Anyway, the past few days, in general, have been great. We've gotten into a pattern that is somewhat manageable. Of course, the only way that we're managing at this point is because it's truly a community raising the children. Melissa's Mom (Grandma) and my Mom (Nana) are living with us (thank goodness we got the 3rd floor finished before the triplets got here!). They have been so helpful. Of course they help with baby stuff, but they also do so much around the house for us. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc...all of that stuff just gets done (by them) and Melissa and I don't have to worry about it. It's been so helpful and we're eternally grateful! Melissa's grandparents (Mom-mom and Pop-pop) are in town from Florida. They have been staying at Grandma's house. They've been coming over during the day most days and are really helpful. Both are very good at holding and feeding babies. They both have a knack for putting babies to sleep and just love to sit and hold them. With one, we'd be fighting over who gets to hold the baby...but with 3, everyone can have as many turns as they'd like. And then of course Jennifer, our sister-in-law, has been coming by on a regular basis. All of the extra hands helps a ton. It will be very interesting to see how this all plays out once all of "the help" leaves. Maybe we'll bump up their salaries to encourage them to stay a little longer. :)
Breastfeeding: OK, so many of you are wondering how feedings work with 3 babies, so I figured I would explain how this has been working. Because it was a c-section, Melissa's milk took a few days to really come in. During that window, we were feeding them mostly donor breast milk. Yes, they actually have that. They test it and everything to make sure it's healthy, etc, and then freeze it. It's pretty expensive...$4 / ounce and they're eating about 9 ounces a day, each...for you English majors, that's about $100 a day. The good news is that in the hospital it was all covered under insurance (at least I sure hope so), and by the time we came home, Melissa was starting to produce, so we were just supplementing with the donor milk for the first few days home. For logistical purposes, she's been pumping and then we bottle feed the boys. This works well for several reasons. First, two or three people can feed babies simultaneously and the feeding process goes quicker. Secondly, the hospital grade pump "drains" Melissa much faster than the boys would, so she can actually have some semblance of freedom by pumping. Finally, the pumping actually helps her milk come in faster and more completely. It's a supply and demand thing...the more she pumps, the more she'll produce. This is awesome for the budget...see above for the expenses of supplementing with donor milk. We've now gotten permission from the pediatrician to supplement with formula, so that's good for the budget too! :) Our feeding schedule is every 4 hours at night, and every 3 hours during the day. This gets us to 7 feedings per day. Sometimes we have to wake them up, and sometimes one or more are fussy before feeding time, so we try to calm them down and hold out until it's feeding time. With triplets, you just have to get them on a schedule or else you'll never stop feeding one of them.
Tough times vs good times: Leading up to the delivery of the triplets, I talked to a lot of folks about how in the world we'll manage this. I really had no idea what to expect, but I did understand, especially remembering Chase's first year, that the first 6 months or so would be brutal, simply because of the lack of sleep. I really like my sleep, so that's the roughest part with an infant. Until they start sleeping through the night, everything is just a blur. With three, I knew that things would be even crazier and even less sleep than we had had with Chase. In the grand scheme of things, obviously these brutal, sleepless nights are nothing. None-the-less, I'll now attempt to paint a picture of why having triplets can suck.
I believe it is Wednesday night, but I've lost track of the days. We've been getting by on little sleep and tonight is the worst. Nana, Grandma and Melissa handled the 8 pm feeding while I got Chase ready for bed. Because he's had the crud, he's been showering with me at night to clear out some of the congestion. He's snotty and coughing everywhere. He's not quite old enough to remember to cover his mouth every time, so I'm sure all of his germs are flying around and infecting the boys. That's exactly what we need right? He doesn't want to go to bed, so I fight that battle with him for the next hour and finally get him in his crib around 10:00. Of course, in the crib and asleep are two very different things. After going back and forth from my bed to his room, he finally stops coughing and gets to sleep around 10:30 or so. I then settle in to try to get some sleep. Melissa and Leslie are handling the midnight feeding so I'm off duty, but as they get the boys ready, the crying echoes the halls of the second floor and I struggle to truly fall asleep. Shortly after entering my good REM sleep (I think that's what they call it), Melissa comes in from the bonus room to wake me. Jack's been melting down and she's exhausted and can't take it anymore. I take him and start walking around. As with Chase, this seems to be the only thing that can calm him. It takes a while, maybe 20-30 minutes of just walking around the house, up and down the stairs, and finally he seems to have fallen asleep. Before I can even get Jack into the pack-and-play laying down, Graham starts in. I try carrying both of them around for a bit to keep Jack asleep. As soon as I can get them both calmed down, it's now pushing 4:00 am and we need to feed them again. All I want to do is sleep, and I've had a lot more sleep than Melissa, so she must feel even worse. We both are up and start the feeding process. Change diapers, then try to feed them. Of course now, Graham can't even stay awake long enough to eat 40 mL of milk. Un-freakin-believable. I have to take off his hat and un-swaddle him to get him cold enough to wake up. He makes it through half the bottle and then spits up most of what he just ate all over his pajamas. I get the rest of the bottle in him, and go back to the nursery to change his outfit. He's so little, it feels like I might break his little limbs getting him into another onesie. I get him all swaddled up again in another onesie...he seems pretty peaceful now...and before I can get back into the bonus room (where we basically live these days) and hear him crap himself. I'm so exhausted and frustrated and this point, that I consider just leaving him in that diaper, but I decide karma is a bitch and don't tempt fate any worse. We've now fed three babies, changed 5 diapers, changed two outfits, swaddled a baby 7 times, Melissa has pumped again, and the boys all seem to be calmed down enough to try to get them back into the pack-and-play. It is 5:21 am. I still haven't really slept yet...at least not any good sleep. Melissa is even more exhausted than I am. It is only the third night we've been home with the boys. Brutal, just brutal.
Now, I will paint you a picture of why having triplets does NOT suck, and in fact is truly a miracle filled with beauty.
If that's not the most beautiful thing in the world, I don't know what is.
Yes, there are definitely some rough times when kids are in the infant stages. All parents are familiar with those times. And when there are three, it gets even harder. But the other 95% of the time is so special and these little angels are so unbelievably sweet and adorable, it sure gives you perspective on life and makes it very easy to tolerate those few tough times.
Here are some more random pics from the last few days:
Mommy & her boys:
Sleeping babies rock!
Can you say two-on-two with an all-time quarterback?
Rokky is standing guard..."Don't mess with my babies fool"
Graham, Jack and Anthony in their baseball outfits:
