Wednesday, November 30, 2011

decisions decisions...

I just received the Middlesex County booklet that offers a ton of non-credit classes - like computer classes, sign language, etc.  I happened to flip the book open to a page where there is a class offered about making decisions.  This is very appropriate for me because I'm currently in the process of trying make a decision - and a pretty big one at that.  I'm pretty sure that I've decided what I should/want to do, but it doesn't make the next step any easier.  I wish that I could fast forward through the difficult part and move on so I'll know if it was the right decision.  I'm thinking that you can't ahead if you don't try, so what the hell - go for it!

Update on babies now! (because they are the ones I do everything for now).  Last night we put everyone to bed by 9 - 9:30pm after their baths.  They ended up sleeping until 6am!  Of course I woke up around 4:30 because that's what my body is used to.  T & I checked the monitor and none of them were even awake so we went back to bed until my alarm went off at 5:50am.  They woke up shorty after.  T fed everyone and I changed a few diapers, but I had to get ready for work and get out the door. 

A few pictures I have to post - T with little T looking through the most recent Food Network Magazine with tons of cookie recipes!


Little Olivia - she doesn't take the pacifier much anymore, but has learned to comfort herself with sucking on her hand or her thumb.  She's taking after me with this!

Finally, we have Amelia laying on the 'surfboard' 
Good night! Let's hope I'm making the right decision!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Experiment failure - but back on schedule!

So for the past few days, the babies have moved to a different eating schedule.  Instead of eating at 4am, 8am, noon, 4pm & 8pm, they moved two hours ahead (or behind - however you choose to view it).  That means they eat at 6pm and then around 10pm, but usually that's the time I'm over-exhausted and ready to pass out.  So last night I made the suggestion to put them to bed after they ate at 6pm.  Well, from the title, you can likely tell that the experiment did NOT work - they were all crying in their cribs within 5-10 minutes.  Olivia ended up eating a full 5 oz around 9:30pm and Amelia ate 2 oz.  Little T ended up falling asleep around 8pm and slept until 4am - the same time the two girls woke up to eat!  So all in all, what started as an experiment that didn't work, ended in getting everyone back on their original schedule that seemed to work pretty well.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Giving thanks!

Yesterday was technically Thanksgiving, but we didn't get to celebrate it until today.  T's family arranged it for today so the other SiLs could be with their families yesterday, but I had to work today, so they waited to eat until I was there.  Work was, well work - I tested a bunch more babies and just when I thought I could get out a little early I noticed that I didn't get a patient's hearing aid back yet for her appointment on Monday.  I tried to call, but no answer and no voicemail!  This was the sort of afternoon that makes me want to work somewhere else - somewhere with less pressure and the patient work load is more evenly distributed.
Here's a little bit of info on my work situation.  We currently have 4 FT people and one more per diem person who works 2 days a week.  Of the 4 FT, only 2 see patients regularly - One is all administrative, one is part admin, part patient.  The per diem person, as far as I can tell, doesn't do a whole lot.  Not sure why they pay her to come in and sit in an office for two days to see possibly two patients.  Plus she's not even going to be around for the next month and a half.  I'm still debating on whether or not I want to go to our 'holiday' party.  I'm thinking I'd rather go home and spend more time with my family than with my co-workers. 
T's parents bought the babies some Thanksgiving outfits - very nice and cute, but in a 6 month size!  I guess there was a big run on 3 month size baby clothes for this holiday.  T ended up washing and drying them and shrinking them a bit so they weren't so huge on them.  Little T wet through his by the end of the night, so we didn't get a picture of the three of them, but we will.
Here's a few pictures from the past few days plus a picture of a little gift our health insurance company sent to us for the babies.  It's a plate, bowl, cup, fork and spoon set and yes we got three!

Olivia hanging out in the RnP

Tony helping daddy with the Christmas lights!

Amelia after eating her dinner

     
Tony & Grandpa Czar after eating

Well, that's it for now - time to get some sleep!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

things I miss...and things I don't

So I worked today and likely diagnosed a 4 month old with at least a severe hearing loss in one ear.  Looking at that baby, I couldn't help but see my own little man and feel terrible that I would have to break the bad news to his parents, who up until this point probably looked at him thinking what a perfect little miracle.  So I know how I would feel if told this type of information.  These are things I DO NOT MISS about being back at work.

And here's what I missed today - my babies first photo shoot.  T & his parents took everyone to JCPenney's to have their Christmas pictures done.  I've already seen the pictures and they are adorable, but I hate the fact that I wasn't able to be there.  We could have made the appointment on the weekend of in the evening, but with three infants, they suggested that we come at an 'off peak' time.  I can't wait to get the cards and send them out!  I'm planning on sending one to everyone I know :)  well, not everyone, because we only ordered 48 of them.

I didn't post anything yesterday because I was just to tired, but I wanted to share a memory and something that I learned yesterday from a fellow MoM.  On August 23, 2011, my babies and I experienced our first earthquake!  I was down in the basement sitting in the rocker/recliner (where I had spent so much time during my pregnancy) and the babies were sleeping peacefully in the pack n play when all of a sudden I felt my chair rocking.  I thought at first it was Buddy pushing up against the back of the chair trying to get comfy.  I looked over and saw that the dog wasn't anywhere near the back of the chair.  Then I noticed the water in the fish tank sloshing and the television swaying.  Needless to say, I freaked out a little bit.  I yelled upstairs for Tony to see if he had felt anything upstairs.  He thought that a large truck had just driven down the road and didn't believe me that we had had an  earthquake until he saw the water in the tank sloshing.  My one concern with this whole situation is 'how would I possibly get three infants up (or even down) stairs if necessary'???  At the time they were only 2 weeks old and still pretty tiny, but I hadn't ever held two at the same time, let alone three!  So this brings me to yesterday and my conversation with another MoM who told me HOW you couldn't actually multiple babies out of the house at once in an emergency.  You basically throw them all in a bed sheet and carry them in the bed sheet sack.  They wouldn't be comfortable, but in a pinch you'd be able to get everyone to safety.  It's amazing all the things you have to think about when having multiples that wouldn't even be a consideration with one baby at a time.  I'm sure someday I'll have enough to write a book...

Sunday, November 20, 2011

weight gain

I want to jot down some things about each baby and what they're doing these days - basically so I don't forget.

Amelia - She's been smiling now for a few weeks and is so cute to interact with.  She still feels like the lightest of the three and today I'm learning why... she hardly eats.  She has always been our slowest eater and were thinking the smartest because she's figured out that the longer she takes to eat, the longer she gets held!  We're lucky she eats 3 1/2 - 4 oz whereas the other two consistently eat all 5 oz. they're given and could probably eat more!  She threw up on me again today, so I'm not even sure how much she ate.  She's been getting better with her neck control, but still feels like the 'softest' baby and what I really mean is she feels 'floppy'.  She's actually still wearing disposable diapers - waiting for the rash to clear up :(  oh and her cry still gets me every time - it just sounds so sad that  start crying myself!

Anthony - He too, has been smiling alot and I can tell his vision is getting better and better.  He really likes spending time in the pack n play under the jungle arches.  He looks all around at the lights and different dangly things and I think he likes the music too.  He does the same thing in his crib - he loves watching the animals on the mobile above him.  We have to crank that thing a few times before he falls asleep.  But he's soooo cute to watch.  Eating wise, this boy can chow down - he'd down the whole bottle in 5 minutes if you let him!  He doesn't seem to get too much gas like he did when he was younger - like at one month - so that's a big improvement.  I remember having to give him the gas drops pretty often.  He has no problems with the cloth diapers and is adorable - especially the cow print one (see previous post for pics).  I'm not sure of his weight at this time, but he's definitely putting on the lbs!

Olivia - She is getting pretty big too.  She's a pretty good eater but lately she'll eat most of her bottle and then will refuse to eat anymore unless you fight to keep the nipple in her mouth.  Her vision and attention is really good.  She loves to stare at her mobile, but will also look at pictures in books and watch the turtles swaying above her while she's in the swing. She is such a happy baby most of the time and will smile at you if you smile at her, even if she's just been crying!  She too does well with the cloth diapers.


That's all for now - need to get some sleep - work tomorrow, then round two.  I'd like to finish this off with a prayer for my fellow triplet MoM - Kelly and her tiny baby girls.  I hope they are doing well and continue to get better every day!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

He knows his babies!

So today is Saturday and I actually got to sleep in and the babies slept from 9:30 to about 5am!  At the 10am feeding, I had Amelia and she didn't really want to eat - I had just woken her up because both her brother and sister were ready to eat.  T mentioned that she doesn't like to eat while in a wet diaper so I changed her and sure enough - right after - she started eating!  I'm glad he's learning each babies' quirks, but at the same time, it makes me sad that I don't know these things.  While eating breakfast, I noticed that BRU was having a sale on formula.  It's pretty sad that I get excited about a good price on Similac.  So, after breakfast, T & I packed up the babies and headed over.  We of course got all the looks and OMG responses from people.  Tony actually answered more questions than I did - guess I wasn't in the mood to answer stranger's questions about my babies.  I feel like just posting a sign on my front (and back) that have all the current stats on the babies - two girls, one boy, 3 1/2 months old, and yes they are 'natural' not cyborgs from another planet, but no, this was not a 'spontaneous' triplet pregnancy.  One the way back to the car, another minivan pulled up and told us that they have triplets too, 7 months old - two boys and a girl.  The most memorable thing they said was "don't let anyone tell you that it gets easier"  .... great!  I guess I had to know that, each stage will have their own set of challenges. 
After BRU, we went over the PILs house - help with feeding and visit with T's cousin Shelly and new husband Mark (I think).  Another baby gift :) diapers, bibs, sleepers, etc.  All will come in handy!

Just one quick note about Friday @ work.  I ended up talking to the parents of the triplet boys that are currently in the NICU.  They didn't seem to know anything about requesting coupons or getting free things from diaper companies, etc.  I ended up talking to them for about 20 mins trying to share some knowledge and they ended up writing alot of things down to investigate later.  They hadn't even heard of cloth diapering!  Speaking of cloth diapers - we actually started cloth diapering about 2 weeks ago and so far it's going well with all the babies with the exception of Amelia - she seems to be more susceptible to getting a rash if left in a wet diaper for too long (like overnight).  Overall cloth isn't too bad, it's more laundry, but T has been mostly doing it during the day while I'm at work.  Hopefully in the long run, this will be the more economical choice.  Other than that they're really super cute.  Here's a few pics of each of them wearing either 'flips' or 'best bottoms'.  They're clothes end up being a bit bulkier on the down side. 















Thursday, November 17, 2011

How to start this...

So I decided to start a blog of my experiences as a working MoM of triplets mainly so I can remember what happened and when.  I've been back to work for three weeks now and people I haven't seen in a while ask me how the babies are and ask random questions like "how was your first night at home?" and I honestly cannot even remember that night!
My trio is currently 14 weeks and 4 days old and it's been pretty much a blur since their arrival.
I think what I'll start doing is every day put a few memories of what I can recall about the past almost 15 weeks until I catch up.  I'll also add in any interesting/funny things that happened during the day at work or with the babies.
My first memory I'll share is the first car ride home - I was so nervous - every bump or pothole in the road I thought was going to make them cry.  I couldn't see them - even with those mirrors that hang on the back seat - so I made Tony stop a few times so I could check on them.  They were so tiny!  I couldn't believe they let me take them home - what the hell did I know about babies?!?!?!  Just because I carried them in my belly for (close to) 8 months, didn't mean that I could be a good mother.  I could barely walk because of my incision.  That's a story for another day!
Work was fine - pretty much like any other day, but I got 'reminded' in a meeting that we (or rather I) should not be going on facebook during the work day.  BOO!  Oh well, I know better, but who likes being told "no"?  By the end of the day I had lost all patience for pretty much anything and just wanted to get out of there - like everyone else that leaves 15 early despite being behind on their paperwork/reports.  One very nice thing about work today was that I was delivered a gift from a patient - Three hand-knitted blankets - one for each baby.  I'm going to attempt to attach a picture of them once I figure out how.  Thanks Arlene, we love them and thank you for thinking of me and the babies.

Once I got home I was immediately put to work feeding our 'pokey' baby - Amelia.  She eventually finished her bottle and I got caught up about the day with Tony and his Dad - who was also here feeding Olivia.  The rest of the night went pretty fast - we watched some TV - or rather the TV was on, but I only saw parts of some shows because I was putting babies to bed.  It's all quiet in the house now with the exception of the fish tank hum.  Once I retire to my bed, I'll be soothed to the sound of my babies' sleep sheep - set to the ocean sounds... ahhhhhh.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
One more thing - I've started to notice that I don't have any pictures of me with my babies so I made Tony take one.  Me and Little T.