nyone who’s ever taken a plane trip with a 3-year-old or spent a night soothing a colicky baby knows that parenting can be stressful.
But there are people in town who have experienced that times three: they are parents of triplets. Three newborns at the same time. Three 2-year-olds to deal with. Three preteens to drive around. Three teenagers to worry about.
These families have triplets of varying ages: one set of fifth-graders at Washington Elementary School, one set are seniors in high school and one set is in their early 30s. The Munter, Cvetkovic, and Viggiano families have had parenting experiences most of us could never imagine.
Recently these three moms took time to talk about how they did it.
Teenage Triplets—Plus One
“Oh my gosh, it was a blast,” said Greer Munter of the experience of parenting Cooper, Madelaine, and Coltyn, who are high school juniors. She is also the mother of 20-year-old Hollis.
“I think it’s actually easier to have triplets than to have ‘stepping stones.’ We’d go to playdates with someone who had kids ages 1, 3, and 5 — all different ages. I had everything at the same time, which was intense but then it was over.”
When Munter, Larchmont Road, found out she was pregnant with triplets, she was “super-excited.” She was 39 at the time, but had already had a healthy child so her chances were good for carrying the three successfully.
“I ended up starting to labor at 17 weeks, which was scary, but apparently kind of normal when you have multiples. I sort of had a frequent flyer pass to OB triage at Magee, because I had to go in so often. They’d monitor me and send me on my way. So when I really did go into labor at 33½ weeks, they thought I was crying wolf!”
Munter says she had been warned that there would be a lot of people in the delivery room, but was still surprised when the number grew to 30. The babies, weighing 4.1, 4.1, and 5 pounds, had to stay a few weeks to grow, but family members went to the hospital to help with feeding and holding.
She used nursing students from Duquesne as night nurses for the first couple of months after the babies came home, then she and her husband hired a nanny for a few years. She joined a support group for advice and playdates for her kids.
Munter felt it was very important to treat the children as individuals. “They’re all very, very different, but close in their own way. I think they’ve been treated so much like a unit by the outside world that they see themselves that way sometimes. But you have to remember they’re three separate people.”
Their academic interests differ as well, and Munter feels they will attend very different colleges. “I think Cooper potentially wants to get a degree in engineering and maybe an MBA after that. Madelaine is doing very well in mock trials and model U.N., so maybe law. Coltyn, we’re not sure what he wants to do— probably go into finance.”
Reflecting on her parenting journey, Munter marveled at other parents’ reactions. “A lot of people would say, ‘God bless you!’, and I would say, ‘He did!’”
Far from Home
Verica and Srbislav Cvetkovic of Shady Drive West are on their triplet journey without much family support, because their families are back in eastern Europe. Verica met her husband when she came to the U.S. to get a master’s degree in opera performance at Brooklyn College. After they married and he got a job in Pittsburgh, they got the news that she was pregnant with two boys and a girl.
“It was a shock to me and a bigger shock to my husband,” Cvetkovic said. “We anticipated possibly twins, because they’re on my side of the family. But not triplets. When I went for my first ultrasound, they saw one baby, then they saw another baby. Then the technician said, ‘Let me get the other technician,” and she said, ‘You’re having an instant family!’ I said, ‘WHAT??’”
The triplets, named Uros, Teodor and Isidora, turned 10 years old at the end of February, 2024. Cvetkovic had to have an emergency C-section at 34 weeks because of preeclampsia. The babies weighed between 4.7 and 4.9 pounds at birth.
Although Verica’s mother came from Bosnia to help for the first three months, followed by Srbislav’s mother from Serbia for the next two months, the new parents were on their own after that.
“I don’t know what it means to parent one child at a time,” said Cvetkovic. “We had to figure out our own system for everything if we wanted to survive! If one baby would wake up hungry, we would wake the other two so they would eat together and then they would sleep for three hours. Otherwise, you’re constantly on call.”
Verica and Srbislav decided to put the three in separate classes at Washington School after first grade. “The teacher recommended that they be in different classes so they can grow individually. They can pick their friends, do the assignments by themselves, and be proud of their achievements.”
The triplets’ closeness ebbs and flows as they grow older. “Now what I’m seeing is that they have different interests,” Cvetkovic said. “Regardless, they do still have a time when they play together, so they are still pretty close to one another. If my husband takes one out for one-on-one time, the other two will start missing the third after a certain time. So they still have that special connection, which I think is going to stay for life.”
When her triplets are at a playground, Cvetkovic reports that they never need to find playmates, because other children are drawn to them.
“My kids know everyone,” she said. “One year, one son will be friends with one particular boy, then the next year, it’ll be the other son — so they switch.”
Cvetkovic believes that a strong marriage is an important component of parenting triplets. “You rely so much on each other. You both need understanding and respect.”
She said that one of the hardest things when the kids were younger was logistics. “Getting from one place to another with three babies was a really, really big thing. You come up with different systems, sometimes they work, sometimes not. You improvise!
“It can be done! And it’s worth it! You get triple the love! And you forget about all the hard parts.”
Grown and Launched
The Viggiano triplets are all grown up and successfully launched in their careers. Now 34, Alyse is an Episcopalian priest, Kara is a director at the Boys & Girls Club and Sam is a data analyst for Highmark.
Their parents, Fruithurst Drive residents Karen and Rich Viggiano, don’t find it surprising that they’ve all gone in different directions in their careers. “We tried to individualize them as much as possible. We never referred to them as triplets, we always called them by their names.”
Karen gave birth to her children at age 35. She learned she was having triplets in January of 1990 and worked up until St. Patrick’s Day, “when I already looked like I could give birth. From March 17 to September 4, I was on the couch most of the time, carrying 60 extra pounds.
“Before they were born, I found out about this newsletter called The Triplet Connection. I read it from beginning to end. I prepared myself for the worst, not that I’m a pessimist. But carrying triplets is not easy, and it’s not uncommon for one to die.”
Her due date was October 10, but at a doctor’s appointment on September 4, she was told it was time to deliver at Magee. The babies were born at 35 weeks and had to stay in the hospital for a while.
“Rich’s father got a limousine to take us home, and the street was lined with our neighbors,” said Viggiano. “There’s a photo of me sitting on our couch with the three little babies right there next to me. And there’s this expression on my face like I couldn’t believe it! My mother and Rich’s parents helped out. I think they recognized that I had no idea what to do.”
The new parents got the infants on a schedule that initially involved making 24 bottles a day, because they fed every three hours. Their first night out was New Year’s Eve of 1990, when their friend, then- superintendent of schools Dick Pitcock, and his wife, babysat the triplets.
Viggiano joined the Twins & Triplets Club for advice and support in raising her children. She found it extremely helpful and eventually became president. “I learned from other people how to handle certain situations. There were some multiples that were separated in school and some that were kept together. It’s the parents’ decision, based on their own kids.”
All three young Viggianos had individual friends as well as mutual friends from church and school. “They all liked many of the same things, but approached them in different ways. For example, the last musical they were in at the high school was Beauty and the Beast. Sam played Lumiere, Alyse did lighting, and Kara was in the ensemble in various roles.
“We didn’t look at them as one entity or unit. They were Alyse, Kara and Sam. Just like other children.”