Week 2

This last week has been full of doctor appointments, sleepless nights and lots of hysterical laughing. I don’t know if the laughing is due to lack of sleep or daily life with triplets is really that funny. On a side note, all three have figured out how to cry in the last 2 days. Before this just kind of grunted and squealed and snorted like little pigs when they were upset. But now they found their voice. Adeline is our most vocal and really loves to be held and carried around the house. I have become adept at doing pretty much everything except showering with her on one hip. She loves to be held so much the other night she thought it would be best to be held between the hours of 2am and 5 am rather than sleep. Every time I put her down she would scream. That was a fun night.

Also, my mom thinks the babies need to be bathed more often. The NICU said they were just fine to get a bath every 3 days. But they do get a little ripe in between but that is what I think smells the best. That is what babies are supposed to smell like; a very delicate blend of breast milk caught in the folds of their neck, Burt’s Bee’s diaper ointment and that new baby smell that disappears after about 3 months.

Since last week all 3 have been getting 60 mls of milk every feed but Beckett has a hard time finishing his bottle and his weight is the most concerning because he still is pretty skinny and not gaining weight like expected. We could paint him green and he would be the perfect alien. All three went back to the pediatrician on Tuesday to be weighed:

Beckett: 4lbs 9 oz
Eloise: 4 lbs 7 oz
Adeline: 5 lbs 0.4 oz

So we finally have a 5 pounder. Adeline is getting fat little thighs and cheeks. Everyone says she looks just like me. She is a little Mini Me if my hairline was like Homer Simpson.

So the pediatrician said that Beckett has reflux and dysphasia. Essentially the muscle used to pull down milk in his esophagus is weak so the milk is pooling and he can’t eat effectively. And then when he does eat, the reflux causes him pain when he spits up. The solution is to give him reflux medication (cherry flavored) and to thicken his milk. So I had to buy a thickener that is the consistency of honey to add to the milk and new bottles/nipples. I was pretty freaked out when the read the ingredients of the thickener and I wish he wasn’t on medication but a boy has to eat. It makes the milk the consistency of vanilla pudding. I probably could trick Rich into eating a couple of spoonfuls if I mixed it with vanilla wafers and bananas and passed it off as banana pudding.

On Friday I took Beckett to what we have been calling “swallow school.” Actually it was occupational therapy where they did an evaluation of him eating. They changed the formula again so now he is on a different type of nipple so he doesn’t have to work as hard to eat, more supplements in the milk to add calories and a different type of thickening agent. I’m telling you, I’m like a little chemist in the kitchen mixing up this stuff because everything is mixed in different amounts/concentrations. It takes about 15 minutes to make up all of the bottles for one feed. It’s one way to put my nursing degree to good use. As much as I hate him not getting just breast milk, he is at high risk for aspirating his milk into his lungs with the reflux so this is the safest and best option.

Now, the girls are having problems. Our little powerhouse, Eloise, twists and turns and arches and turns red when she is eating so she is having signs of reflux as well. Adeline is doing the same thing and very irritable and visibly uncomfortable. They are both starting on reflux medication today. Hopefully the medication will work and we will not need to thicken their milk as well.

The best news is that I have a night nanny starting tonight. She is going to be here for 8 hours a night 3 nights a week to give us a break and stretch of sleep through the night. And she washes the baby clothes and bottles and organizes the nursery. I couldn’t be happier.

Grandma trying to decide which one she is taking back to Wisconsin.

Beckett before milk

Beckett after milk

The girls sharing their first secret plan to gang up on their brother

Adeline using the blanket made from her great-grandmother's (and namesake- Leona) fabric collection.

"They should write a song about my beautiful eyes." -Adeline

"Does anyone have a baby toupee I can borrow?" -Adeline

All three taking a nap in the crip in the bedroom. Beckeet is the one with the blue blanket and pink sleeper. We were dressed him in pink for when Rich came home to see if he mixed up Adeline and Beckett.

Eloise with a hold of my necklace. Daddy- I think someone wants their own jewelry.
"See grandma, I don't smell too bad." -Beckett



Beckett on his way to swallow school. We put a business card on him for purposes of scale so you can get an idea of his size.


Eloise showing off her crusty face.

Adeline is going to borrow this hair from Eloise's shoulder to put on her head.

Bottle parts getting ready to go into the bottle soup, I mean the sterilization boiling water.
An elf after an all night bottle party at the Newman house.