Many people ask us how we handle having triplet babies, so here are some things that help.
The one thing that has helped the most to make it easier on us, is that the kids are good babies. It's nothing that we've done, we've just been very fortunate that they all have good temperments, and are healthy (except for the reflux). When James first came home from the hospital, we noticed a drastic change in how much harder it was to carry for three than for two, but after several days, he fussed less often (ie, not constantly) and it got easier for us to handle.
One of the many things we've learned from other triplet parents, is that you must have a schedule to preserve your sanity. After Michelle's Mom left (she was a HUGE help the first few weeks), we found that we had to feed them one at a time, so that they could stay on the same schedule whether we were both at home or one of us was feeding them alone.
Feeding the babies alone meant that one person could be sleeping, which is of course what we needed the most the first few months. We still feed them one at a time, and we get a good amount of sleep now that we've gone from eight feedings a day down to four. The last feeding at night starts at about 8:00pm, and the first morning feed isn't until 6:30am. Chipp takes the 6:30 am feed by himself (thankfully, since it used to be the 4:00am feed), then showers and goes off to work. Michelle showers immediately afterwards, and gets dressed before the kids wake up again (around 10:00am).
...so off to work I go. Chipp's new job is only 4.2 miles from the house, which has meant a great deal in time saved on the commute. It also has improved my attitude, but that's a different story.
Michelle plays super-mom all day, as she cares for the kids by herself. On nice days she frequently loads them into the stroller for a long walk down to and around the lake near our house. It's probably close to a two mile walk. If the feeds have gone well, then dinner is often cooking when Chipp gets home from work.
Also when feeds are going well, Michelle has been able to get out with the kids for lunch with friends at a restaurant. Further proof that well-behaved kids makes raising them easier.
In our three bedroom townhouse, we're a little cramped for space. But so far we've survivied, although we're a little concerned once the kids are able to crawl about how much more space they'll need.
The master bedroom is still ours, containing no baby stuff except for the charger for the baby monitor. The small bedroom with the big closet has three cribs in it. The doors to the closet were removed, and we put a dresser in the closet (after all, how much baby stuff can you hang in a closet?).
The second bedroom has a single bed in it for our helper/guests, a second dresser for baby stuff, a changing table and a glider/rocking chair. There's also a diaper genie (for stinky diapers), and a diaper pail (for diapers that are only wet).
The main floor of our house contains the kitchen, dining room, family room, and a bathroom. The family room is where we spend most of our time, and consequently so do the babies. In addition to the sofabed, love seat, overstuffed chair, glider/rocking chair number two, the ottoman and the fish tank (I'd mention the TV, but there are so few rooms in our house without one ;-), there are two swings and three bouncy seats. It's pretty crowded. We've also added two Exersaucer-type seats now that the kids are almost too big for the bouncy seats.
In the dining room, which is connected to the family room, we pushed the table into the corner to give us more floor space. We use this space as a changing area (now complete with a changing table!), as well as storage for baby toys, swings and high chairs (Babee Tendas) when not needed, and baby bath materials (bath tub, etc). The dining room table also hold the feeding log (see below) and stuff like bills and envelopes.
The basement has the laundry and storage area, and the Redskin Room. The laundry/storage area is packed fairly well with stuff, but not so well that the Redskin Room doesn't an extra box or two. Football season has arrived, and just in time we have jammed even more stuff into the laundry/storage room. We've used the Redskin Room several times this year, but it has yet to help us produce a win. >:-(
Even with one baby, it can be difficult to remember how much they ate and how many bowel movements they've had over the last three days. So as we learned (again) from the triplet parents on the internet, you have to keep a log. We print out a spreadsheet that looks something like the table below, and write in everything (except the column headings and the kids names--those are on the sheet when it gets printed).
By the way, I took a quick count near the end of September: over 3,300 diapers changed! Not to mention the ones the nurses changed while they were still in the hospital.
| Name | Start time | End time | Oz given/taken | Cereal | Meds | Diaper change | Wet | Bowel Mvmt | Color | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CarrieAnna | 7:10 | 7:15 | 120/120 | 2.5 | cis,zan | X | X | . | . | . |
| Holly | 6:50 | 7:00 | 120/120 | 2.5 | cis,zan | X | X | . | . | . |
| James | 6:30 | 6:45 | 120/115 | 3 | cis,zan,my | X | X | X | dark green | fussed |
| . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
| CarrieAnna | 11:25 | 11:40 | 140/110 | 3 | cis | X | X | . | . | . |
| Holly | 10:50 | 11:15 | 140/130 | 2.5 | . | X | X | . | . | . |
| James | 10:30 | 10:40 | 120/120 | 3 | cis,my | X | X | . | . | fussy |