Knock on Wood

OK...I don't want it to seem like I'm bragging or anything in this post, so keep in mind that I know that everything I say could change overnight.  In fact, I know I'm putting it in peril simply by mentioning it.  Hence the wood and the knocking.

There have been many times over the past ten weeks when either Joe or I has looked at the other and wondered, in some way, what all those people with only one baby have been complaining about all these years.  I mean, really, if we were only doing 1/3 of the work we're doing right now...piece of cake!

But then we're reminded just how truly lucky we are to have such great little babies.  When I was first pregnant, and before we knew for sure that the babies would be born at 36 weeks, a friend of mine looked up both Virgos and Libras in her book of baby astrology.  I don't remember what it said about Libras (which would have been their sign had they gone the full forty weeks), just that it said that Virgo babies are "parent pleasers".  I'm sure there was something in there about paying for this later on when they hit their teenaged years, but as babies, parent pleasers.

And so they are.

I was reminded how lucky we really are when I went to a support group meeting for parents of multiples.  There was a woman there whom we had seen during her pregnancy.  The pregnancy had been hard for her (we've already established that my pregnancy was embarrassingly easy - nothing I can really take credit for - so these babies already were giving us a break in utero!  In fact, we just heard about another friend-of-a-friend having triplets who has been on bedrest since week 21 and is facing imminent hospitalization.  Whew!  We missed that.

But back to the lady in our group.  After a difficult pregnancy that included some hospitalization and enforced bedrest, she had two beautiful babies.  One of them seems to be progressing in a pretty standard fashion, while the other has terrible acid reflux (again, actually quite common in babies).  This means the poor little girl shrieks and screams like she's in pain each time she's fed.  She also hates to be placed in a seated position, even in her carseat.  So, mom can't really feed both babies at once or even really keep them on a similar schedule, let alone prop her up to feed herself.  Imagining going through that struggle with even one of our three - especially back when we were feeding them every three hours?  That would have been torture!

Even using the slow bottle nipples recommended for newborns, the babies finish their bottles, usually, in under 20 minutes.  This means that we can get through a full feeding in under an hour when there are two of us.  And all three of them are ok with being propped up to take their bottles from time to time when there's only one person to do the feeding (or when all three are really hungry at the exact same moment).  And now that they're mostly transitioning to the faster nipples we can get them all fed in under 30 minutes - even though they've increased their intake to around 6 ounces per feeding!

Which leads us to our next knock on wood announcement.  Because they are eating more during the day (about 6 ounces per feeding at 9am, 1pm, and 5pm and about 7 ounces at 9pm), they don't feel the need to eat as much at night.  For example, they start eating at 9, are done, dressed in PJs and swaddled before 10, and are usually comfortably asleep by 10:30.  We get them snuggled into their cribs (they fall asleep in their bouncy chairs in the living room where it's warm), and crank up the wall heater and maybe the space heater in their room if it's really chilly, and head to bed ourselves.  For many nights they would then wake up, once each, somewhere between 2:30 and 4:30 in the morning and eat.  Caroline started weaning herself from these mid-night feedings first, but the boys clung to them.  Max might wake at midnight or 12:30, get a pat on the belly and a pacifier in the mouth and go back to sleep, but a few hours later he would need to eat.

Until two nights ago.  I awoke from a sound sleep to Daniel's plaintive little cry, glanced at the clock, and saw it was 6:30!  I went in to soothe him and finally decided to bring him into our room so that the others wouldn't wake.  Worked like a charm - Daniel fell back asleep and we weren't disturbed again until Max woke at 7:20.  Same thing, now we've got two babies in our bed.  Then at 8:10 Caroline finally wanted to join the party.  And so we were able to hold off feeding them until 9am.  That's right - twelve whole hours without a feeding! (knock on wood)  Last night was pretty much the same - Daniel roused at 6:19, but fell back asleep in our bed.  Max was up next, and then Caroline, but none of them ate until 9! (knock on wood)

So, yes, we are juggling triplets and it is tiring and time consuming.  But they seem hell-bent on trying to be the best possible babies they can be. (knock on wood)  Fingers crossed they stay that way!!!