Well, the babies are one month old today and we're still alive and kicking! We just had another Dr's appointment this morning and he confirmed again that the girls are perfect! All are in the 3rd percentile for weight at 1 month old, but we're just happy they're on the charts at all! Abby and Ally weighed 6 lbs 12 oz and Izzy is catching them fast... she weighed 6 lbs 11 oz! She's definitely gained the most since birth... over 2 pounds!!!
We're still using a schedule and having volunteers come in and help feed... it's our only hope for survival at this point. I still haven't taken the babies out in public yet (besides the Dr). I've been waiting until at least their 40 week due date (6/23). I've been making a joke that the house is their womb for now! A lot of people are wondering if it's ok to come visit at this point.... I say, why not?! I just have 4 rules I live by:
1) Still no kiddos for now - the Dr. says the cold a 4 year old has is the RSV virus just waiting to manifest for your babies.
2) Everyone washes their hands before handling the babies.
3) Hold their little heads!!!
4) Please Don't come if you're even the slightest bit sick.
Is that rude?! If you follow these guidelines, I'm a happy mom! Otherwise, I'm a mess! So, with that said, friends of the family are definitely welcome to come see/hold the babies!
We plan to take them to church sometime in July, but I'm a little worried about what a distraction/parade it will be. There ain't no sneakin' in the back with infant triplets! The Dr. told me it's ok to take them to church, but don't put them in the nursery and don't pass them around like new puppies. The mother in me wants to bring a thing of hand sanitizer and Lysol with me for everyone to get de-germed, but I think that might be a little extreme!
You may be wondering... what does one do when all babies get fussy at the same time? First of all... There's usually 2 people here at the house. But, right now, I'm alone with 2 fussy babies. I have Izzy in the swing and Abby is in her boppy. I keep them close so I can plug them with a pacifier when they start to cry... this usually works. If 3 start to fuss, I hold her or find the bouncy seat. Plan B is to call for backup!!! Overall though, they're pretty good babies so far... not too much crying. Thank goodness!
Gotta go... swing's not workign anymore!!!
Abby, Izzy, Ally
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Thank You!!!
Matt wrote the following letter to be posted in the church newsletter. It really captures the thanks we feel and I know not everyone we need to thank reads our church newsletter... so, here it is:
To our friends and family,
As we are writing this letter, we have had our triplet girls at home for three weeks. When we stop and think about it, we are filled with emotion: Emotions of excitement and pure joy. Most would think that fear would be one, but we are not really fearful of what is to come… because God has time and time again taken care of us. He has shown us his perfect love, and like it says in 1 John, “Perfect love drives out fear.” We have no doubt that God will continue to help us through this.
We have also felt the perfect love of God through our families. They have done so much to help us. We have tried to say “Thank you” as much as we can, but it just doesn’t seem to be enough to equal our gratitude.
And last, but certainly not least, we have felt the love of God through our friends. You have all worked tirelessly to get everything ready for the babies, and showered us with much needed supplies. Every single act of kindness was noticed, and we are grateful. You’ve made the transition from expecting one baby to three so much easier.
James, the brother of Jesus, wrote “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do!” We have seen your faith, and you are truly living it out.
In the unifying love of Christ,
Matt, Kami, Isabelle, Abigail, and Allison Martin
To our friends and family,
As we are writing this letter, we have had our triplet girls at home for three weeks. When we stop and think about it, we are filled with emotion: Emotions of excitement and pure joy. Most would think that fear would be one, but we are not really fearful of what is to come… because God has time and time again taken care of us. He has shown us his perfect love, and like it says in 1 John, “Perfect love drives out fear.” We have no doubt that God will continue to help us through this.
We have also felt the perfect love of God through our families. They have done so much to help us. We have tried to say “Thank you” as much as we can, but it just doesn’t seem to be enough to equal our gratitude.
And last, but certainly not least, we have felt the love of God through our friends. You have all worked tirelessly to get everything ready for the babies, and showered us with much needed supplies. Every single act of kindness was noticed, and we are grateful. You’ve made the transition from expecting one baby to three so much easier.
James, the brother of Jesus, wrote “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do!” We have seen your faith, and you are truly living it out.
In the unifying love of Christ,
Matt, Kami, Isabelle, Abigail, and Allison Martin
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Daddy's little girls
In this picture, Matt has his lap full with his precious little girls! Everyone is doing really well... we went to the Dr. on Monday and he says they're perfect! I could tell he was surprised. He kept asking me if they had any special heart, eye or ear doctors they needed to see and he looked very surprised when I told him of the minor complications we had with Ally. You could see he expected to have more complications with triplets. All I can continue to say is God is good! The girls are gaining weight and doing well. Both Abby and Ally weighed 5 lb 8 oz and Izzy is gaining on them... she weighed 5 lb 4 oz!
The girls are sticking to the schedule pretty good, but we usually have one fussy one during the 2-3 hour sleeping stretch. I think this is to be expected, but we're hoping to keep them all on the same schedule for our sanity. I'm tired, but I think I'm about as sleep deprived as any normal new mom. I have stretches (thanks to helpers) where I will get 3,4 or 5 hours at a time... these really help! I think the hardest part is never really leaving the house. Normal moms would be able to take their baby to Wal-Mart or the park, whereas, with preemie triplets, we just need to stay put at home. I know... eventually it will get easier. That's what everyone says. Right now, my sole purpose in life is to feed, burp, change and love these 3 little girls... the outside world can wait for a few more months. I have to admit though, I save money when I never leave the house!
Well, Ally's fussing... I'll write more later!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
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!
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!
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