One Month Old!!!

Sophia

Marleigh

Brooke

Oh Joy! The girls are one month old and growing like crazy! Brooke is now 6lbs and Marleigh and Sophia are each 7lbs. Sophia is projected to be bigger than Marleigh by the next weigh-in on July 3rd since she has consistently taken all of her bottle at feedings. Marleigh and Brooke have not been as cooperative with that- makes life fun! They are all growing into the newborn clothes but Brooke does tend to swim in them.

We had WONDERFUL help this week. Our sister-in-law, Jan, came from Kansas City to stay with us and it allowed me to get the sleep I needed and also accomplish the birth announcements and also go visit my friends at work. It was so nice to be able to do things I have been wanting to do and feel confident that the girls were not only been well taken care of but oh so very loved! Our night nurse was also on vacation this week so we really would have been in trouble without having Jan to help us. She enjoyed her time with the girls and wants to come back again if we will have her- OF COURSE!!!!

We will be able to have our friends come over to help with feedings now that the girls are at their 40 week due date and doing so well with their weight gain. We still have to be extremely cautious with them and the germ factor but at least we can accept the help that has been offered so generously. I am working on having some instructions written up, despite my doing this every three hours repeatedly daily I still can't sit down and remember all the things in order. I suppose I'm a little worn out from the past 3+ weeks of this schedule. I will be posting another Care Calendar for "childcare" when I have everything set up. We (me, Elle and my mom) will always be here to help train anyone that wants to help and I will be home while our helpers are here. Having others come into feed the girls will help me to continue to pump- so far that's the only thing in my schedule that I can let go. I have to make the bottles and clean them but I can always stop pumping but I really want to continue for the girls.

We have gone for 2 walks around the neighborhood. We walked out of the house the first night and made it across the street before we were stopped by a "crowd" for about 10 minutes. We used the double stroller since the triple stroller has actual seats which are too much for our ladies. The double stroller seats recline and are perfect for the girls. On my walk by myself the next morning I put Brooke and Sophia in one seat and then Marleigh up front on her own and had a lovely walk with our neighbor. Next week is going to be gorgeous weather and I plan to walk daily after the 8am feeding.

We already have some hurdles behind us- sudden need for new bottles and the shortage of preemie diapers. The bottles continue to stink since they have several parts- not the super easy drop in liners that I registered for! I will get to use those soon, I hope when the girls move to a regular nipple rather than the preemie flow we need right now. Marleigh and Sophia with all their poundage are in newborn diapers which are plentiful in our basement stock and available at every store that sells diapers. Now Brooke has about 6 packs that she can use all to herself but I imagine she will be growing out of those soon too but no more emergency runs to several stores looking for the preemie size diapers.

That made me think the other day, "this too shall pass". It's so true, all the little stuff that tends to throw us off passes quickly and so will all these crazy feedings. But, all the good stuff passes too. The sweet tender way they generally sleep after each bottle, the involuntary smiles while they sleep, and their dependence on us - all of that will pass to and be replaced by something wonderful but different. As busy and tiring as some of this schedule is, we love and are amazed each day by these tiny miracles that continue to thrive and grow. This one month has passed quickly and so will the next.

A sad note- Dave is selling the boat, possibly to the family on the driveway right now! I can't believe how much I am missing that boat already. It makes sense to not have the insurance and storage fees for several years but it's just the most beautiful boat and has brought us such fun over the years. We can barely make it to the doctor's office (10 minutes away) between the feeding schedule so there is no way to take the boat out and being gone from them for an entire day seems like a lot right now- it would take a village to keep their schedule up. We will look forward to buying another boat in the next few years and teaching the girls to ski.

Elle and Brooke

Sleepy Sophia

"Holding" her own bottle- good job Brooke!!

BBQ-ing out on the patio with the girls

Brooke and Marleigh after bath night, it's Sophia's turn next.

Here are some new pictures, a peek in our new lives. Bath night is pretty crazy- babies everywhere! We work the bath time into the feeding schedule at 5pm which just wears us all out! They are so young that even a bath will throw off their night enough to lose a good feeding session. The more they are handled the worse they feed- that will all change as time goes on but for now we take care of business and put them back. That is probably the hardest part, knowing you should put them down but wanting to keep holding them.

We went to the pediatrcian on Saturday and boy was that an ordeal. We had to feed everyone a little early and then pack up and be there by 12:15pm. We started at 10:45am and were still about 5 minutes late to the dr. office. These babies are SMART! They know when you lay down and are completely worn out and they spit out their binky and begin to wail. They KNEW we had an appointment so no one would take their bottle so we could move on. We even had Elle home that morning helping us and we were still late! The office visit was wonderful, our doctor is amazing and very happy with how well the girls are doing. The doctors office has an actual manual for us to refer to as needed! I love that- I will take all the help I can get. We will go on Saturdays after hours to avoid being around other potentially sick children- they are very accomodating and it really helps that Dave doesn't have to rearrange his work to go with me.

Marleigh now weighs almost 6lbs, Sophia only a few ounces behind and Brooke is near 5lbs. I had such visions of all of them in the darling outfits everyone gave them and taking pictures but Brooke is still in the preemie clothes and Marleigh and Sophia are in the newborn sizes. The newborn are slightly large but the preemie sleepers are way too small for our "big" girls. It will be a while before they all wear the same size.

We have tons of formula on the way from the supplier- these companies love triplets as much as we do! We do keep running out of diapers and only a few places sell the preemie size. I just bought out Walmart today of the Pampers. The Pampers preemie are smaller than the Huggies preemie and tend to fit our Brooke better. We found out the hard way- the messy, tons of laundry way!!!!

I have had help during the day from my mom and sometimes Elle and now at night I have a nurse that does one feeding and of course Elle helps out too since she doesn't keep normal hours. I will be able to have more help from others soon. I have bought some scrubs for people to wear- a suggestion from the NICU nurses- to keep everyone clean. Perfumes, pet hair, smoke etc. effects the girls so by popping scrubs over the clothes takes care of all of that. Maybe it sounds crazy asking people to wear scrubs to hold and feed the girls but if it keeps them healthy and problem free it's worth it to me. Plus, I'll do whatever I have to do to have some extra hands around here whenever possible- hopefully no one will be offended!

I have been able to get out to run errands and even one night to have some fun. Elle and I had dinner together and then went to a friends' awesome new condo. It was fun to be out without a worry, babies all safe with Daddy. Elle and I miss hanging out together, now we just hang together- inside with the girls.

Thanks to all that have been bringing dinners by in the evening. It was hard for us to break down and accept all the offers of dinner but since we couldn't have help with the feedings, I decided that ready to eat meals would be just as nice. It has been a HUGE help and if you didn't receive an email about helping us out with dinner it just means you have already done too much for us and we just can't handle anymore generosity! Everyone has been so wonderful with their time and wonderful cooking and it truly has made our evenings much more enjoyable. Dave and I have even had time to sit and catch up before I go off to bed.

Dave is just the best dad. He comes home, washes up and dives right in to whatever we are doing, feeding, bath, cooking etc. He is a natural and doesn't mind getting up before work to do the 5am feeding. It will be a wonderful Father's Day with his 4 daughters- I remember back 5 years ago, the day after our wedding was Father's Day and Elle presented him with a card and gift and he was blown away. We are planning something special again for him- Cardinal related as uusal.

We are HOME!!!

A view inside our car

Sophia and Marleigh together again

Brooke all clean after bathtime

Leaving the hospital with our girls!!!!

Well, it's June...4th, I had to check the date! The girls have been home since June first at 5pm, just in time for their 5pm feeding. It was quite a busy time since everything we needed was in bags from the hospital but we got it done- the three of us against the three of them and WE won!! Well, at that feeding at least. The first night was sheer adrenaline. The next night was rough and last night was pretty good. Our babies were scheduled during their week in the NICU so they just stay on that and we are OK- not great but OK. Last night our Miss Marleigh stayed up rooting around from her 8pm feeding all the way till the 11pm feeding. I wound up feeding both Marleigh and Brooke (who always eats first) at the same time. Everyone behaved after that and I was able to sleep between the feedings.

The schedule is wonderful to have but still rough. We feed every 3 hours and it takes about an hour and a half to get through all three girls, leaving about an hour and a half to check up on things around the house or sleep. This is why I haven't been able to update my blog- sleep is my main goal at all times. I am doing fine now only because I had my mom's help this afternoon and she had brought dinner so I know we don't have to worry about that. Dave is back to work for a few hours each day. The feedings only require one person but it's nice to have someone available to put a binky back in or get the next lady ready to be fed. Dave will be home for the 5pm feeding time and since it might be bath night I will head to bed after that.

Our first bath night worked wonderfully! I was so tired afterwards but everyone got bathed and there was not one peep out of any of them. We had an assembly line going and it would be even more effcient if Elle were available too but we don't always ask her to stay. She is so helpful in other ways with feedings and running errands. Our first bath night we used every blanket, towel and washcloth we had- it was hilarious! Once we really get the hang of it things won't be so crazy.

We had a home healthcare nurse come by to check on us yesterday and she was terrific. She helped in so many ways with the girls, she propped up their mattresses (seems simple and logical) so they can still lay on their backs after feedings and not choke if the spit up. She super swaddled each one and had lots of other handy tips. Dave is a much better swaddler than I am, I have been temped to wake him up to help swaddle someone but have just managed on my own.

Our doctor is wonderful, she ordered the home visits with a nurse so we wouldn't have to come in the office to check their weights. She also called the morning of their discharge to see if we had any questions and then again that night to see how things were going- she is a super woman!

I have calls out to check the references for a night nurse- we definetely can use one! She will come in and do the 11 and 2am feedings, I can come downstairs and then sleep in the nursery until the 5am feeding, or Dave can do that one before he goes to work. He is only working for a few hours each day for now- thank goodness for his flexibility.

I will back track with some other info:

Leaving the hospital- what a sight!!! One man thought we were crazy, carrying 3 dolls in carriers around hospital. Dave heard his wife, "Those are their babies you fool!" The man still didn't believe it. We got plenty of stares and craned necks as we passed by. And of course every meth addict that was visiting a friend who was there from a stupid motorcycle stunt had to try to get a closer look. I'm not even kidding! Skinny, pale, bad teeth, shakey people kept trying to peek into their carriers while Dave got the car. Mama Lion was ready- "STEP AWAY FROM THE BABIES!!!"

Let's not forget little 'ole me:

I hated the c-section. I don't think either way is ideal for any amount of babies to leave a woman's body but the surgery was horrible. Laying there awake while they pull people out of you is NOT a good thing. Also, the surgery filled me up with fluids and air. My legs, ankles and feet were enormous and it was hard to get around with that along with my incision. The air in the belly might have been worse. I was almost bigger than when I arrived to give birth but now it was hollow- it was like having a drum! It literally echo'd when I beat on it- I did have to find my own entertainment at times. My feet stayed large until today- the other day I looked like a walking funhouse mirror- skinny on top, big round belly, skinny legs until the knees and then big fat ankles and feet.

We are feeling pretty good about sharing in the babies schedule, but I know it's gonna wear on us soon. We get about 5 to 6 hours at a time, just one of us, the other only getting 4 or maybe 5. We flip-flop nights on who does what and it never fails, each of us gets a turn with a fussy baby. Those babies love spreading the nighttime joy between both of us.

I do find myself tearing up while feeding, during the day after I have slept well and can enjoy these little wonders. I can't believe they are all ours to watch grow into beautiful ladies. I love that each one looks different and we can almost distinguish them by their cries. They are so tiny that they don't cry much but when they do, it's something!