Thursday Threes: Triplets in the 1930's

  Its a strange thought....What would it be like have triplets in the 1930's.  For one thing there were no disposable diapers, all the modern day comforts were not yet invented; there would be no Mickey Mouse to entertain the kids while lunch was being made, no triplet strollers to cart them around in, no electronic swings to soothe a cranky baby.  In the 1930's a triplet birth was 1 in 9,042 births.  That is 0.011% of all pregnancies.  Nowadays, the percentage of triplet pregnancies is around 1.5%.  Still a small number, but I feel like I'm a celebrity already, I can't imagine what all the attention in thirties would have been like.
  Another thing that comes to my mind, is that there would have been no warning.  I knew I was having triplets four weeks into the pregnancy.  Can you imagine finding out that you had three babies instead of one on their birth day?
  Drawn by this sudden, nostalgic interest I found out about an English artist, Barbara Hepworth, who did indeed become the mother of girl, boy, girl triplets in 1934.  What an amazing women!  Not only did she overcome the difficulties of raising triplets in the 1930's,but she also raised an elder son and she became a famous sculpturalist influencing today's modern art.

Barbara Hepworth

The Hepworth Triplets; Simon, Rachel, and Sarah