triplets-mom

Outside Fun

2011-03-20T20:38:00.000-04:00

They love to explore their surroundings

Pauly likes sticks.

He takes it everywhere.

A hole in front of the shed is their favorite sitting spot.

Alex likes to draw in the dirt.

Juliet look at leaves.

Anya draws her name in the dirt. Under the english name she writes her name in Russian.

Paul finds sand under the pinestraw.

He likes to pick it up and drop it.

Over and over again.

Outside Fun

2011-03-20T19:52:00.002-04:00

We bought a used playset for them, and it was a big success (even for my 12 year old daughter!)

Here it is

It has a "telescope" but we use it as a megaphone,

and a boat steering wheel.

It has many secret exits.......

and entrances.

It has a handy table for picnics.

You get to the table by going across the bridge.

Pauly likes to keep the playset nice and clean.

Though I don't think it's working(Shhh),

but he does his best.

When he's done...

he goes down the slide

To get in you go up some funky stairs.

Juliet loves the slide.

Anya helps while still having fun.

Anya decided to bring out a lolypop that is nearly 10 feet tall!!

She bought it with her own money.

I was her personal holder while she played.

The babies loved it.

They couldn't get enough,

and kept asking for more!

They love playing with strollers.

They push them.

A lot.

Sometimes the fall.

They rest in them.

Climb them.

Eat them.

Smell them.

A lot.

Anya's Gold

2011-03-13T18:03:00.000-04:00

Anya won one of the gold medals representing her middle school at the Regional Science competition:

February: trip abroad!

2011-03-13T17:58:00.000-04:00

Our long planned trip to see my relatives abroad was a success. We took two of the triplets. It was still pretty difficult, though. Here is my dad, me and the kids:

Anya and her godmother Lena:

My brother and Alexander:

Better late than never: January events

2011-03-13T14:13:00.001-04:00

Grandma is teaching babies how to feed themselves with spoons (with some success!):

Anya was accepted into school's Jr.Beta Club (good grades!):

The donated rocking horse has received approval from Juliet first and then the boys:

Big snow

2011-01-03T01:18:00.000-05:00

We had a pretty good snow storm the night from Dec. 25 to 26. So Anya had snow for X-mas (her X-mas was 26th). She loved it and made a snowman. Last year she got on TV after making one. So she is getting pretty good at making them with each (rare in NC) good snow:

Juliet got to know and love snow too, sat down in it and even ate some (not in the picture):

Paulie (soon to start being called either Tripoli or Trey, due constant confusion with his dad's name). Paulie was not too impressed by snow (could take it or leave it):

Alexander did not like the snow, though (did not want to walk in the thing and had to be carried):

Xmas pictures

2010-12-19T20:43:00.000-05:00

The cat:

Anya:

All the kids:

Grandma:

Beautiful girl

2010-12-19T15:34:00.001-05:00

Cleaning up my email (a year and a half later), I found some nice pictures of Anya, professionally made. Here is the best:

Although this next one is a close second:

Beautiful fall

2010-12-19T12:32:00.001-05:00

We had the warm fall weather for a nice long time. The babies discovered the outside up close (not just the riding in the stroller type):

They adore leaves:

And cars:

and more leaves:

And in general, they are just plain adorable themselves:

What are they teaching the 7th graders?

2010-12-19T12:02:00.001-05:00

How to bow (Charlotte Web middle school play):

How to goof off in bathrooms:

How to bug parents with cute animals for adoption:

How to show off your guitar:

Professional pictures!

2010-12-19T07:43:00.001-05:00

Between work and home how I got organized enough to do these, I don't know to this day. These are gorgeous, though :)

All of us:

Almost all:

Kids galore:

Julie bean:

Paulie:

Alexander:

P.S. These were taken on their 1 year birthday. September 17, that is.

Halloweenx4

2010-12-04T21:58:00.000-05:00

Juliet was a Pooh-bear:

Boys were puppies:

Anya was Angel/Devil (you go, girl!):

Shaved heads and dots all over

2010-10-02T21:09:00.001-04:00

The babies are sick. Yes, as soon as I stopped pumping they all got sick. And have not stopped. Yet. Now Paulie is covered with small red dots. Apparently viral and supposedly neither Measles, Rubella, or Chicken pox. I sure hope so:

Oh and them losing the hair has nothing to do with being sick. Just a family tradition. Which made the hairstylists cry. Alex was so cool with it:

And Juliet could care less:

Babies are a year old!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-10-02T20:52:00.001-04:00

We survived a whole year. All of us. Even the cat. Although at times we did not see him for days. Oh may be it was my brain that was missing for days. Amazingly, the babies loved their cupcakes. Probably because my missing brain was not the one that thought of them or made them happen. Anya did:

And here is the three now one-year-olds:

Paul

Alexander

Juliet

More OBX pictures - water everywhere :)

2010-09-03T22:19:00.000-04:00

Outer Banks vacation a roaring success

2010-09-03T21:59:00.002-04:00

Yes, I didn't totally loose it (ie. no suicide or homocide that week!).

And here is Alex's roar:

Although sometimes both Paul and I wondered if we could present someone else with our gifts (just for a few hours, may be):

Christening accomplished! and when do worries stop?

2010-09-03T21:31:00.003-04:00

I've worried about this for months - when, where, who, what the babies will wear, what I would fit into (still having unrealistic thoughts about fitting into things from before the babies and not buying much new, read bigger, clothing) and such...

Alexander & Kim, Nancy & Paulie, Juliet & JoAnne

Now I worry because I don't see my best friend (who is the fourth godmother) in the picture above. And here is us, chickens:

The girls

2010-07-23T21:12:00.001-04:00

Of course Juliet is up to her cuteness again

The upside down plant started like this

And ended up like this

At Home

2010-07-23T20:43:00.000-04:00

On average days we like to play with toys

Ones with sound

And ones without

sometimes the boys have secret meetings

Sometimes we like to hang out with grandma

Sometimes we get carried away when we get hungry

When mom comes home we are all there to get hugs first

When we get tired of that we do some exploring

here

and there

But when it comes to shoes were only allowed to stare

Babies meet ocean

2010-06-26T21:57:00.000-04:00

Everybody got a dunking. The boys, naturally, found the ocean a bit cold. Juliet, the alien, was fine:

We loved our new beach tent.

Front:

And back:

Twisting tongues

2010-06-26T21:41:00.000-04:00

Juliet has always sounded (and looked) somewhat alien. Now I have proof.

And

Finally

Father's Day

2010-06-26T21:30:00.000-04:00

The day went well, we even took pictures. Which we didn't on mother's day. Guess how that day went.

Pumping queen

2010-06-26T21:23:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am still pumping. Trying to make it till 1 year. They love it, just like they love their grandmother's cheese/yogurt concoctions (intended by mom to stop my need to pump). She does not realize that my need to pump is psychological. Here they are being fed by mom, though:

Of course when it's up to me, they eat apples!!!

What we can do now...

2010-06-06T18:36:00.000-04:00

We can all hold our bottles:

Sit (and drool) unassisted:

Crawl after the cat:

And even sleep standing up, when must:

Supergirl

2010-06-06T17:30:00.000-04:00

My oldest has always been a busy girl. Plays, guitar, and now babies occupied her 6th grade year. This year she was also honored with membership in Tribeta Music Society at school:

Had a couple of guitar recitals with solo numbers:

Planted tomatoes upside down:

And greeted summer break with a renewed desire to skate:

Little hands, little toes

2010-06-06T17:11:00.000-04:00

We are nearly 9 months, and almost 16 lbs each. Still cute as buttons.

Juliet's hand in grandma's:

Alex's toes:

Mama & Alex's feetsies:

6 months old! and still not sleeping through the night

2010-03-31T20:44:00.000-04:00

Babies data from 6 month check-up:

Alex: 14lb 2oz, 25.75 inch

Paul: 14lb, 25.75 inch

Juliet: 13lb 2oz, 24.75 inch

They started climbing from their 5% place in height and weight charts. Boys are now 25% in height (Juliet is 10%) and a whooping 50% in head size across the board (big heads - big brains or thick skulls?)

Triplets and I, all sleepy (although one finds watches delicious even when half asleep):

Grandma and three, also sleepy:

And now someone is finally sleeping:

Navy course graduation

2010-03-31T20:04:00.000-04:00

My step-son met his half siblings when we visited his graduation from a Navy course in Virginia. It was a bit tricky to get a day off, but it was worth it. Here he is with the boys:

Another play

2010-03-31T19:00:00.001-04:00

My nearly 12-year-old was in another play - "Anything goes". It's a musical by Cole Porter with main roles played by high-schoolers, with a few roles by middle-schoolers. And my dirty blond round eyed daughter played a chinese boy. Here she is after the first performance:

4 month old :)

2010-01-24T22:41:00.000-05:00

The triplets are all nearly 12 lbs. Paulie (born smallest) is the biggest now. I am still pumping, although we do give formula before putting them to sleep at night. Oh, and I started working again - full time. Actually it's more than 40 hrs a week, as any salaried medical professional will attest. But I am happy to feel like a human again, sleeping at night. The babies are not sleeping through the night yet - getting up at 2 or 3 am. We did hire a college student to care for them while we sleep. It's been a life changer for me! I was getting pretty loopy without much sleep in the past 4+ months. But then their pediatrician did say I would without 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Except they would eat every 3 hours - how was I to sleep for 4 hours?

Paulie

Alex

Juliet

Happy New Year's

2010-01-24T21:07:00.000-05:00

We made it to January! I am happy, considering how hard 2009 was. It's easier from here! And here are my witnesses:

And even more witnesses:

The littlest

2010-01-24T20:46:00.000-05:00

My oldest was in another school play in December - this time in a lead role of the "littlest X-mas tree". Here she is being lifted by the other 6th graders:

And here is the littlest fist in our household:

And here is the boatload of the littlest ones:

Christmas Pictures

2009-12-11T07:21:00.001-05:00

My two girls

All 4

Paulie

Alex

Juliet

CAT as baby

2009-12-09T20:39:00.000-05:00

The cat continues behaving like a baby or at least occupying baby places:

Car seat

Grandmother's lap

Changing table

As you see, the babies are starting to protest this invasion of space.

Thanksgiving in New Jersey

2009-12-09T18:11:00.000-05:00

Wow! We took our first day-long trip and made it. I got one of those handy car adapters for my Medela pump. I pumped every 3 hours sitting in the middle row between two babies while the big sister was in the third row with a third baby. Once I was done pumping, we fed the fresh milk to the babies, then stopped to wash the pumping things/eat/use potty. It worked out pretty well - a 10 hour trip took us only 12 hours.

The babies were a hit with the cousins, even the boys:

Babies with JD, David and Brandon

Nicole feeding one

Nina feeding another

And Sidney after feeding the third (with the babies' big sis)

A Poem by Big Sister

2009-12-09T17:39:00.000-05:00

She wrote these as a school assignment (they just finished studying poetic terms and were to write a poem):

My Mother’s Triplets

Paul and Alexander are two identical boys.

Juliet the, 3^rd triplet is a girl who makes little noise.

They have a small body with reddish yellow skin.

Their arms and legs swing around in glee,

and their gorgeous baby blue eyes look up at me.

Juliet’s hand clutches my finger tight

while I am telling her goodnight.

They start to whimper

because they know it’s almost time,

time for their feeding because they think it’s sublime.

Every three hours we feed their little tummy.

“When Alexander starts to fall asleep,” sais mommy,

“please change his diaper so he will wake”,

and I am very careful so the babies I will not shake.

When Paul the 3^rd starts to cry

I like to sing him a lullaby

and wrap him in his blanket.

The triplets are the sweetest babies I’ve met,

Even though they can’t take care of themselves yet.

Too cute for words

2009-12-09T14:12:00.000-05:00

2 month old check-up

2009-12-09T13:52:00.000-05:00

The kids had a good 2 month well child check - all weighing in at around 9 lbs. They also had 3 shots each (including the RSV one). Here are some pictures we took in the waiting room:

Alex (notice the elf ears!)

Paulie

Juliet

Goldilocks on trial

2009-12-09T12:36:00.000-05:00

My 11-old's most recent play is "Goldilocks on Trial" - performed by the middle school kids. The play is a comedy with a variety of fairy tale characters participating in a trial of a naughty Goldilocks. She was the Little Pig of the Three Little Pigs, "the one who didn't get eaten". Standing behind her in the picture is the Big Bad Wolf (a very tall 7th-grader), who at one point during the play grabs my sweet daughter and carries her over his shoulder off the set. With her kicking and screaming, of course.

Sorry and belated Halloween pics!

2009-12-09T11:36:00.000-05:00

I apologize for not posting on the blog for a while. November has been a hard month for us. I got sick with mastitis right after Halloween. Mastitis was shortly followed by a painful gastrointestinal issue, resolution of which took weeks. I finally got better after a minor procedure at an outpatient surgical center.

On a more positive note - for Halloween we made our first long trip with the babies. We drove 2.5 hours to our former neighborhood so my 11-year-old daughter could trick-or-treat with her best friends. We stayed overnight at mom's and went to our former church on Sunday. A couple of friends at church organized a baby shower for us - which was really sweet.

All three

Paulie

Alexander

Juliet

Helping hands - thank you!

2009-10-18T16:56:00.002-04:00

Grandma

Father

Big Sister

Happy one month Birthday to babies!

2009-10-18T16:36:00.000-04:00

Role confusions/we've all gone a little sixes and sevens (bonkers)

2009-10-18T16:29:00.000-04:00

It started with the cat. He thinks he is a baby in desperate need of a diaper change. I do admit, with the window and all, it is a nice spot for a nap. Except the cat also enjoys the other changing area we have, without a window. At first the grandma would take the cover off the changing pad and wash it, so the babies would not be exposed to cat hair (too late for that, it's everywhere). Then it became too much laundry-wise, as the cat would jump onto the changing table as soon as grandma turned her back on him.

Then Juliet decided to turn into a Buddha. And not jut once, but after every feeding.

And the weirdest of them all, my oldest decided that preteen years were a bit too much for her and started to regress back. And not slowly, either. She skipped all the way to babyhood and now drinks out of the baby bottle too. Thankfully, it is just cow milk. We are trying to discourage the behavior by totally ignoring it. Some of us can handle it better than others. Grandma, a few hours after agreeing to give neither positive nor negative attention to the behavior, could not handle it and just screamed with - "That's enough!" Granted, her 11-year-old grandchild has almost worked through a gallon of milk in the 2 minute (she timed herself) 2 oz portions at a time. By the way, the kid did authorize the taking of the picture below last night (when it was still kinda cute, if a little disturbing). Today we are just ignoring it, or at least trying to.

All grown up :(

2009-10-15T09:23:00.002-04:00

My previously little girl's 1st dance (middle school) was on Oct. 9. It was pretty eventful. A boy a year older than she is invited her to a slow dance. And the school bus had a flat tire around 11 pm still 40 minutes from home! Thankfully, her mom is basically awake 24 hours a day, so the timely rescue was no problem.

Temporary sleeping spots-2 swings & a bassinet

2009-10-15T08:57:00.001-04:00

Alex

Juliet

Paul

Getting pretty

2009-10-05T16:59:00.001-04:00

1st bath (Juliet)

1st bath (Alex)

We made it 7 days with triplets at home!

2009-10-05T14:29:00.000-04:00

We are exhausted (mom, dad, grandma). The babies eat every 3 hours. They are slow eaters; feedings and changing take about 1.5-2 hours, leaving an hour in between the feedings. I pump breast milk and everybody, even their older sister, help with feeding/changing. I hope to transition to direct breast feeding as soon as possible. At this point I use a nipple shield to help them suck when they are put to the breast one or two times a day each.

Big sister

Paul, Juliet, Alex (from L to R)

3rd home on Monday, Sept. 28: Paul

2009-10-05T13:54:00.001-04:00

Two home on Saturday, Sept. 26: Alex and Juliet

2009-10-05T13:45:00.002-04:00

They changed their mind on letting Paul go. Then they wanted us to wait a few more hours in the hospital to see how Alex and Juliet ate (they were eating very slowly the feeding before). I was starting to feel like we'd never get the kids home - the NICU staff would just keep delaying forever. But we did finally come home with two.

1 week 1 day old (all three to come home tomorrow)

2009-09-25T18:27:00.000-04:00

Paul (pooping?)

Alex (1 hour car seat testing)

Juliet (fashion statement thanks to creative NICU nurses)

1 week old

2009-09-25T18:12:00.000-04:00

Paul (NG tube out)

Alex (still in NICU for 'technical reasons')

Definition: Technical reasons in NICU = delay that has nothing to do with the babies health. For example, malfunction in the A/C system plummets the temp in the room. The baby gets cold, someone records it in the chart, can't release the baby for 24 hours.

Juliet (in bassinet)

Day 6

2009-09-25T17:53:00.000-04:00

Paul with Grandma

Alex (was to go home next day)

Juliet (last day in isolette)

Big Sister (set up a swing out of the box all by herself)

Day 5

2009-09-22T22:37:00.011-04:00

Paul

Alex

Juliet

Day 4

2009-09-22T22:37:00.008-04:00

Paul

Alex

Juliet off all oxygen

Day 3

2009-09-22T22:32:00.001-04:00

Paul with Dad Kangaroo

Alex with big sister

Juliet off CPAP (on nasal canula oxygen)

Day 2

2009-09-20T20:29:00.001-04:00

Alex off everything

Paul with NG tube

Juliet on CPAP

3 hours old

2009-09-20T20:19:00.000-04:00

Paul

Alexander

Juliet

1st pictures

2009-09-20T19:53:00.002-04:00

Alex

Juliet

Paul

Finally here on Thursday September 17, 2009

2009-09-20T08:41:00.000-04:00

I didn't make it till next week. I had an appointment on Thursday 9/17/09. They measured the babies and decided that Paul is not growing fast enough.

Here is the estimate of their weights that day by ultrasound:

Baby A (Paul) - 3 lb 15 oz

Baby B (Alexander) - 4 lb 10 oz

Baby C (Juliet) - 5 lb 12 oz

This estimate put Baby A 2 weeks behind his predicted date, and for the first time he was thought of to be IUGR (intrauterine growth restricted), so they decided to deliver that day.

Here are the babies statistics at birth:

Paul, born at 6:29 pm, at 4 lb 4 oz and 17.3 inches

Alexander, born at 6:30, at 4 lb 12 oz & 17 inches

Juliet, born at 6:31, at 5 lb 5 oz & 18.5 inches.

The kids are in NICU, separated by hallways. Since birth, Paul has done the best, being on room air. Alexander is doing well too, was on C-pap for less than a day. Juliet has done the worst, still on C-pap. Paul and Alexander were on gavage feeds till Saturday 9/19 and now are on the bottle. Juliet is not on gavage yet, but on TPN. My milk has not come in yet, but I am pumping every 2 hours. Yesterday I kangaroo'd all three for about 1 hour each.

Pictures to come.

Scheduled for a C-section

2009-09-15T18:31:00.004-04:00

It's on next Thursday, September 24. This will get me to 35 weeks 2 days. It's my niece's birthday and she is a great kid :). The kid part was tongue in cheek, since she is only 9 years younger than me. She is still great, though ;).

Will I make it one more week?

2009-09-15T02:24:00.001-04:00

Today I am 34 weeks. I continue to confuse the docs. They, like me, wonder if I have preeclampsia or not. I only have one of the two things needed for the diagnosis of it - the protein in the fluid. Blood pressure is staying stone-cold normal. The confusion led them not to schedule me for delivery today, as they would if they were sure. Instead, yesterday I went to a fetal/maternal specialist for a consultation.

The fetal/maternal doc said that I do NOT have preeclampsia (high BP is a must). Considering that babies are still growing and moving, there is no reason to deliver right away. The misery of intense constant itching of supper swollen legs and feet excluded, she thought I was doing good for 34 weeks too (at least according to labs). She said that my OB's should probably schedule me for a C-section any time between 35 and 36 weeks. It's not a sure thing, but the babies may even come home with me!

Still pregnant, yet barely so

2009-09-14T05:18:00.000-04:00

September has been tough.
It started at the end of August with docs telling me I may be starting to have preeclampsia/toxemia of pregnancy. It usually shows up with high blood pressure and a degree of renal failure (spilling protein in urine). Even worse, at any time it may go into full blown eclampsia, with seizures. It is the biggest reason in US for maternal death. I was told that I'll be delivered no later than at 34 weeks now.
At my next appointment, the day before my 32 week mark, I got hospitalized. It sucked. The babies, who were doing great, were each on a fetal monitor. To get the fetal monitors to stay perfectly positioned, the nurses asked me to lie without much movement in the most uncomfortable position, which led to days of pretty bad neck pain. I got a lot of IV fluids, even when I was allowed to eat and drink fluids at will. In fact, I was drowning in IV fluids, getting shorter and shorter of breath. Thankfully, when I asked to stop them, they agreed. I felt so much better after that, they let me go home the next day. I felt like I escaped from prison!
My feet and legs look like dough-boy's from Pilsburry (sp?) commercials. Probably because my belly has gotten so large that not much blood can return from below the belly. The extra IV fluids didn't help either. The skin of the legs is tight and tender. The worst of all is the itching. Some days it drives me up the wall. This past Saturday it drove me to call the on-call doc, who ended up seeing me in the hospital (they tried to give me IV fluids again!!!). I escaped same day with a medication prescription.

Pregnancy

2009-09-14T03:18:00.000-04:00

Save as Draft

February

We conceived the day after my 35th birthday. We had help getting pregnant (in-vitro fertilization), although at the most we expected twins. The boy in the twin pair decided to split into two - so we got a pair and a spare (two identical twins and a fraternal twin). But we did not know this till later.

March

As soon as my boss was aware that I was pregnant, I was laid off for "no particular reason". My husband works, but I was the breadwinner. The day after the lay off, we found out that there were three in the oven. I nearly cried. My husband, thankfully, chimed in with "it's going to be OK".

April & May

My daughter's 11th birthday. The house has been on the market since March in this worse than ever time to sell a house. We are hopeful, though. I am looking for jobs like crazy.

June

The house is under contract. We tell my daughter about the triplets. She is excited, even volunteers to change diapers.

July

House is sold. What a relief (it was our biggest expense). We spend a week at my husband's first ever family reunion (his parents both died within the last 2 years). It's on the Outer Banks of NC in Rodanthe. I am 24 weeks now and feeling it. I am as big as a full-term woman with one child. I am thankful for the elevator at the house that was rented at the OBX. Otherwise we temporarily live in Raleigh, renting a room in a townhouse.

August

I got a job offer. It's less pay but more stability. Nicer town. And I can start in January! We found a school for my daughter, then a place to live near the bus stop. I transfered my care to local OB's. School started and my daughter liked it despite a ton of homework (a weight off my chest).