We're Still Alive...

Greetings Everyone!
Well...I noticed the other day that I hadn't updated in over a week!  It seems like the gaps between posts are growing bigger and bigger.  I don't mean to blow off updating things...I really want to record things as they happen.  Unfortunately, in a life full of triplet babies with diapers, feedings, bottles, fussiness, and all of the other little baby things...plus homework...and whatever else comes our way and updating the blog falls down on the priority list.

So...with my excuses complete...the boys are doing well.  We just said good-bye to Claudia and Lanny and they were a tremendous help the past two weeks.  It was really great getting to know them a bit better...and their own grandparents experience helped all of us manage three growing boys whose cries and "demands" also increase with their size.

Now that they are 2 months old...they are starting to show some of their individual personalities.  Caleb is setting himself up as the demanding one.  He is almost always the first one to wake up hungry and he is more than willing to let us know when he is ready to be fed, held, swaddled, or whatever else technique is needed to settle him down.  He has a distinctive "yell" followed by silence for 3-5 seconds.  If his "demand" is not met...he yells again and the next wait is a bit shorter.  After 3-4 attempts to gain attention...he simply starts crying!!  Caleb also seems to want to be held the most.  In fact...Lanny seems to be Caleb's best friend because every time I came home Caleb was sleeping on top of Lanny.

Caleb with his best friend, Lanny

Gideon seems to be Caleb's opposite when it comes to fussiness.  He is almost always quiet and the only time he really fusses is when he has a bad episode of reflux or is really hungry.  This has caused us to move him to "third" in the feeding order because he seems most able to deal with waiting a bit longer if things are going slowly.  Besides being the most "calm", Gideon's eyes are the biggest, and when he is awake he just can't help but look around at all there is to see.  Sometimes it is hard to get him back to sleep after feeding because he just wants to hang out and see what is going on.  That usually merits him some "Daddy" time and we'll just watch TV while Caleb and Ezra are sleeping upstairs.

Gideon with "Mr. Frog"

Ezra is our baby and I think that no matter how hard we try not to, we will treat him like the "youngest."  He is adorable and has a quintasential "baby look" about him.  I guess you could say he splits the difference between Caleb and Gideon's personalities.  He can be quiet and cute...or he can be fussy and demanding.  He also struggles with reflux the same way Gideon does.  He also has the most frequent "tummy aches" that we give them Gripe Water for.  That usually works pretty well.

Ezra loves his binky!!

That's about it for now.  Little voices are starting to stir upstairs...

Have a good night!!

J

Due Date!!

Good Morning...
We never really talked about it or mentioned it unless people asked, but yesterday, February 22nd was the boys official due date.  It doesn't have any real signifigant meaning at this point because they will be considered Preemies until at least 18 months.  By then they should be "caught up" with most developmental issues...Lord willing.

It has been a crazy few days...

After spending three weeks here, my parents went home to McKinney for a couple of weeks.  It was awesome having them here, and they really made things go a lot better.  My dad is a machine about day to day things...doing several loads of laundary a day...keeping bottles washed...taking the 8am feeding daily...I'm not sure how he does it.  My mom has continued her project helping to get us organized (she's been helping us since her first visit back in August when we realized we needed more oranization to keep ourselves / our house "sane.").  In between projects she enjoyed her favorite new past time...no...not Farmville (a close second!)...holding grand kids and helping with care time.  Their presence was missed within hours of leaving!!

Taking care of three babies is hard for four people.  I don't think any of us felt like we were getting the sleep / rest we wanted...but misery loves company.  If nothing else, there is a psychological advantage knowing we had them out numbered and if you really needed a break someone could take over.  Additionally...from my perspective...it was a lot easier pulling myself away to do (or try to do) research/writing while they were here because I knew Autumn had help.

Then came Saturday afternoon....

Two people taking care of the boys is not easy...but not terribly difficult.  The beauty of that extra person is having someone to respond to the babies not being fed at that moment.  Additionally, you can over lap feedings a little bit to get the care time under 2 hours...always the goal.  FYI...we never feed all of them at once...and we try to stagger feeding start times at least 15 min apart so when it is just one person doing the feedings they aren't all getting hungry/fussy at the exact same time (that's the goal at least).

I've made a committment to Autumn that Sat AM / early afternoon will be hers.  What she does is up to her...but the goal is to give her at least a few hours every week where she can get out of the house and just unwind for awhile.  I'd love for it to be more frequent, but for now...this is a good start.  Unfortunately, with my parents just having left...and the level of "fussiness" with the boys...she had to settle for a relaxing shower & time upstairs.

Feeding all three boys by yourself is a challenge to say the least.  It doesn't mean it can't be done...but as they mature they seem more willing to express dissatisfaction / discomfort.  That has its benefits..but when you are trying to feed one baby...the other two screaming every time they drop their binky (life savers) is tough.  Plus...we are both still working on holding just two babies at a time...but when feeding that isn't an option.  The hardest part about feeding the boys yourself is knowing you can't give each of them the attention they need / deserve.  The goal is simply to get each one done as quickly as possible...while maximizing milk/formula consumption and minimizing reflux/spitting up.  They each get 30 minutes...nothing more.  But like most babies...the best thing is to try and hold them for awhile when they are done.  When you are by yourself..that just isn't an option because there are two more hungry mouths to feed...and they make it clear they are only growing more and more hungry.

Fortunately, we do have some solutions we've developed the last couple of days.  It isn't that we haven't been doing single feedings...Autumn has been doing them since the boys got home...and the rest of us have had our share.  But over this weekend...to even get minimal sleep meant more frequent single care times...and it was like the boys knew they had us!!

The biggest thing we've learned is the benefit of close proximity.  Before starting a feeding...if any of them are semi-awake / fussy, we put those babies within an arms reach.  This is where the multiple bouncers / Boppy Pillows helps out.  When in the nursery, one of them sits on a boppy on a glider and the other one is in a bouncer on the floor.  The third gets fed.  From there...everyone rotates in/out of their respective spot until fed.  On the main level, during the day...I like to line the boys up in the boppies so all three are on the couch.  In either case, the ability to still hold one while addressing the "baby crisis" (aka dropping a binky) is a huge help.  Nothing frazzles the nerves more than a bunch of screaming infants!!

Anyways...that's about it for now.  By the time I am done writing this it will be a mere 45 minutes until the next care time.  This is the only thing I've done since the last care time.  That is just the way it works...

Have a great day!!

J

Doctor's Visit....

Good Morning!
Well...after several cancellations due to the snow, we were finally able to get the boys back into the doctor on Saturday.  Because of the snow and the fact we were dealing with triplets, Dewitt Army Hospital was willing to let us bring them in for routine care instead of the normal acute type care they only do on Saturdays.  We thought that was pretty nice of them.

As a whole, the boys are all doing well.  Of course that phrase "As a whole" sort of explains one of the issues you can run into with triplets...that is viewing them as a system of 3 babies instead of treating them each as individuals.  I bring it up because the visit with the doctor (nurse practitioner actually) took a bit longer than I think it needed to because we kept switching our discussions around and she kept getting the boys confused.  I think it starts when she (and every other person we talk to) asks, "How are THEY doing?"  That is a perfectly normal question, but the reality of things is that one being healthy doesn't make the other healthy...and the same thing with being sick.  It is just too easy to get into the mindset that if one feels a certain way...or reacts a specific way to formula, breast milk, etc...that they should ALL be doing the same thing.  I think we are more aware of that as a false mindset now...but it is still a tough habit to get out of.

Anyways...Caleb weighed 6lb 8oz.  He was also 20" long.  His reflux is still there...and sometimes I think his is getting worse over time.  He wasn't initially prescribed the medicine for his reflux, but we started giving it to him a day or so after Gideon & Ezra because he was starting to show the same symptoms.  So the doc prescribed him some of his own now!!  He still has a heart murmur so we'll be making appointments for him and the other two to get checked out by the pediatric cardiologist.  That means another family trip back to Bethesda!!

Gideon weighed in at 6lb 14oz and is 20 1/4'' long.  He is the biggest all around...although Caleb seems to eat the best.  His reflux is still an issue.  He is the most likely to really spit his stuff up pretty good.  Just a note...if you are ever feeding Gideon...don't wear anything you want to keep clean!!  :-)  The nurse noticed he had a heart murmur too.  That was a change from our previous visit when the docs could only hear the murmurs in Caleb and Ezra.

As for Ezra, he weighed 6lb 12oz.  He was also 20" long.  Like his older brothers, the reflux continues to bother him and he will be getting an evaluation for his heart murmur too.

The nurse and the doctors we'd talked to previously about the heart murmurs said it isn't uncommon for heart murmurs at such a young age and they should grow out of them.  They are also all pretty feint so none of them are super concerned.  The appointments with the cardiologist are just to rule out any more serious issues.

In other baby news...we've started introducing their "lovies" to them.  These are those little blankets with stuffed animal heads that rattle on them.  Our friends Mark and Dawn kids loved them when they were little so we've been excited about introducing them.  We wanted to wait until now though to keep the variety of stimuli they are exposed to down to a minimum.  But seeing as how they are one week from when they were due...we decided to show them their lovies gradually.  Right now...they are minimally interested.  Their greatest interest is when they are hungry...and like anything else that goes near their mouths...they try to suck on them!!  But a few times after feedings...I've seen Caleb and Gideon react to their lovies and follow them around.  It will certainly be fun to watch them grow in their reactions and even see them learn to hold them.

That's about it for now.  Thanks for the continued prayers.

God Bless,

Jeff

Meet the family...

Greetings from snowy Alexandria, VA.  We've had more snow this week, but now that Autumn can see it from our house...as opposed to her previous snow experience from her hospital room...she says she is starting to enjoy this wintery weather.  For those of you who know Autumn, I am sure we can all share in our collective WHAT!?!  :-)

I write this watching the boys  sleep in their bouncers.  We are trying sleeping this way because of the past few days their acid reflux has gotten pretty bad.  It is really obvious how uncomfortable they are and it affects two of their three primary functions in life...sleeping and eating.  You can guess what the third function is and they continue to do that very well :-)  But we are trying to keep them more upright to try and use gravity to their advantage.  We'll see how it goes.  The pediatrician warned us about this, and we are likely to get them some medicine to at least get rid of the "Acid" part of the reflux.  Other than that, only time and growing will help them.

The boys had a great couple of days saying goodbye to Granddaddy Greg and hello to Uncle Ryan, Grandma Ruthie, and Grandpa Steve (my parents).  We were so blessed to have Greg here for our first week at home with the boys, and now we are fortunate to have two grandparents here for an extended stay.  More importantly, this means the boys have been held by all their grandparents now!!

 

Uncle Ryan holding Caleb

Ryan came over on Sunday night, resuming our weekly get together.  He got to hold all three of them in various stages.  He even helped feed Gideon and Ezra.  He has even stated that he'd be willing to work towards changing diapers... but we won't hold him to that until he asks to :-)

On Tuesday, Granddaddy Greg left, but because my parents arrived on Monday...he was able to "pass the Grandparent torch" to them.  Needless to say, Grandma Ruthie and Grandpa Steve were excited to meet the little guys. On Tuesday morning, they jumped right into care time!!

 

Grandma Ruthie holding Caleb

 

Grandpa Steve holding Gideon or Ezra (I can't tell!)

It is worth mentioning (after the caption above) that it is pretty easy to tell them apart in person...but quite difficult to tell in pictures.  Since I generally don't have the time to download pictures right away...I forget who we took pictures with.  So...unless I can figure it out...my identifications are "best guesses".  Maybe some day we'll figure it all out...or Autumn will go through and "fix" my identifications!

Speaking of Autumn...she continues to take to this Mommy thing very well.  Even when she tries to get her dedicated sleep...she is often up here within an hour or two checking on the boys or just wanting to see them.  She is most happy holding her little men and they are definitely most happy in her arms!!

 

Gideon whispering to Ezra: "We have such a pretty mommy!!"

That's about it.  Hopefully they will sleep for another 30 minutes or so.  Then it will be time to start our 1200 care time!!

Have a great day!

God Bless!

J