March of Dimes

SPARTA, NEW JERSEY (NJ.com) - Elizabeth A. Miller, MPA, Hillsborough resident, was appointed as publicity coordinator for the National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs Inc. (NOMOTC), the parent organization for the Raritan Valley Mothers of Multiples (RVMOM). In this role, Miller is responsible for publicizing events that relate to the National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs, Inc. as well as those that pertain to its local member clubs, including the Raritan Valley Mothers of Multiples, of which Ms. Miller is a member and chair of the club’s National Multiple Birth Awareness Month committee.

In April, NOMOTC, and member clubs (including RVMOM) throughout the country will celebrate the 4th National Multiple Birth Awareness Month to raise awareness of the increase in multiple births and the rewarding yet challenging journey families of multiples may face. Pam Krell, President of NOMOTC, says —”Our goal is to create a focus and forum for raising the awareness of multiple births (and the concerns and potential issues that may be experienced due to a multiple birth) throughout our local communities.

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some of the more alarming statistics regarding multiple birth rates and trends in the United States include:

• High Risk of Adverse Outcome for Multiple Births: One out of every 8 twins and one of every 3 triplets is born at less than 32 weeks of gestation. By comparison, fewer than 2 of every 100 singletons are born at less than 32 weeks. The average twin weighs 2 lbs less than the average singleton at birth; triplets typically weigh about ½ that of infants in singleton deliveries.

• Death during infancy is much more common for Multiple Birth Children: Death during infancy among twins (29.8 per 1,000) and triplets (59.6 per 1,000) is much more common than among singletons (6.0 per 1,000). The shorter gestational age at birth and smaller size of multiples leave them 8 times as likely to die within the first month of life.

• Multiple birth rates tend to rise with increasing maternal age: Between 1980 and 2006, twin birth rates rose 27 percent for mothers under age 20, compared with 80 percent for women in their thirties, and a whopping 190 percent for mothers aged 40 and over.

Because multiple birth rates have risen 70 percent from 1980 to 2004, more families are faced with issues and challenges that only pertain to delivering and raising two, three or more children of the same age at the same time. Together with its service partners, such as the Fetal Hope Foundation, NOMOTC and its local chapters will use National Multiple Birth Awareness Month to spread awareness about facts, trends, and issues and concerns that multiple birth families face on a daily basis. These issues and concerns include high risk pregnancy and pre-term labor; fetal issues such as TTTS or Twin-to-Twin-Transfusion Syndrome; prematurity and other physical problems associated with prematurity; twins with special needs; the increased demands of parenting multiples; school placement and identity issues.

On a local level, Miller and the Raritan Valley Mothers of Multiples is spreading awareness of multiple births and related facts, trends and issues through a specialized speaker forum co-sponsored with and hosted by Saint Peters University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ, on Wednesday, April 25, from 7– 9 PM. The program is free and open to the public and is inviting expectant and new parents/caregivers of multiples to attend the speaker forum to obtain information and get questions answered by healthcare professionals and a few seasoned multiples’ parents who have had their own unique parenting experiences. (To register for the program, please contact the parenting education office at Saint Peter’s University Hospital at 732-745-8579.)

Also in the spirit of Multiple Birth Awareness, The Raritan Valley Mothers of Multiples, along with other NOMOTC clubs throughout New Jersey, will participate in the March of Dimes March for Babies on Sunday, April 29 at Johnson Park in Piscataway beginning at 9:00 AM. RVMOM is marching for Babies to support the March of Dimes who helped to regionalize NICUs – utilized by so many multiples’ families – which set the gold standard in hospitals through the country. The March Dimes also funded research that led to the polio vaccine, advocated for the screening for newborns and continues to raise money for research that helps increase the odds, on a daily basis, of having healthy babies.

For more information on the March of Dimes March for Babies go to www.MarchofDimes.com and to join a March for Babies event, visit marchforbabies.org.

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Updated 410 days ago   Article ID# 1531940

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