greater than probability projections suggest. The first time she became pregnant, during a previous marriage, Paula was taking fertility drugs. This time, she underwent in vitro fertilization. Both practices greatly increase the odds of multiple births, doctors say.

Indeed, data from the National Center for Health Statistics show that triplet births have increased by more than 10% every year since 1987, with much of the increase attributed to fertility therapies. Since 1980, incidence of triplet births has better than . . . well, tripled.

Regardless, the occasion was still a rarity.

The Triplet Connection, a Stockton, Calif., group that tracks multiple births, knows of only four other mothers in the nation who have delivered two sets of triplets. The group also knows of two mothers who delivered triplets and quadruplets, said the group’s founder and president, Janet Bleyl.

“We could have hit the Lotto easier,” said Paula’s husband, Jeff Robinson.

Needless to say, these are busy days at the Robinson household. Not that their spacious blue home in Pasadena, Md., north of Annapolis, has ever lacked for activity. With the 12-year-old triplets, Jeff and Paula and an eager Dalmatian named Trigger, the house’s four bedrooms were pretty well occupied before the three babies joined the family. Ditto for the Chevy van, now stretched beyond capacity.

Amid the round-the-clock feeding, changing and burping that now dominate life, the Robinsons are busy adding three bedrooms to their basement. There is talk of turning the garage into a family room.

Paula is amused by the attention, although perplexed by people’s reactions. Some offer congratulations; others extend sympathies to the family that can’t go away for the weekend without taking a case of baby formula, three dozen diapers, two strollers and a shelf of clothing.

“I say, don’t give me your sympathy,” Paula said. “I wake up to six lovings every morning.”