A Glimpse of Trouble to Come

Today I was feeding the boys mashed bananas and cereal in their high chairs.

Daddy takes on the troops.

I got a glimpse of the future when Isaac looked at me and, with a mouth FULL of food, blew a raspberry, showering me in bananas. I am not kidding when I tell you that his brothers watched him do this and their faces LIT UP in delight before they joined in.

I am in so much trouble.

Jeff and I think that spoon-feeding multiples would make a great Wii game. More mouths could be added for each new level, with bonus points for neatness and degree of difficulty, such as feeding two babies while holding a third on your lap. Or for dodging banana showers.

Mmmmm...good!

We are all eating solids now. Some better than others. Alex, of course, is practically ready to use the spoon himself.

Alex: Covered in food and happy as can be!

That boy loves to eat.

He always has. (Perhaps that's why he weighed 6 lbs. 1 oz. at birth!)

Isaac is still thinking about this whole solids things and Sam has caught on pretty well, but so far hasn't taken all that much.

But Alex, oh Alex.

Today Alex ate almost half a jar of applesauce plus a couple tablespoons of rice cereal all by himself.

We've only been taking solids from a spoon this week (which is a whole new challenge for me), and after about two days, I noticed that Alex would take his bite, swallow and then open his mouth and wait for me to come around again. He looks just like a little bird, waiting with his mouth wide open while I feed his brothers.

I can already hear him saying to his siblings, "Are you going to finish that?"

Weekend Hiatus

Sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend, but things get busy around here on the weekends. We spend a lot of time playing with the kids, and catching up on household stuff, which doesn't leave much time for blogging.

This weekend we got to add a little relaxation to the mix. Friday night Kathryn and Eric (thanks guys!) came to watch the little ones while Jeff and I went OUT for the evening. Ahhh....it was so nice. We went to a symphony performance and even ate a meal without holding a fussy baby (or two). We made a conscious effort to eat s-l-o-w-l-y, which parents hardly ever do!

When we came home the guys were on their way down to sleep and Amelia had helped make chocolate chip cookies "with my friends." Kathryn and Eric were even still smiling, so apparently a good time was had by all. We brought them a bottle of wine as a thank you, and I trust they weren't sitting in our driveway trying to gnaw the cork out in desperation when they left.

We had a couple good night's sleep for everyone in our house, so now we're refreshed and ready for the week. This week's challenge: adding solids to the feeding routine. Stay tuned for video!

Reflux Rears Its Head

Today I started Alex on his acid reflux medicine (Zantac). I have been almost paranoid about the boys having reflux because of our horrible experience with Amelia. I have tried really hard to make sure that I am not overreacting to possible symptoms the boys have, because I did not want to put them on any medicine unnecessarily. But, it is pretty clear that Alex has reflux.

Amelia was a "silent refluxer," meaning she didn't exhibit the classic reflux sign -- spitting up. We did get her diagnosed and on Prilosec relatively early, but as it turned out, the medicine wasn't strong enough and the pain she was having led to problems sleeping. We endured months of walking the floors with her at night and frequent nursing (which, we now know, soothed her throat), eating issues that led the doctor to tell me she was under-nourished, and the doctor telling me that some babies are "just difficult."

In the end, we took Amelia to a specialist when she was nearly a year old. She was ulcerated all the way up the back of her throat. I felt like the worst mom in the world! Especially when I thought about all the nights she would cry instead of sleeping, and I realized she was crying because she was in pain.

Alex spits up at every feeding, but not usually a lot. But, he has started to not sleep well. He usually takes 30- to 45-minute cat naps, while his brothers are sleeping an hour and a half to two hours. At night, his brothers are sleeping straight through, but Alex is waking up about three hours before them. And Alex looks tired, poor kid! He started waking up screaming and it would take me 5-10 minutes to get him to calm down. Often he'd go back to sleep on my shoulder, because being upright helped keep the acid down. Then I heard him gulping when he swallowed. That was Amelia's primary sign of reflux, so I immediately called the doctor.

Alex is still a much better sleeper than Amelia, but he doesn't sleep nearly as well as his brothers. Yes, some of that can be personality, but we also know from past experience just how badly reflux can interfere with sleep. In Amelia's case, she didn't sleep through the night until she was almost a year old, and she still struggles to sleep through the night at almost three years old. She just never really learned how to sleep long stretches.

The amazing thing about Alex is that, just like Amelia, he is the happiest baby, even though he has every right to be miserable. Hopefully the Zantac will work its magic and we'll be back to three children who sleep well at night -- even if Amelia still doesn't!

Cousin Luke

This is my nephew Luke.

Luke came with his mom, Mary, all the way from Montana to meet his new cousins. He's a great helper with the boys. But he doesn't change diapers!

Luke feeds his cousin Alex.

We can't wait for Luke's brothers, A.J. and Josh, to meet the boys, too.

Feeding Frenzy

For the past four days, these boys have been eating every two to two and a half hours. And, they've started waking up at night again! Saturday night they were up at 4 a.m., and all of them drained a 5-oz. bottle and went back to sleep in 20 minutes. It was a new record, but they shouldn't be waking up at night that hungry!

I gave them a couple days to get the growth spurt out of their systems, but clearly, they need more to eat. So, starting today we are adding a little rice cereal to their bedtime bottles. If they still need to eat voraciously during the day, I'll add some to their daytime bottles, too.

There's hardly time between feedings on a three-hour schedule, and this schedule means we're practically doing feedings back-to-back. And they aren't sleeping enough, so they get fussy. Enough already! Mommy likes her happy boys and her nighttime sleep.

Here are the latest weights:

Sam: 12 lb. 5 oz.
Isaac: 10 lb. 12 oz.
Alex: 12 lb. 12 oz.

At the rate they are going, Alex will crack 15 lbs. by the time they are four months old. And Sam is gaining fast on Alex. He might just catch up! As for little Isaac, watch out. He's been draining those 5 oz. bottles, so he might just surprise us all one of these days!

Shhhhh....

The house is quiet at last.

Ahhh....

I love the sound of silence.

I think the boys must be having a growth spurt, because they were hollering early for every feeding today. In the midst of all the chaos, I have to laugh, because I know I will often find myself with a hungry gang of boys on my hands as they grow up. It's a good thing all my mom's cookie recipes make 12 dozen, and I grew up helping cook for a crowd in my own family.

I try to remind myself that a growth spurt is a good thing, even though it throws the schedule out of whack and leads to more fussing than usual.

At least we know the problem can't be the chicken pox!

Zzzzzzz

Guess who slept ALL night last night. THEIR names are Samuel, Isaac and Alexander. And all three of them slept from their 9:30 feeding (asleep by 11:30) until 6:00 this morning. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not an approaching train.

Thanks to our marvelous volunteers who do the 9:30 p.m. feeding and put the boys down for us, this schedule -- when it gets consistent -- means full nights of sleep for us. Of course, last night, we didn't hit the sack when our helpers came, but folded laundry, took the decorations off the Christmas tree, wrote out the last few Christmas cards, cleaned the kitchen, and generally tried to get the rest of life outside of the boys taken care of in those could precious hours.

I was up twice last night, getting ready to feed. First, it was Isaac at 2:30 a.m., but I snuggled him up with his warm pack while I went to warm bottles and when I came back he was snoring, so I went back to bed. At 3:30 a.m. it was Alex who was bellering, but I picked him up before I went to warm bottles and he went right back to sleep on my shoulder, so I laid him back down and went back to my warm bed. At 5:30 a.m. I woke with a start, thinking I'd missed a feeding, but everyone was still sleeping peacefully.

Bliss

Pure bliss.

Let's hope it lasts!

Sam's Gold Star

Sam is not our best sleeper. In fact, he sometimes reminds me too much of Amelia in that regard. But after a rough afternoon yesterday where he never really slept -- and certainly not in his crib for any real stretch -- he got the gold star for his sleeping efforts last night.

Because he was fussy and I was afraid he'd exhaust himself before the 9:30 p.m. feeding, we fed Sam at 8:30 p.m. He was so exhausted and went down hard and fast. At 1:30 a.m. when Isaac started squawking, Jeff and I decided that we wouldn't wake the other two if they didn't wake up. Jeff did the 1:30 feeding and I was on call for the next round, whenever that happened.

When Jeff got up with Isaac, Alex woke up too, so he fed them both. Sam slept and slept and slept. Finally at 6:30 a.m. Sam joined his brothers in waking up and hollering for food. That's 10 hours between feedings. Of course, if the trade off is not sleeping from 12:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and being fussy that whole time, I think I'd rather get up with him in the middle of the night! Still, it's exciting to think that they just might sleep through the night some time soon.

It Runs in the Family

Jeff washed all the bottle parts the other night.

Can you say OCD? When I wash the bottle parts they wind up in a jumbled heap. Since we go through 21 bottles a day, they get assembled as quickly as they get washed, so I don't waste my time on being orderly. I save my own OCD tendencies for other things, so between us we have all the bases covered.

And we wonder why Amelia has to straighten out the boys' play mat and line up her stuffed animals just so. Actually, we don't. We accept and embrace our OCD tendencies in this house. I understand that's the first step to recovery -- though it certainly hasn't worked so far!

Maybe we should have really embraced our problem by naming the boys Oliver, Christopher and Daniel. Other than Alex's aversion to being wet at all, we don't see many OCD tendencies in them yet, but just give it time.

The boys just hangin' out. From left: Sam, Isaac and Alex.

Sleep Deprivation

I completely understand why sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture. There are days when I would confess to harboring Osama Bin Laden in my basement as long as it would guarantee me a couple hours of sleep in one stretch.

Last night it was Isaac's turn to be the fussy one. Jeff stayed up with him after the 9:30 p.m. feeding and went straight through to the 1:30 a.m. feeding with little more than a quick snooze with a baby on his chest.

God bless Jeff though. He did the 1:30 a.m. feeding by himself and let me sleep. I heard nothing -- not my alarm clock and not three wailing babies. Of course, this is due in part to the nerve pain medicine I am still taking to try to get rid of the residual effects of the shingles. The problem is, the medicine makes me even more tired and groggy. But, I am now being very vigilant about taking it every 6 hours (how convenient that I'm up in the middle of the night to take doses round the clock) to prevent this pain from becoming chronic. Really, this has gone on long enough.

After the 5:30 a.m. feeding, which we did a half hour early, and with Amelia's "help" because the chorus was so loud, I had a fussy Isaac. I wound up "sleeping" on the bed in the basement with Isaac and later, with both Isaac and Alex. When it was time for the next feeding, about 8:30 a.m., Sam started wailing. At first I was very confused, because I had been dreaming I was doing a feeding, so I couldn't figure out why there was a baby crying.

I'm starting to feel like the Dunkin' Donuts guy, only it's: "Time to feed the babies." For those of you too young for the reference, it's past your bedtime. Go check out YouTube if you really care.

Three on One

This week I've been mostly on my own with the boys, so I am perfecting my zone feeding technique. The hardest part is fitting in nursing at the same time I'm propping two other boys and trying to get everyone burped. If they will cooperate and let me start their feedings 10-15 minutes apart, that helps a lot. But sometimes, everyone is hungry all at once!

Yesterday I tandem nursed two of the babies for the first time. It went pretty well. It certainly went better than I ever hoped, considering the fact that I had to work pretty hard to teach each of them to nurse in the first place. Even now, they don't always cooperate with me, but if one won't cooperate, there's always another baby to try!

Right now the babies get breast milk for about half of their feedings. Some of the time they nurse, and the rest of the time they get a bottle of either breast milk or formula. Beside the fact that breast milk is the best food in the world for the babies, if you've purchased formula lately, you know it's well worth the time and effort to nurse and pump for the savings alone! We go through a $25 can of formula in about 4 days, and that's with me providing half the feedings in breast milk. We're investing the savings in their college fund. HA! Maybe once we're done buying diapers.

FUSSY!

I don't know what the problem was today, but the boys have been fussy all day long. My sister Judy was planning to leave after the 9:30 a.m. feeding, but all three boys put up a big stink. Perhaps they didn't want her to leave? :-)

Aunt Judy stayed until the boys went down after the 12:30 feeding. They were all down by 2 p.m., since they'd used up all their energy fussing! Sam didn't stay down for long, and ended up napping on Mom's chest for a little while. I needed a little shut-eye after a long night of fussing that just continued into today.

I had help for the 3:30 feeding, so that went pretty smoothly, but once again Sam didn't go down for a while. On the plus side, at least it was just one baby who needed extra help. That I have enough hands for! I'm hoping they all have it out of their system so they don't abuse the volunteers at 9:30 p.m. and our overnight helper tonight.

The boys are six weeks old today, and their weekly weigh-in showed some impressive gains:

Sam - 8 lb. 12 oz.
Isaac - 7 lb. 15 oz. (Almost 8 lbs. Grandma Alice! Isaac came home the smallest at 4 lb. 12 oz.)
Alex - 9 lb. 5 oz.

I'm enjoying a little peace and quiet now, but it's time to give Amelia her supper and get ready for the 6:30 feeding.

Solitude?

Yesterday Jeff had Chinese for lunch. He brought his fortune home for me to see. It said, "You have a basic need for solitude some of the time."

We got a good laugh out of that. We may all need a little solitude, but it will be a long time before we get it!

On to the news. Yesterday the boys were five weeks old. They are eating and burping like champs, though Sam's definitely the slowest to eat and burp. Here are the results of the five-week weigh in:

Sam - 8 lb. 1 oz.
Isaac - 7 lb. 7 oz.
Alex - 8 lb. 11 oz.

I have visions of having GALLONS of milk delivered to the house three times a week as they get older...

Flying Solo

Today Grandma Brigade Part 2 headed for home. Jeff's mom arrived the day my mom left, so we've had round-the-clock help for almost five weeks now. Last Thursday Jeff's dad, sister Allison and brother Jacob came, so we've had more hands than kids for the last few days, which has been very, very nice. Jeff and I got to catch a little extra sleep while they were here, and we're going to need it!

I did a feeding by myself today, and it went pretty well. The biggest problem is getting everyone -- or at least most -- of the gang to go down afterwards. One fussy baby is no big deal, two is manageable, but three? Well, one person just doesn't have enough hands for that!

I've got pictures of the family with the boys and Amelia, but I'll have to get to those later. I hear a couple boys calling me from the other room.

More Feeding Fun

The boys are still messing with my schedule, sometimes wanting to eat just 2 hours after they've been fed. At least they didn't wreak havoc with the night feedings. They kindly ate at 1:30 and 5:15, though Alex was up at 4:45 looking for food.

We've upped their bottles to 4 ounces, though they don't generally finish them. At least we know they have the opportunity to eat more, if that's the issue. And believe me, when they wake up demanding to be fed early, we do everything we can to get a full bottle in them. None of this dozing off after two ounces boys. Mama's not giving you snacks every two hours!

Fortunately, the boys are so gosh darn cute, we'll forgive them for messing with the schedule. As Uncle Jacob says, "I'm so tired, but I don't want to leave." Hear, hear!

Here are some pics of the boys with the stuffed giraffes that Grandpa D.'s secretary sent. The giraffes play a lullaby when you wind them up, and if you look at the ribbons you'll see they have the boys' names on them. Very cute!

Sam

Isaac

Alex

Eating Out, Eating In

Tonight Jeff and I had a date. As a birthday present from his mom we went out for a nice dinner while Grandma and Grandpa D. and Aunt Allie and Uncle Jacob held down the fort. At least they had enough people for man-to-man defense! It was nice to have a little quiet time to ourselves, though our conversation was punctuated by long pauses brought on by the lack of sleep.

So that's the eating out. What about the eating in, you ask? That's all about the triplets, and the subtitle to this post should be "ACK!" I had the boys on a perfectly reasonable three-hour schedule that was working for all of us, and today they flipped out on me.

This morning they woke up en masse and started bellering for food just two hours after the previous feeding. We'd barely gotten finished and cleaned up from the previous meal and they were acting like we hadn't fed them in days. Since they were all awake, we fed them. And then fed them again two and a half hours later. Then they managed three hours before demanding to be fed every two hours for the next two feedings. ACK!

Our round-the-clock help is about to leave. Now is not the time for these babies to need to be fed every two hours. I'm sure it's a growth spurt, and that's a good thing, but on a two-hour feeding schedule, we will do nothing but feed! I sure hope this is short-lived.

In other triplet news, I packed away the last preemie outfit today. Everyone is in newborn sizes now, just one month after birth, and a week after their due date.

Today's Challenge

Amelia came home from daycare yesterday with a tummy ache. She had a rough night, and was pretty puny this morning, so I kept her home. While she was very good, at times it was a real challenge to deal with a sick toddler and newborn triplets today.

This morning Amelia and I watched cartoons while the boys slept, and I tucked her in on the couch for a video during feedings. You do what you have to do, I guess. She perked up by this afternoon, so we did some puzzles and read some books instead of watching TV. By bath time she was ready to splash and play, so I think she's back to her usual self now.

Unfortunately, nap times did not coordinate, and two of the boys were pretty fussy from 3:30 through 6:30 p.m., so this mama's headed for bed to catch a few ZZZZs before the 1:30 a.m. feeding. Still, if they are going to fuss, I'd rather it be in the afternoon or evening than in the middle of the night!

Someday She'll Hate Me for This Post...

Last night Amelia helped feed the babies.

Amelia and Alex

Then she saw Mom nursing Isaac, and pretty soon she was pulling up her shirt, asking to feed her baby. Tears ensued when we tried to explain that only mommies could feed babies that way.

Poor, sweet Amelia! We love you and we love how much you already want to do things for your "brodders."

Baby Boot Camp Part Three and Angels of Mercy

OK, Saturday night the babies kicked our butts. Well, more specifically, they kicked butt on Grandma and Jeff first, before I got up. I went to bed at 9 with a sleeping pill and orders to get more than a 2-hour stretch of sleep. I got up briefly at 2:30 a.m. when Amelia woke up, but was still groggy, so I just brought her to bed with me. At 4:30 a.m. I realized that there was a lot of crying going on, so I got up to help.

I found Jeff still in his jeans. The 10 p.m. feeding hadn't ended. I took over for Jeff and it wasn't until we fed the boys again at 6 a.m. that they finally all went down. Sam was the good sleeper for the night, so Jeff told him there was only one college fund and so far, it was all his!

I did what I could the next morning to get us through the day. I sent Amelia to Sarah's for the afternoon and overnight. (It's sweet that she wants to help, but SOOOO unhelpful!) And I called in my neighbors to help. A group came at noon to handle the feeding and do some things around the house so Jeff, Mom and I could all eat a meal and shower. Then a couple people came back at 7 p.m. and at 10 p.m. to help with those feedings, too.

I BELIEVE IN ANGELS!!

Mom went to bed by 8 p.m. and Jeff and I were both in bed by 10:15 p.m. The boys, after an enema to get things moving after three days, were very cooperative and went from 10 until 3:30 without waking to eat. Alleluia! By Monday morning we all felt human again.

Now my neighbors have organized to provide helpers for the 10 p.m. feeding Sunday through Thursday for the next month. That means we can all go to bed, leave the boys in capable hands, and get some much needed stretches of sleep.

The boys do seem to be settling into a schedule of sorts, and we're learning how to get everyone fed well and in about an hour, so we're making progress.

Think sleepy thoughts for the boys and Amelia...