Multiple Blessings
With equal amounts of plain facts and sensitive, thoughtful advice, Betty Rothbart, M.S.W., presents an excellent resource for expectant parents of multiples. A psychiatric social worker by trade, Rothbart uses her counseling skills to guide readers through four easily digestible sections of her book: pregnancy, life with multiples, help and support, and parenting challenges and joys. In each section, she carefully supplies knowledgeable answers to common yet vital questions, thereby preparing moms and dads for the many unusual challenges they'll face--in the delivery room and beyond.Other resources, includingWhen You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quadsprovide more thorough information on prenatal care, nutrition, fetal development, and potential complications involved with carrying and delivering multiple babies. However, Rothbart's 100-page pregnancy section includes a wonderful chapter of checklists for prospective parents, references, and resources for help. Her serious chapter on premature babies smartly outlines the NICU (neonatal intensive-care unit) experience, technical terms that may fly around the delivery room, and most importantly, lots of reasonable advice on facing the emotional upheavals often associated with the experience. The bulk of her text focuses on life after the babies arrive: breast-feeding and bottle-feeding; ways to make time for each child (including older siblings), spouses, and yourself; mealtime, bedtime, toilet training, and trip-planning strategies; even a 25-item list outlining the ways others can lend help (and it sounds like much help will be needed). Rothbart's conversational tones and logically organized chapters combine expertly to create a quick--but tremendously valuable--read.--Liane Thomas