Five of a Kind

Before 'Jon & Kate plus Eight,' there were the Pisner quintuplets. As they've grown, so has our mania for multiples.

By Sarah Kliff | NEWSWEEK
Published Jun 12, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Jun 22, 2009

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  • Posted By: Douglas Oliver @ 06/27/2009 9:06:09 PM

    Along with the medical "freak" question, I think the fascination with multiple births is strongly rooted with our interest in the relative importance of genetic v environmental factors in determining our behaviour. I think this is why people are so keen to harass young identical twins and find out if they act in the same way as each other! With large groups of multilple births, the interest is obviously amplified

  • Posted By: foridatriplets @ 06/20/2009 12:06:29 AM

    We are no different then the parents who had their kids one at a time. The only thing that sets us apart is having them all at once. I am the mom of triplets plus one. And it is not easy, but I can say that the work would be the same if I had them one at a time. We are lucky to have the opportunity to have them in the first place. The same day i found out I was having NATURAL triplets was the day my co-worker found out that her 4th IVF treatment had failed. My heart was broken for her and filled with disbelief that some could have as many as many as 8 at once and some could not even get one.

    For those of you who can not help it but say: "Are they triplets?", "You have your hands full", "Better you then me" and "How do you do it" HERE is the answer:

    They are MY children whether they were born at the same time or not, they are MY children. They are special to me and my family. They are not for you to gaze, point, or wisper about. We are not different then the Dugars family with 18 kids. And all that matters is that we love them as individuals.

    By the way Fertility and IVF are not natural. It requires medical intervention. No matter how you slice and dice it. It is not Natural. But that does not make it wrong, or less desirable, just not Natural. I applaud couples who have the courage to use treatment. But it is a gamble, and it is a high price to pay.

    • Posted By: CMF2008 @ 06/20/2009 6:07:53 PM

      I was glad to read in your post that you acknowledge you???re fortunate to have your children and I don???t want to come across confrontational but I wanted to help you understand infertility. You should take a step back and consider the feelings of others who are not as fortunate as you and your ability to conceive. Especially when directly dealing with people who are going through IVF and fertility treatments as you say a co-worker is. I hope that you are not telling her she is not natural! In your last sentence you state that ???By the way Fertility and IVF are not natural.??? It requires medical intervention. No matter how you slice and dice it. It is not Natural. But that does not make it wrong, or less desirable, just not Natural. I applaud couples who have the courage to use treatment. But it is a gamble, and it is a high price to pay.??? I assume you meant to say fertility treatments and IVF are not natural, either way it is impolite. By your definition of ???natural pregnancy??? you believe that any pregnancy that ???requires medical intervention??? would be unnatural, so did you have a doctor present when you gave birth? Did you have prenatal visits? Were your babies monitored while you were pregnant? All of those actions would fall into the category of medical intervention don???t you think? I???m not saying that Fertility treatments are not different but you make it sound wicked. To say that it is a gamble implies that people who conceive without fertility treatments are assured a 100% perfect pregnancy? Fortunately for you that you never had to go through any fertility treatments because you don???t have to feel the heartache and stress of it all and it also makes it very easy to sit in judgment of anyone else that does. Throwing in at the end that you ???applaud couples who have the courage to use treatment??? doesn???t justify everything else you say that is offensive. Maybe I took it to personal; maybe I???m oversensitive due to my fertility meds!

  • Posted By: Newsleak @ 06/13/2009 5:44:36 PM

    I just LOVE those Pisner kids! What amazing parents they must have!!

    • Posted By: jewel_gaynor @ 06/20/2009 3:41:57 AM

      Hear! Hear!

  • Posted By: Allronix @ 06/20/2009 3:02:42 AM

    Mom literally found out she was having doubles on the delivery table. Ever since, we've been "the munchkins," "the girls," and even "the clones." People start out seeing our differences, then our similarities, and then back to differences.

    No, the twin and I could never oull off the "switching places" trick - handwriting and body language was too dissimilar - but the idiots not inclined to get to know us kept mistaking one for the other. As adults, we are much easier to tell apart. Sis keeps her hair short, and I'm inclined to keep it longer and dye it. She likes business suits, I wear tye-dye. we do have a lot of interests in common (like sci-fi fandom - hence the moniker of "clones"), and we'll approach our similar hobbies from different angles. For example, she's a librarian, I'm a tech. She does the research, I do the computer work.

    Her husband is terribly amused by some of this, and part of how Sis knew he was "the one" was that he was able to tell his future wife and future sis in law apart in the baby pictures. Sis has also commented that being a twin was "the best prep on how to deal with being married." I'm still single, so I can neither support or refute the claim.

  • Posted By: bluekokakola @ 06/19/2009 8:32:40 PM

    I I know that having only one child was at times difficult simply because of worrying all the time wether or not ahe was safe and unhurt when she left home. Having as many as 8 at once is just unfathomable.
    I do know that we have a tendency to go over board with things in this world. That is why we are having global warming..If we continue with the fertility drugs we are setting this world up for. over crowding and disaster.
    Some women just can't have children. I think that is the only women that should take the drug.
    Octomom already had 5. What would make any doctor give a fertility drug to someone like her?
    And how many more women will get fertility drugs knowing that they can't even afford the ones they have or even afford themselves let alone anymore children?
    I don't believe in abortion. I have seen an abortion happening and it is like the fetus was trying to hang on to the womb.
    It is alive from the moment of conception. Go and watch an abortion and then tell me you believe in it.
    The moment that more than three children are born at one time people want to know about them. And it is mostly women. We are curious because we have heard so much about them. How they all seem to feel the same things and so on and so forth. We are curious on how the mother can take care of them. It doesn't make anyone freakish,it just makes us all women.
    I would have loved to have had more than one child. but my body wouldn't allow it. I might have had fertility drugs if I would have thought about it. But thinking on it now. it would have been a mistake for myself,too many of us don't think ahead.
    It is a sad thing as far as jon and kate go. living in the public eye just intensified their lives all the more and what ever the problem they were or are having.. I hope things work out for them all.
    The Dionne family had it pretty bad. The girls were taken away from them and literally put behind glass for the world to watch them play and live their lives.
    The parents really had no say in the matter. The horrible thing is after all the hype about them,when they were allowed to go back home they couldn't be a normal family,even if they would have wanted them to because they were all under glass so to speak.
    Having multiples isn't as cool as some people might think. Honestly I think that it would be a very hard lfe,unless you were financially secure.

  • Posted By: triplet1215 @ 06/19/2009 7:52:57 PM

    ToTheRight,
    The term "natural" means that the multiple birth was achieved by no "help". It was a natural pregnancy without the help of any fertility drugs. I had a "natural" pregnancy with triplet daughters. This is where the egg splits on its own and my girls are identical. Most sets of multiples are fraternal (of different eggs) with some occassional identicals (an egg splitting) in the mix. Hope this helps!

  • Posted By: triplet1215 @ 06/19/2009 7:50:49 PM

    ToTheRight,
    The term "natural" is used to signify that the birth of mulitiples was without the use of fertility drugs. I had a "natural" triplet pregnancy. (One egg split twice without the use of drugs).

  • Posted By: Dadooo68 @ 06/19/2009 6:42:32 PM

    I'm not obsessed!!! Why should I be, because the media says I am. The media is wrong. I hope they're successful and healthy, but who gives a F*** otherwise. I'm obsessed with my own family, my beautiful 3 year old daughter, and my families well being. Goodnight!

  • Posted By: Sakura0125 @ 06/19/2009 5:51:56 PM

    And just what do you tell the couple that finds out that her body will only sustain one pregnancy...that the "baby lotto" has only granted her one child? YES I AGREE that she should be happy for even being able to have that one child, but if her doctor say ok to multiples, why shouldn't she be allowed to have twins or triplets? It's really not a matter of SHOULD she or SHOULDN'T she....it's a matter of stupid people pushing their own ethics upon others because they "think they're right". What is right for one is not right for all. I'm not an advocate for people having multiple births because ALL multiple births pose a risk to the unborn children. PERIOD. The children are the most important thing! Some parents (like myself) had to do what it took to become pregnant. And that is what was right for me.

  • Posted By: memo2 @ 06/14/2009 3:04:56 PM

    Yes is lovely to be parent and have healthy kids to see them grow, the problem is we face in present day an apocalyptic story of overpopulated City's not only in U.S but in other Country's as we know some one in the past predict this will be happen now and for the year 2022 a world of ecological disasters cause of our ignorance then what we going to do ? why we can't still learn for what is going on rigth now why we can't go easy in our lives for future childrens so far our Governments can't find the way to control overpopulated Country's in the way we all understand it without people think some thing else is the reason, to me the reason is we are kiling our platet slowly but surely !, thankyou for been listening !...

  • Posted By: Sinibaldi @ 06/13/2009 2:34:33 PM

    Written in my heart.

    I've gone
    near the sound
    of an open
    aspect waiting
    for a blackbird,
    and now,
    while the north
    wind appears
    with a delicate
    care, I follow
    the sun....

    Francesco Sinibaldi

    • Posted By: hlgns763 @ 06/17/2009 1:46:02 PM

      i love poetry and all, but what on earth does this have to do with anything?

  • Posted By: mimi2u @ 06/17/2009 11:25:10 AM

    I know the Pisner family, and anything that they did for monetary gain was saved for the kids future. They all have attended college and are productive citizens. What more can we ask of any family? These kids were a delight to know. They were raised by parents who had a well grounded value systen that they instilled in their family. They grew up in a modest middle income home, surrounded by family, friends and their community, and lots of love and care. The "reality families" of today can learn some excellant lessons from this very "REAL" family.

  • Posted By: TripletMomma @ 06/16/2009 5:45:43 PM

    As a mother of triplets myself, I am usually drawn to articles and stories like this. Part of me still finds this fascinating. The other part is just trying to learn from other people's experiences. Just so you all know, I don't personally know any mother of multiples that "planned" on having that many children at once. We all just prayed for one healthy child to call our own. (I am sure there are exceptions, right?) What I can tell you is that sometimes no matter how you try to disguise it, you unwillingly become the circus that rolls into town. I think the goal is to try and raise your kids as normally as possible and celebrate their individual and collaborative uniqueness, like the Pisner's did. Growing up under a microscope for $ would not be healthy for ANY child (multiple or not) I can clearly see that the answer to parenting multiples is to ingest some humility, accept some sacrafice, and over all follow some good old common sense.

  • Posted By: TripletMomma @ 06/16/2009 5:45:20 PM

    As a mother of triplets myself, I am usually drawn to articles and stories like this. Part of me still finds this fascinating. The other part is just trying to learn from other people's experiences. Just so you all know, I don't personally know any mother of multiples that "planned" on having that many children at once. We all just prayed for one healthy child to call our own. (I am sure there are exceptions, right?) What I can tell you is that sometimes no matter how you try to disguise it, you unwillingly become the circus that rolls into town. I think the goal is to try and raise your kids as normally as possible and celebrate their individual and collaborative uniqueness, like the Pisner's did. Growing up under a microscope for $ would not be healthy for ANY child (multiple or not) I can clearly see that the answer to parenting multiples is to ingest some humility, accept some sacrafice, and over all follow some good old common sense.

  • Posted By: tbkerney @ 06/16/2009 12:51:45 PM

    I am a natural triplet (2 identical 1 fraternal)who was born in 1968. Yes people always pointed and stared whenever we went out. We are from a very small town, the people in the local area knew about us, but not many others. Our parents didn't put us out there, but we still joke to each other that we are the "traveling freak show". Me and my sisters all live in different parts of the country now so not many know about us, but when we get together it starts all over again.

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