Olivia is home....we have triplets!!!

Okay, long story short, we're exhausted. Sorry to offend any parents of singletons out there, but we tried out having one baby for almost a week. Other than a lack of sleep, it wasn't so bad. Lauren was very well-behaved at the time, though, so maybe that's why it wasn't bad. Then we tried out having two babies for 3 days. That was definitely more difficult. We are now on day #4 of triplets and life is INSANE! I seriously don't know how quad, quint, sex, sept, etc parents do it. It is soooooooo time-consuming. Here's an idea of what our daily schedule will look like now that Paul is back at work (mind you, once we can start bottle-propping, this schedule will change).

1am - Crystal and Paul go to bed
2am - Paul's mom feeds Lauren
2:45 - Paul's mom feeds Makenna
3:30 - Paul's mom feeds Olivia & holds her for a long time (reflux issues)
5:00 - Crystal wakes up & Paul's mom goes to bed
5:30 - Crystal feeds Lauren
6:00 - Crystal feeds Makenna
7:00 - Crystal feeds Olivia
8:00 - Crystal cleans bottles and makes more
8:30 - Crystal feeds Lauren
9:00 - Crystal feeds Makenna
10:00 - Crystal feeds Olivia
11:15 - Paul is home for lunch and feeds Lauren while Crystal cleans something
12:00 - Paul's mom feeds Makenna & Paul feeds Olivia
12:30 - Paul goes back to work and Crystal holds Olivia
1:00 - Crystal cleans something and tries to eat
2:00 - Crystal and Paul's mom feed Lauren and Makenna
3:00 - Olivia gets fed
4:00 - Paul is home...we clean more stuff and maybe think about making some food (yeah, right
5:00 - We all 3 feed babies
6:00 - We all 3 try to relax...Paul's mom takes a nap, maybe...or maybe Crystal or Paul take a nap...who knows...maybe we all hold babies
7:00 - Baby bath time, change clothes for bed, do laundry...something of that nature
8:00 - We all 3 try to feed babies
11:00 - Paul feeds all 3 babies, Paul's mom probably helps, and Crystal gets everything ready for the next day.

Mind you, I have to pump breastmilk in here, which can take a good 30 minutes to an hour...which is when I can go online. Or sometimes while I pump, I have to feed a baby. I also have to do diaper changes, meds, refill med syringes, blah, blah, blah. It's really like running a 24-hour daycare. We're so lucky Paul's mom is here at the moment to help us through the next couple of weeks. I have a triplet mom friend in Hawaii who has been doing all of this pretty much alone being that her husband had to go back to work before the babies even came home from the NICU. It's doable, but completely overwhelmingly exhausting. So having help is a really really good thing. I think the reflux issues should improve a bit over the next few weeks, which will make feeding MUCH MUCH easier, and will allow us more rest. Because right now, it takes a good hour to feed and hold Makenna and Olivia. Lauren is a bit easier, taking only 30 to 45 minutes. Also, in a couple of months, if they start sleeping for at least 6 hours at a time, we will also have a much easier time. We have learned that Makenna and Olivia can easily go 4 hours between feeds, but Lauren gets hungry very quickly...and they all still need to keep gaining weight quickly, so we keep them on a 3 hour schedule.

So, that's about all for now. Again, life is insane here...I just wanted to update all of you.

Here is a pic of the 3 girlies as they are sleeping right now.



ps...since having them all home, we have already had 2 emergency suctions of Lauren's nose when she was choking while refluxing. And I had to call the pediatrician last night when we found blood in Livy's stool. All of that actually happened in a 24-hour period.

Okay...really need to go now.