(Disclaimer-- It has taken me a while to finish this post--hence the way it begins below :)
Yesterday January 29, was my "official" due date. You know when you find out you're pregnant and you go to that fancy due date calculator and type your info in......well last April I did that and got Jan. 29 spit back at me.... Not knowing we were pregnant with triplets, we thought we would bring in one more child into this world at the end of January-- Well we all know things went down WAY different than that....
Before I proceed, let me warn you I am sleep deprived and therefore my grammar, sentence structure, etc may be all over the place.....don't hold my teacher self accountable please. :)
Where to begin---- We officially spent 34 days total in the NICU downtown between the 3 girls. It was way different than our experience in the NICU up here in The Woodlands when Gray was born. I can honestly say I have peaceful, heart warming memories of the NICU stay Gray had, however something with the NICU downtown never sat right with me. We did however meet some AMAZING nurses who looked after our girls day and night, and I hope that those relationships will continue in the years to come as we still keep in touch. There was just nothing really comfortable about the NICU the girls were in and when I think about it I get a sick feeling....maybe it was the fact that they were building a new floor above the NICU and my children had to wear ear muffs daily from the loud banging going on, and when I would leave I would see giant cranes and workers welding, and I would just have to say a prayer that each worker would do their job properly and that my sweet babies laying underneath them would be safe. Needless to say I literally could NOT be happier that we are out of there, and I hope and pray I never have to be in a NICU again. Tigh reminds me that it saved their life and for that I am so grateful, but I am so thankful to be through that part.
Our little Miss. Maisy got to come home first after 30 days in the NICU....
Followed by Addie and Emory 4 days later....
THEN THE PARTY BEGAN!!!!!!!
The girls have done amazing keeping a schedule... they eat every 3 hours during the day and are doing 4 hour stretches at night. I literally will finish a feed and it feels like 10 minutes and it is time to do it all over again... Here is my prep work for the day time bottles, which happens all over around 6pm for the night time bottles.... 24 bottles in 24 hours----
Followed by the MOUNDS of burp cloths and laundry that come from the spit ups x3..... This is just a snap shot of burp cloths from about 3 feeds. This does not include the occasional 3 outfit changes per child from spit up!
So about these girlies......They are happy, content babies! Each of them are still on monitors, that go off whenever they have an apnea or bradicardiac episode, which are happening less frequently and our next milestone will be to get rid of these stinking monitors! They are a security blanket for when I am am in another room, I know they are breathing and alive, otherwise the monitor would be going off, but the company we have had to deal with is hellacious and we have had to have them come out numerous times in the middle of the night for the monitors not working properly! Emory had one episode, where she did turn blue from not breathing and for that I am so thankful for the monitor, so I can't curse them too much.
Since being home, my mom and I did a little "photo shoot" with the girls, and man props to you newborn photographers...... these girls have NEVER been so active in their little life, when we wanted them to be sleepy and still! It was quite the sight to see my mom and I wrestle these children, along with sweating our brains out because we set the temp to about 120 degrees (not really but you get the point) until we all finally gave up and I along with the girls had to go to sleep..... :)
We went on our first outing with all 3 girls to the dr. I must say that I am not ready for the stares, questions and looks that will come with future outings (i have been told it's a regular occurance by other triplet mommas). I have to remind myself the shock I felt when first finding out I was having triplets, and googling pictures of triplets like it was some specticale to see... Since having them, I think it's nothing but normal--- however just in the few short minutes we were in the dr. waiting room I came around the corner with the double stroller followed by my mom carrying the other car seat and there were gasps, stares, followed by "OH MY GOD TRIPLETS!" and if I had taken the time to stop and acknowledge that person's comment I know it would be followed by a million questions. (And LORD knows "ain't nobody got time for that" right now!) It took everything in my sleep deprived low tolerance state to not mouth off...."YES TRIPLETS.....BIG DEAL....go about your own business, there is nothing to see here, we are just like you!"
Our days are really around the clock changing, feeding, burping, me pumping and repeating. Sounds fairly calm but through a 2 year old running around in there looking for entertainment and you get this.....
So for this very reason, I have a triplet momma friend whose advice to me was "Just hang on to your britches!" and that is exactly what we are doing..... just when I feel slightly on top of things, I do a couple of feeds and it's time for bottle washing again to keep it all going....
I wake up, and I feel like it's time to go to bed again in 5 minutes, and I already look back at pictures from a few weeks ago and I can't believe how fast these girls are growing and changing!
About time flying--- we celebrated my sweet Grayb's 2nd birthday with family the other weekend. It was a simple beautiful celebration of the boy that made me a momma! He is so so much fun these days, and he LOVED being the center of attention at his party!
Playing his new guitar :)
Through these crazy fast paced days, I thankfully by the grace of God have wonderful helpers, while Tigh is gone at work. I know I wouldn't be able to stay afloat if it weren't for my mom, Tigh's mom and a family friend who is Grayson's "Nana D" and my SAINT Diane (Aunt Diane). Without these 3 women doing laundry, helping with bottle washing and allowing me to take an occasional break, to either nap or shower I would have probably already withered away!
Speaking of withering away, a friend of mine who is also in the thick of motherhood shared a quote with me from a book we are both reading.... "Motherhood is like a pitcher with a hole in the bottom: a constant drain on our energy, patience and tolerance. Our only hope to speak with kindness, to lead with patience, and to not threaten our children with homicide is to ensure our spiritual reserves are not bone-dry." I love this, because it is so true. Lately, I haven't had time to talk with God, be in the word or go to church...my prayers to him lately have been quick and usually while I'm taking a 2 minute shower and have a thought to myself..... "Father you have given me all these little people to love and care for, and this is good, but please forgive me for the lack of time that I am able to spend with you right now, but continue to show me your presence, continue to sustain me and allow me to be the mother you have called me to be, even when I am exhausted and my fuze is short."
This morning as I was standing over the sink washing the mountain of night time bottles, I asked myself the question "In a world where some have so little, why have I been given so much?"I look around at a messy house filled with the belongings of the 6 people in our family along with my mom and dad, and I can't help but just stop and count my blessings. My family is under one roof, I have 4 healthy children! FOUR!!!!!! This whole motherhood thing is NOT fancy-- it can be so mundane..... changing poopy diapers, being covered in spit up, realizing its been 8 hours since you peed, etc. But to me it is MORE than enough, and it has my heart and cup over flowing with thankfulness every single morning. It is my calling, for God to use me to shape these little souls. It's not a BIG fancy thing that will be showcased for all to see somewhere, it can be so isolating especially in these early months of not being able to take the girls out, and not being able to have a lot of people come in. But a friend of ours pointed out to me that if I were to never leave the house for the next 18 years, I will be sending out 4 disciples for the Lord hopefully at the end of that time, and that to me is a calling WAY higher than I could have planned or imagined for life, so I will continue to soak up every minute of this crazy thing called Motherhood!
