All Aboard the Streamline...

The past two weeks it has just been Clark and me to man the trio. He's had a couple weeks off from work and it's been so much fun having him around all day.

If anyone knows Clark, you know that he's all about efficiency and numbers. Making processes more smooth and quick. Saving time and cutting off minutes or hours spent on a task each day. So as you can guess, he had lots to say about what was going on here at home day in and day out.

First off, we've been bathing the kids in the kitchen sink, one at a time, then feeding them after they are done bathing. Clark was standing over the sink for almost an hour each night while I sat and fed babies in the living room. We would have to time it so when a baby was finishing his/her vitamins, I'd give Clark a five-minute warning to take the baby he had out of the bath. Then we'd switch and I'd feed another baby his/her vitamins and the baby coming out of the tub the rest of his/her bottle. It was all very complicated and usually lots of crying took place. By the time bedtime approached all the babies fell asleep from pure exhaustion.

Of course Zachary is always volunteering to go first, whatever it is.


Mr. Caleb is definitely outgrowing the sink and has to sit up in order to fit.


Miss Leah thinks she can already get away with a bikini and is asking her Dad what the big deal is!? Love this picture. We had to stick a bow on her head because she was looking an awful lot like Caleb now that she's gotten bigger.


So after a few nights of all that, Clark talked me into it and we trialed the big bath tub....



with all three...



at the same time.


We used some bathing mats that the hospital gave us so they are all at an incline. Worked perfectly! It was kind of stressful the first go around because we realized that the bathroom echoes. So if one baby starts crying, they all do because it's so loud and startling. Then they are all hysterical and can barely be calmed down to eat. We've gotten better at making bath time a quiet time and if it looks like a tantrum is coming, that baby is promptly removed and taken away so the other two can enjoy playing in the water. Now we bath, lotion, and change the babies all within 20 minutes! Yes! Bath time has now been streamlined.

Next on the agenda was feeding.

For the past three months we have been feeding them every 1/2 hour, every three hours. For example Leah at 8am, Zachary at 8:30am, and Caleb at 9am. By the time everyone finished and put back down to sleep, it would be 10 or 10:15am and we would start again at 11am. We've toyed with the idea of tandem feeding to cut down on the time but since they are inconsistent with how quickly they eat, that option was hard to implement. Sometimes Zachary is quick, other times you really have to work with him almost an hour to finish his bottle. So, since Clark was on baby duty for 5-6 hours in the morning, he took matters into his own hands and streamlined the feeding process.

All three...



together...



at the same time.


This way can be done with one person but is pretty chaotic. With two people, however, it can be done smoothly. We don't do it this way every time and like I said, one baby is usually struggling and needs attention or another baby won't burp or someone is choking etc... There always seems to be an issue. But it's pretty cool when they all eat at the same time and Clark and me are just hanging out. Feeding has, for the most part, been condensed to be about one hour or less depending on the day. Yes! Feeding time has now been streamlined as well.

Because they are all eating around the same time, we are now able to do circle tummy time! It's so hard to get tummy time in during the day unless they do it all together. Leah is by far the winner and has such a strong neck. Caleb struggles but his head is heavier. He cries and cries but we're getting there! Zachary is in between. It depends on his mood.


Last on Clark's list of streamlining were the little things of the day like documenting diapers, washing bottles, mixing formula, and pouring formula. He's worked it all out so I only have to sterilize water once every other day, wash bottles once a day, measure formula every other day, and mix formula twice in 24 hours. Also, we only document dirty diapers rather than what is happening every diaper change. Documenting diapers seems over the top but believe me, with three babies you'd be surprised how FAST you forget who you changed, when, and whether it was dirty. Since our babies frequently suffer from constipation, we have to know how long it's been for each baby!

It was nice to get up these past two weeks and see all the babies hanging with their Dad and already be dressed and changed. However, I did not take any responsibility for how any of the babies looked. One morning I woke up to find Caleb dressed in a myriad of stripes...


I told Clark that Caleb looked a little clashy but he said it was a sweet lookin outfit and Caleb picked it out. I couldn't argue after that. :)

I'm sad to have Clark go back to work on Monday but I'm so glad for all the changes he's made. We now have a little more down time during the day. We feel like we have our heads a bit above water at this point. We'll see how long it lasts.

Here's a video of the trio eating all together...

Signing Off Until the New Year...

I want to start with a shout out to a very special Dad who had a birthday this month! Since his mom was here she made the traditional 'C' cake that Clark always had growing up. Very fun! You can't see very well because of his shirt and the shadows but the numbers on that cake are a big 2 and 8! Of course we had the annual Spaghetti dinner and all Clark wanted to do that day was lounge around the house. So we did! Lounging is what I do best these days considering pajamas are now part of normal daily wear. Happy birthday Clark!


Next up, we had a very special visitor this past week! The kids were so excited that they hurried and changed into their Christmas gear and lined up in the boppies. Then they patiently waited and wondered who would get to go first....


Yep!! Jolly Old St. Nick himself graced our front door!! Due to RSV/flu season and all the sickness going around right now, the trio was not able to leave the house to visit him. He felt so bad that he made a special trip just for them (friends from church had a Santa suit from the Christmas party). No meltdowns this year since they are still oblivious to what's going on if it doesn't involve eating. Leah kept getting tangled in Santa's beard and Caleb pulled a neck muscle trying to figure out who this big, red stranger was!



The following pictures make me want to sing this song:

"Jolly Old St. Nicholas, lean your ear this way...


don't you tell a single soul, what I'm going to say...


Christmas Eve is coming soon, now you dear old man...


whisper what you'll bring to me, tell me if you can." :)

The triplets have all been on their best behavior since September and promised Santa they would be good next year too... (they'll be walking this time next year. yikes!) Here's a better look at their Christmas gear that Gram bought. Thanks Gram for being here! Can't wait to see you again soon!

Merry Christmas!

Pictures

On the day of the blessing, of course the babies were tired and whiny. So we didn't get any decent pictures. We tried again this week and finally had some success! Smiles even! Both the boys wore Clark's blessing suit and looked very handsome. Leah wouldn't give us a good smile but at least she wasn't crying.

Photos courtesy of Gram!

Zachary

Caleb

Leah

These next pictures (including the one at the top of the blog) were taken for their three-month birthday!




I received these outfits at my baby shower and I think they are super cute. However, I've never had the boys next to each other while wearing them. They started to look like jail cellmates thinking up ways to break out of this place!


"I wish my prince charming would come save me from my crazy mom, gram, and brothers." -Miss Leah


Zachary hittin on the ladies already!! Friend Hazel getting nice and snuggly with him.

"Your hair smells really nice." -Zachary


Clark had a bear when he was little named....Beary. Beary has survived years of neglect while Clark grew up and left to college. Now Beary has found new friends and feels loved all over again. Caleb and him cuddled during a nap yesterday so Caleb wouldn't feel so lonely in his crib.

*I know there are not supposed to be any blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, etc... in cribs with babies. This was merely for the picture. :)



So a question I frequently get asked is how we feed all the babies. The one and only book about triplets has a section on breastfeeding triplets and that it can be done.

I'm sure it can. Just not by me. The lactation consultants at the hospital always assumed I would be breastfeeding, not just pumping, once the babies came home. When I would tell them I really wasn't planning on it they acted so surprised and promptly ended what little conversation we were having.

Point is, these babies get bottles with formula. At first when we brought them home we had to pay close attention to each baby while feeding for fear of them choking or not breathing. Now that we are a little past that and they are all better eaters (for the most part), we can feed two at a time. Clark, his mom, and I have all seemed to master the tandem bottle feed. It's always pretty hysterical. Both babies get propped in boppys on each side of you. Then you feed them each with one hand and when it comes to burping, the other one just has to wait patiently. Recently while Caleb is waiting to be burped, he ends up burping himself....which saves us both time and gives us a good laugh. He doesn't have time to wait around! Last night I was really proud because I changed, fed, burped, and wrapped two babies in 30 minutes! YES! Feeding two at a time, I decided, depends on three things:

Burpability of the baby
Ferver with which the baby eats
No hold ups at the diaper change

If all three of those elements are in place, we're looking at a sub 30-minute feeding. Love it. Haven't quite figured out how to get that third baby fed at the same time without bottle propping. I'll have to think on it.

Blessings, Reflux, and More...

Gosh, another week has gone by and I couldn't tell you what happened to it. It has been SO nice this past week because we have had four adults around to help with the trio. We've all been able to get a bit more sleep because someone always seems to be up to bounce from baby to baby.

While Clark's Dad was in town for Thanksgiving we decided to take the babies to church and bless them. Of course we arrived late and left early (still on RSV restriction) but it was fun getting the kids dressed up and showing them off to our church family who has been a huge support these past months. Three baby blessings all in a row was definitely comical and could've been overwhelming for Clark, but he did great! The babies behaved (we fed two while there) and didn't really make a peep the whole time. After an hour of church, we all came home and were exhausted! :) Any outing really takes it out of us, hence the reason we don't take any. We wish my parents could have attended but with conflicting schedules and the babies having only one more RSV shot, we figured right now was probably the best time. Caleb wore the blessing outfit Clark was blessed in (something old), Leah wore a dress of a friend in the ward (something borrowed), and Zachary wore some new strapping blue slacks and dress shirt (something new and blue). I know that's a wedding thing but it just ended up fitting this also!



Well, the trios first Thanksgiving feast was pretty uneventful. Considering they are on an all-liquid diet, they didn't enjoy the turkey very much. We certainly did though! Along with red hot pear jello, sweet potato casserole, and yummy pies. We had about 30 minutes of quiet to eat so we said what we were thankful for and dug in to all the goodness. Thanks to mom for making a delicious dinner! Of course we watched Little Women that night as tradition holds. The trio loved meeting the March sisters.

Other than feasting and blessing the babies, things are pretty much the same around the clock here. We are starting to bathe the babies each night as they are probably starting to recognize bedtime routines. We also give them their medications and vitamins and turn the lights down so they know the feeding is different. Some nights they will sleep for a five hour interval, other nights less. We're hoping we'll see that time lengthen. After however many hours of sleep (we don't wake them up), I give Caleb 1/2 ounce less of formula every three days. Apparently that's supposed to eliminate him waking for food so we'll see. He's only gone six days so far. I'll do that with Leah when she can tolerate a little more formula each feeding. Zachary has gone back and forth from three hours around the clock to just four hours at night. He still projectile vomits which bums us all out so we try to be very patient and careful with him. So we're not trying to many things with him as far as sleeping is concerned.

We have made a better effort to put them in their cribs when it's time to sleep. Because of the reflux issues, however, we've inclined the crib mattresses. So sometimes we come in and they are turned all sorts of ways or clear at the bottom of the crib. Pretty funny. And sad. Point is, we are approaching the six week mark (adjusted age) and will be trying to get them sleeping a little longer at night. It's been so nice having my mom here then Clark's mom because otherwise I don't know when I would've gotten any sleep in the past couple months. Their help has been so appreciated. It's been some good teamwork around here trying to keep up with the babies differing schedules. Thanks Moms!

The babies still don't tolerate more than two hours of awake time. Usually it's around 1.5 hours. During that awake time we put them under the rain forest although sometimes they aren't into it. Their friend Hazel come to visit and for some reason all four of them laid under that thing for like an hour....no crying. They obviously liked having their heads so close together so they could think up ways to keep their parents up at night.

Which baby isn't ours???


Miss Leah is definitely more high maintenance than our boys. She LOVES to be held and will cry and cry until you pick her up. Then she is as happy as ever. We try not to give in much just because if we start getting into that, taking care of two others becomes much harder. However, when she gives you a cute smile you can't help but melt a little. She loved her Grandpa being here and rocking her.


The babies are getting to a point where they are a little too big to fit in the boppy together or many other things. Figured I better get these pictures while I can. Leah and Caleb played together in the bouncer just watching the mobile for their daytime entertainment. Usually it's the wreath or the fan so that day they decided to add a little variety.


While those two were in a mobile trance, Zachary was having a stare down with the giraffe. Clark thinks it's so funny that babies don't hardly blink. Zachary actually went a pretty long time without blinking. At one point we thought he might win. But alas, the giraffe prevailed and Zachary ended up blinking. Poor guy. He didn't take the loss very well.

Life As We Know It...

Well, the night nanny has served her time. Six weeks went pretty fast and I already miss the nights of sleeping 10:30pm to 6:30am. I admit that the first couple times she cared for the triplets it was a little weird going to bed and having her do all the work herself. She didn't seem overwhelmed by the task and happily wished us goodnight. Fine by me! She was a nice lady though and heaven bless her for wanting to stay up all night.


Right now while the babies aren't on any sort of schedule, we give them a bath on Wednesdays and Sundays. This was how often they were bathed in the NICU and I didn't feel the need to do it any more frequently at home. When we start trying to get them sleeping longer at night and into a schedule, we'll do more of a nightly regime of baths and reading. For now, a couple baths a week seems sufficient. They don't seem to mind and actually enjoy collecting lint in between their fingers. Here's Dad on Saturday bath day with Caleb! Caleb is definitely out growing the sink.


I don't care what anyone says, babies like to be swaddled and wrapped nice and tight. Most of the time they struggle to break free for a couple minutes then realize they are safe and warm and calm right down. I feel bad wrapping them up most of the day and night but for now when they are sleeping a lot, it definitely helps. Here's all our burritos watching the ceiling fan for entertainment. Never fails to catch their attention!


Of course anyone who knows us knows that Christmas starts early in our house. We just love the season and music and lights. We hope our kids love it just as much as we do! So the first week of November our tree went up. The boys sat by excitedly and pondered the true meaning of Christmas.


Surprisingly, doing laundry for triplets hasn't been that bad. Not bathing everyday probably helps and I really don't go through many outfits during the day. We've started making an effort to put them into pajamas each night whereas before we didn't. What makes up the bulk of our laundry is burp clothes! We go through A LOT everyday and luckily a friend from church graciously gave us enough to last a couple days without laundering. We probably have 50 or 60. Zachary knew that Mom needed some help with laundry and jumped right in to help!


Caleb is our big eater. He is always frantic around eating time and gulps down around four ounces in ten minutes. Sometimes I think he eats so fast he doesn't realize he is full and cries for more. He eats just six times a day now because he can tolerate a larger amount at each feeding so that has been nice. We think he's still growing just fine! A couple days ago we gave him a 1/2 ounce more on top of his four ounces because he was still acting so hungry. Afterward.....he regretted it.



Right now we go through almost one can of formula a day. We are still using the formula they were on in the hospital so it's about $15/can. Adds up real quick when you need about 25 cans to get through a month. When the babies were born I sent out letters about their birth to companies to see what fun schwag we could get. Enfamil responded and sent us 54 cans of free formula! Add what we've received from our pediatrician, we've banked around $1000 worth of free formula! The Pedi office filled out a request for Enfamil to send us some more so hopefully we get 50-70 more cans. Score for having triplets! :)

Speaking of the pediatrician, the babies all had their two-month appointment last week for immunizations. They were all very well behaved beforehand and loved rolling around on the paper as usual. First things first, they were weighed and had measurements taken. They were measured on a regular growth chart rather than a preemie one! However, their numbers would've looked really good on a preemie chart.

Leah:
Height-20 inches (less than 3rd percentile)
Head circumference-14 1/2 inches (10th percentile)
Weight-8 lbs 7 ounces (7th percentile)

Zachary:
Height-20 inches (less than 3rd percentile)
Head circumference-14 (less than 3rd percentile)
Weight-7 lbs 6 ounces (less than 3rd percentile)

Caleb:
Height-21 1/4 inches (less than 3rd percentile)
Head circumference-15 1/2 inches (45th percentile)
Weight-10 lbs 11 ounces (25th percentile)


They are all still pretty small but seem nice and fat to us compared to their birth weights! After all the weights and vitals were taken, the doctor asked who wanted to go first for their shots...


Sweet Zachary. He volunteered and was brave for brother and sister. They each got five shots....so sad. All only cried for about 20 seconds and forgot what just happened.


On all the information sheets for the shots, they say that side effects from the shots (diarrhea, vomiting, sore legs, irritability, difficulty sleeping, difficulty eating, fussiness, fever) occur in 1 of 3 children. The odds were not with us. That night was a hard one. We could tell all the babies didn't feel well. Unfortunately for the night nanny (fortunately for us), they had a rough night of sleeping and eating. The next day they seemed to be back to their old selves. Not looking forward to the four-month checkup.

Here's a video of the babes playing on the tissue paper before the shots happened and the chaos began.

Are We Brothers??

Sometimes I think Zachary asks that question when he sees how many chins Caleb has!



I took Zachary to the pediatrician on Wednesday for possible reflux. While we were there he got to be weighed. I've been curious about his weight because he's not keeping a lot of his food down. Surprisingly he was 7 pounds! He's more than doubled his birth weight at just eight weeks old (one week past original due date). Our little guy still feels VERY little compared to the other two but he's gaining about 1.5 oz a day! So if he is seven pounds, then Caleb must be (and is)...

7 lbs?

No.

8 lbs?

No.

9 lbs?

No.



10 lbs 1 oz!!


No joke. He's now wearing size one diapers and eats almost four ounces every feeding. It's just CRAZY how much difference a few pounds can make because he really does feel like a giant compared to Zachary. We thought that picture was hysterical with just their heads showing and eyes wide open. They were just chillin in the recliner talking sports.

Zachary's been eating 2.5 oz every feeding and projectile vomiting about every other. Usually on the feeding he doesn't vomit all over you he screams and whines through the whole bottle like he's in pain....which he probably is. I put off going to the pediatrician thinking it is just a phase and he's just temperamental. But as the projectiling got worse, I decided to call. We have a 2 month appointment scheduled next week (first round immunizations) so that's why I was hesitant in taking him just a week beforehand. I called and asked the nurse if she thought it was serious enough to bring him in that day and she said, "well you don't want your baby in pain do you?"

Uh ya, lady, I want my baby to suffer. What a dumb question. Anyway, decided to take him in despite her poor advice to see if we could get him to keep his food down better. If he wasn't the littlest of the bunch I may have waited. I'm realizing these small decisions are the hard ones. He now is trialing Zantac twice a day to see if his vomiting will improve. So far I'd like to say I have seen an improvement. Painful feedings are maybe 1-2/day now.

Isn't he just sweet? I just feel terrible when he throws up like that.



So obviously there is no rhyme or reason to these babies sleep habits yet but as I've learned, when the babes are swaddled nice and tight, they sleep better. However, they are getting stronger and squirmier and inevitably get an arm or two out which wakes them up. I've heard of the 'miracle swaddle blankets' and how they truly are miraculous in helping babies to sleep better and fuss less. I went to Buy Buy Baby and said NO WAY to paying $30 per blanket. Maybe if I had just one to buy but not three. I took a look at the blanket though to see what the secret was and went home thinking. We've now devised our makeshift miracle blanket...



The secret of the blanket is that it has an insert inside that wraps around the arms and behind the back to really secure the arms next to the body. I mean, there's no getting out. So we just use a smaller, lighter blanket to do the same thing then proceed to swaddle them normally. Works like a charm for much less than $90!!


The trio had their first outing together on Friday! Let's just say it was a pretty tight fit in the sedan. We took the double stroller and had to carry the third baby. Both strollers can fit into the trunk....but Clark needs to be present to accomplish such a task.




I wish the outing was for something exciting but unfortunately it was for their second dose of Synagis. Don't know what that is? Here's some information I found...

Synagis is the only FDA-approved medication to help protect high-risk babies from severe RSV disease. Even though Synagis is given as a shot by your healthcare provider, it's not a vaccine and it works differently. Each Synagis shot provides a dose of virus-fighting substances called antibodies that help prevent RSV from infecting your baby’s lungs.

Preemies are often born before getting enough antibodies from their mothers to help fight RSV and other viruses. But preemies are also at greater risk for severe RSV disease because their lungs are less developed and their airways are narrower than those of full-term babies. Synagis helps preemies by providing more infection-fighting antibodies to help protect their vulnerable lungs from RSV.

Because the babies were born at 32 weeks and not BEFORE 32 weeks, they only qualify for three of the six shots. This means that during the peak of flu/RSV season, they won't get the shots. As a result, we are taking EXTRA precaution with limiting visitors, outings, and a myriad of other things. The last thing we want is to go BACK to the hospital. Anyone who has come to help care for the babies has received a flu shot also. That includes me...my first flu shot ever. Basically, besides doctors appointments we will be on house arrest until April. Cabin fever anyone? We'll definitely be incorporating daily walks into our schedule if the weather is nice.

The babies were all very brave during their shots and only cried for less than 20 seconds. That night they all seemed overly fussy so I'm sure their legs were sore. Sadly they'll be heading to the pedi on Tuesday for a series of immunizations. Although they all seemed to like the tissue paper they rolled around on for the Synagis, I'm sure that won't take away the pain of the shots. :(

Right now they all seem to be good self-soothers. I'm sure this just happens naturally with multiples because it is impossible to sooth all of them, all the time. Inevitably while you're holding one, another one needs some love. So that one just has to work it out. I'm hoping this multiples thing will work to our advantage at some point! They are all on the three hour schedule still during the day even though there is such a big weight difference between all three. Just to keep our sanity, we keep the schedule. At night, however, Leah and Caleb stretch to four hours which makes the night feedings a little less stressful. Right now I'm staying up until about 4:30am then Clark's Mom takes over at 5:30am while I sleep until 10:30am or so. I'm a night owl though and she's an early bird so it works for us.

The babies are starting to be more aware of their surroundings. Leah can hardly be burped anymore because she's so interested in the wreath on the wall. We decided to get out the activity mat for the first time...



After about 15 minutes they were done. Too much to take in apparently. Zachary enjoyed the mirror though. Then we realized that was the first time he saw what he looked like! How weird to not know. We think he was pleased with his looks. :)

Babies First Halloween

We got three trick-or-treaters this year. One of the groups was some teenage girls with backpacks. Not even dressed up. I shouldn't have given them candy but oh well. More left for the babies I guess.

Gram Rudd found some cute Halloween onesies last week on one of her outings. I thought I'd be more motivated to find some cute costumes but that fizzled out so I was glad when she showed up with these. Unfortunately we couldn't carry on the Rudd Annual Halloween party we've done for the past four years. Maybe next year. Instead, we took some family pictures in our outfits, watched a couple fun Halloween movies, had a good steak dinner, and anxiously awaited the night nanny to come! :)



Family Photo. Getting a picture with the babies eyes opened seemed to be an impossibility apparently. So Clark tried to put my eyes on Leah's in photo shop which turned out to be super creepy. We had a good laugh though.



Family has asked for some sounds of the babies so here's a short clip.