Home with babies

Mom and Abby

Mamaw and Izzy


Left to right - Izzy, Abby, Ally (birth order)


I had the babies on 5/19 and all 4 of us (5 if you count Matt) came home on 5/26. I had to stay due to horrendous swelling in my feet and high blood pressure, but it worked out pretty well, because I got to stay with the babies. I think it's a world record for a mother to have triplets and get to come home with all 3! When we started the discharge process, they told us we were taking 2, but before we knew it, they were sending the other one too! They discharged us all pretty late in the evening, and we had to wait until after a feeding, so we didn't actually leave the hospital until 9 pm! You should have seen what a sight we were leaving the hospital. My mom offered to come help, but at the time, I still thought it was just two babies, so I told her to go on home. So... Matt, me, 2 nurses and a guy called a host, all caravanned out to the car! Boy, did we get some stares and comments! You could here everyone gasp as we walked by... many people said, "triplets? Oh my!" I just soaked it all in and waved from my wheel chair. I even told a few of them to pray for us!

That first night was rough! Cheryl (Matt's mom) stayed with us the first night and none of us slept a wink... we all got up with every feeding and by 8 in the morning, we were devising a plan. The babies eat at 8, 11, 2 and 5 (AM and PM)... so, we made a schedule with 2 people feeding the babies per feeding and the 3rd person sleeping a stretch. We actually made a schedule with 4 - four hour shifts to ensure all of the feedings are met: 8-noon, 2pm-6pm, 8pm-midnight and 2am-6am. This way, you feed a baby at the beginning of your shift and the end of your shift. We've recruited a handful of volunteers to help with a few feedings, which should help mommy, daddy and both grandmas have a small reprieve. I made a 3 week schedule (thru June 17th) for now. I call it the "I will survive" schedule. We've asked only a few people beyond family to help, because we need to keep the circle pretty small for now. The babies are so fragile and their health in these few weeks as preemies is vital to their growth. We've read, watched videos and talked to nurses until we're blue in the face... so we've become a little more particular than we ever thought we would be. I'll be so happy when we'll be able to take them in public and show them off. Also, soon, we'll add more volunteers to the schedule and make the circle a little bigger. Believe me, raising these girls is going to take a village!!!

Needless to say, I've been a little emotional... I brought 3 babies home with me, I'm still in a lot of pain (not taking prescription pain meds because I gotta take care of babies), I'm sleep deprived and extremely hormonal. This makes for a very volatile situation!!! Just ask Matt.... I cried at the drop of a hat yesterday! It was our 4 year anniversary and both of us forgot all about it until his parents reminded us. Also, working on the schedule, I realized, not only will my life never be the same, I will see Matt less and less for the next few months. Most of the time, when he comes home, I'll need to be sleeping and getting ready for my 2 and 5 am shifts! Ugh.. it's going to be a rough few months. Matt and I have discussed how we're going to try not to be robotic about taking care of them and try to enjoy our time with them. We know this is just a phase and it will get easier... their only this age once.

Two of the girls: Izzy and Ally look a lot alike... we keep talking about painting a toe nail to make sure we don't mistake them, but we think we can tell them apart. I really do think I can, but that's not something you'd want to mess up! Abby has lots of dark hair and has different facial features, so she's not a problem! I've posted some close-up shots and bumble bee pics we took this afternoon. All babies seem to have excellent temperments and are sticking to their schedule really well. They wake up to eat, get their diaper changed and then go back to sleep until the next time. The only problem we're having is keeping them awake long enough to eat or spitting up.

Keep praying for us... we still need it!