A pregnancy in which a woman is carrying more than one fetus. It occurs when two or more eggs are released simultaneously from the ovaries and are fertilized or when a single fertilized egg divides into two eggs early in development. A pregnancy with two or more fetuses is considered a higher risk pregnancy because multiple fetuses have greater nutritional needs than a single baby and place extra strain on the mother’s body. Sleeping, eating, and physical comfort may become difficult earlier than in a one-baby pregnancy. Multiple births are more common now than formerly, because more women are taking fertility drugs, which increase the likelihood for multiple fetuses.
In Western populations, twins occur naturally about once in 80 pregnancies, triplets once in 6,000, and quadruplets about once in 500,000. Quintuplets are exceedingly rare. Such is the natural state of affairs.
The birth of two or more offspring produced in the same gestation period.
The delivery of more than one baby.
The occurrence of two or more infants born during the same delivery.