Have Triplets, Still Travel: Settling In

It's only been a few days since we've had the boys at home, but so far we've only had a couple "normal" days with all three babies. From the time we first brought Will and Cooper home on Friday we've had something that has required at least one of us to leave the house for a period of time. I insisted on going down to see Griffin in the NICU on Saturday, so we had Cari come over to help Will with baby Will and Cooper while I was gone. Then Will and I both wanted to pick up Griffin to bring him home on Sunday so Cari and Sue helped with the other two boys while we were out. On Monday Will and I successfully got the boys and ourselves dressed, fed, packed up, and driven down to Nashville for their first doctor's appointment. And we were only about 5 minutes late! I call that an accomplishment.

All these seemingly small things lead to disruptions in the schedule we're trying to keep the boys (and mom and dad) on. I know that we need to be flexible, and we are- they are pretty much off the 12, 3, 6, 9 schedule the NICU had them on- but we do try to stick as close as possible to feeding them every 3 hours. Now we are taking cues from them and feeding when they say they're hungry. Once the first one stirs, they all are woken up to eat. We had alarms set for every 3 hours but have quickly discovered that our boys are pretty good alarms on their own! When they're ready for attention they have a pretty fail-proof way of getting it.

So as we settle in to life as a party of five their feedings and my pumping schedule remain the most demanding part of our days...and nights. There's a lot to keep track of, times three: I am trying to breastfeed the group at least once a day, they all have to have a bottle with polyvitamins once a day, and they are being given formula for two bottles a day as opposed to fortifying my breast milk at every feeding. I also have to keep up with pumping at least 6-8 times/day to keep my milk supply at a capacity to feed 3 growing babies. As much as I'd love to skip a pump or two for some extra sleep it's just not feasible right now- both for the boys' sake and physically. I can't. Skip. Any. Pumpings if I intend to be comfortable and not share my abundant milk supply with the floor. So I pump at every feeding. Any any rate, it's easier to keep those particular feedings on a schedule (ie- noon feeding gets the vitamins, formula bottles at 4 am and 4 pm, etc...) so we don't forget or lose track of which feed we're on. My mom got us an awesome book that helps us track their feeds, diapers, meds, etc. which helps us stay on track. I've gotten into the habit of pumping as soon as the boys stir instead of waiting until after they've all been fed and are back in their cribs. Now Will gets started with one and two and I come in later to help with three. That saves us/me loads of time and gives me a few extra minutes of sleep once the babies have been cared for. But I have to plan ahead and know which time I'm going to breastfeed them so I don't pump before we begin their care. It's little things like that that we are tweaking to help gain us a bit more time throughout the day. But trips out of the house disrupt the schedule (and my pumping!) so we're happy to not have any place that we need to be until their next doctor's appointment on Monday.

Needless to say, things have been rather hectic since we brought the boys home. Now that all three are here we've gone into hermit mode for awhile. We are keeping to ourselves for a bit while all five of us adjust to our new lives and try to find a good routine for day-to-day living. We're incredibly grateful for all the help that has been offered to us by family and friends, and there will be time soon enough when we'll want to take advantage of the numerous offers to babysit and cuddle our sweet little guys. But for now, Will and I are enjoying having them all to ourselves! For the first 2 weeks of their lives we never got to be together as our own little family. It's been nice to have time alone to get to know our sons better and discover more about their personalities. Add to that the fact that they are premies and technically should not even be born yet- their immune systems are more susceptible to illness, even in the summer, and we were advised by our doctors to keep their people contact to a minimum. I know that doesn't sit well with lots of folks who are anxious to meet the guys, but we appreciate everyone's understanding!

Days like yesterday make me feel like we're finally starting to get the hang of things. Will and I were able to get a long stretch of sleep yesterday morning while the boys slept, All three babies fed and changed easily, they had some tummy time sessions, they were napping well so Will and I had time to do laundry, clean the kitchen, and do some internet stuff. Will even had time to sneak away for a grocery store run! It's amazing how a stretch of sleep can power you through the day. We actually had some downtime before their 7:00 pm feeding where we were able to just cuddle with the boys. We are usually so busy caring for them that there isn't much time to snuggle with them aside from the post-bottle cuddle before they go back to their cribs to sleep.

But, true to form, as well as the day went, the night shift went just as badly. Cooper fussed all night long, apparently constantly hungry, Griffin threw up a large portion of his formula feed, and Will had a diaper change that required changing him, his bed sheets, AND the changing pad cover. The first night we had all three boys home with us was particular frazzling as we were running on zero sleep and adding another baby to the mix meant that much more time up with them at night. I remember asking Will in a desperate voice if this was it or if things would ever get easier for us. I was scared out of my mind that we would never sleep again.

Thankfully, things have gotten easier and even rough nights like last night aren't too terrible. The fact that Will and I can get decent stretches of sleep during the day means less zombie-like stares at night. And we are both very cognizant of each other's state of mind and encourage the other to take a timeout when needed. Will dealt with most of the bad stuff last night at the early AM feeding, so this morning I let him sleep while I took care of all the babies on my own. As I type this up (while pumping of course!) Will is handling the boys' vitamin feed and will let me go back to sleep for a bit before their next feed in a few hours. It truly is a team effort and I'm lucky to have Will as my co-captain.

We're getting better at this parenting thing every day, but we still have a long way to go!