Family Portraits

Prairie Desert



Yellow Aspen



Spirit of the Wolf






So we took some family portraits, which one is your favorite?

Breast Milk Anyone?

Each boy nurses twice a day for about 10min, which 5 of those minutes they are fast asleep. Sometimes Phil hands me a boy to nurse and on his way to my arms I see his little eyes rolling back into his head ready for some deep sleep, aren't you hungry you little rascals!?! They can generally drink about half a feed. So for them to get enough to eat they would each have to nurse 16 times a day. Times three boys that's 48 ten minute nursing sessions a day! Most airplane crashes happen at take off and landing, it's most painful when the boys latch on and off. I think my nipples would fall off, so I need them to be more efficient. We don't have too much time for comfort nursing so "lets get with the program boys, it's a food source not a pillow."

Acceptance
I've come to accept or I maybe understand that my boys are perfectly normal. I've been trying to find something wrong with the way they nurse so I can fix it. But that is just it there is nothing wrong! They latch and suck like pro's. The thing that frustrates me is that they fall asleep after about 5min of active nursing but when I offer them a bottle they gulp it down like they haven't eaten in years. Why this is? I don't know. Research shows that it doesn't take any extra energy to nurse so the theories are a)it's a different skill set, c)they are only comfort sucking or c)who knows. But I'm sure they are acting like normal newborns, it's what my lactation nurse has been telling me all along but I've been stubborn to believe. If you have one newborn, he'll nurse a ton through out the day on demand. There is not enough time in the day to do that with triplets so I just have to wait till they mature enough and can stay awake for a full feeding. I learned in the NICU that you can't push a baby to do what it's not ready to do, you can only encourage them. They couldn't come home till they were taking all their feeds through a bottle and not through a feeding tube. They did this when they were good and ready and no amount of practice or pushing made this happen any sooner. So with breast feeding as well, I have to be patient.

Milk
I'm so close that I now think it's within the realm of possibility, I'm pumping 2/3rds of what the boys eat and that doesn't include whatever the boys take in while nursing (I would so rock twins). Increasing my milk supply is taking longer than I had hoped for but there is no secret recipe for this. I've tried everything, pumping more, eating more, drinking more(H2O that is), eating oatmeal everyday. I've taken Reglan and Domperidone, two drugs that are meant to treat GI issues but have the side effect of increasing breast milk in nursing women. I'm also taking 12 capsules of Fenugreek a day and a nice array of vitamins (prenatal, fish oil, vit D).

Reassessment
I had the idealistic goal of breastfeeding exclusively at one point but I now have to reassess my goals. I've gotten to 2/3rds breastfed and am satisfied with that. Anything better will just be icing on the cake.

Some think I'm crazy for even trying but I owe it to my boys to at least try. It's not their fault they were born triplets. Whether a singleton or triplets they deserve the best. I recognize that the breast is best, but do I think formula is the devil as many people think? No. Science has broken down breast milk to were they know all the components and formula now nourishes baby pretty well. Unfortunately formula does not offer immunity as breast milk does and it makes their poo really stinky.

The Plan
I don't want to pump forever so if they don't learn to nurse efficiently within a reasonable amount of time I'm saying bye bye to my little contraption. I would go crazy pumping for a long time around the clock as I am now. And in reality pumping takes time and that's time I'd rather be spending with my babies. I don't think it will come to this though.
Let's think positive, when the boys learn to nurse efficiently I will throw out the schedule and feed on demand. Each boy will nurse once, twice and then get a bottle through out the day (if I can get to 100% then no bottle). I may just pump once or twice at night so Phil can wrestle the boys for a while and I can get some continuous sleep. Although the boys may be sleeping longer through the night by then.

Any moms of multiples out there? Any advice would be more than welcomed!

Two Months!

Sorry about the baby laser eyes, the lighting was bad. These pictures were so hard to get, they are so wiggly now!

Time fly's when your life is on a 3hr schedule. I had such a hard time putting away the boy's preemie clothes and I made them wear them till I just couldn't squeeze them on. I miss my teeny tiny babies that would fall asleep so easily. They are definitely stronger, and more alert and awake. They hardly didn't have any strength in their legs and now they can stand up for a couple of seconds while holding them. Thomas surprised Phil and I when he did a push up and held it for several seconds. Gestationally they are only about 3weeks old but I think they are a little ahead of the curve (this is mom speaking so yes I'm very biased). They've all doubled their birth weight so all weigh about 8 pounds.

JP

Mirror Twins

Caleb

Thomas

Eli

Check this out, Caleb has his cow lick on the left and Thomas on the right. I think they may be mirror twins. If they are, one will be right handed and the other left handed. What's even crazier is that Eli has two cow licks. So will Eli be ambidextrous? I wonder if you could figure out who split off from who? My theory is that Eli was the original baby and both Caleb and Thomas split off from him.

My Life in 3hrs

In my typical attire of pajamas and sweats, why be uncomfortable if I'm not going anywhere?







Little Helpers



We've had a healthy stream of relatives visiting that have been very helpful. They have taken late night feedings so Phil and I could sleep a little more and have made dinners and cleaned so we wouldn't have to, but it's sad to say that they are now gone. This gave me the opportunity to finally be on my own with the boys (for two days albeit). I felt a little panicky at the thought of being by myself the whole day but am now relieved that I was able to handle it just fine; however, I only have time for babies and a few things here and there. Here is my life in 3hrs:

1.5hrs: Change diapers and feed babies, sometimes two at a time if they can't be consoled by a pacifier. (I can sometimes get this done faster)

30minutes: pump while I eat something (unlike pregnancy I'm always hungry now)

45minutes: do something productive as long as babies are content, like clean bottles, baby laundry, and pick up the rats nest I've created in the living room.

15minutes: prepare bottles for next feeding.

Repeat every three hours

At 7pm, once Phil is home, I go to sleep for 3hrs and then wake up so Phil can sleep for 5-6hrs. I need him to get the min amount of sleep necessary to still be productive at work and bring home the bacon. Then at 4am I hand over the boys again and sleep another 3hrs before Phil is off to work. So basically I only see my husband on the weekends. It's only temporary and before you know it the boys will be all grown up so I'm in no hurry for things to change even if it means a little sacrifice now.

The babies are really good and they've never cried inconsolably but I dread the day that it will happen (or will it happen, might I have the good fortune of it never happening?). At worse if they are having a hard time falling asleep I just hold them and if that doesn't work I nurse them for 5minutes and they pass out. This is great for getting them to fall asleep but not so good at getting them to take a full feeding at the breast but that's another story. It's like I have this hypnotizing power over them so the minute I touch them they are out or maybe the smell of maple syrup calms them, who knows. I busted out the double nursing pillow today and was able to get two boys nursing at once. This will really help at getting the boys more practice since I was nursing only one boy per feeding.

JP

Goodbye grandma and grandpa!

Thomas

Eli

What the heck is wrong with your hand Caleb?

Caleb: Woe, woe, woe....wait a minute, just wait a minute.......woe

Thomas getting cheeky

Good bye mama Sue and papa Ed, we'll miss your personal style of diaper changes and calming voices!

Some of you may be wondering how I have time to blog. Well, I have lots of awkward 5 and 10 minute chunks of time where I find myself wondering what to do. I barely have time to eat and shower so I neglect anything else that needs to get done like my uni-brow that almost grew back entirely, hideous!

Professional Glamour Shots

Local photographer Rebecca Davis of Catch Lights NW volunteered her time to photograph the boys. She did a wonderful job!