I get asked, often, to tell the story of when Jason and I found out we were having triplets. The shock of seeing three separate heartbeats thumping away inside MY body is something I will never forget, but the truth is, I've always been surprised how ordinary the day actually was up until that moment. It was a Monday, and Jason met me at the doctor's office for a routine ultrasound. The rest of the story is the good part, but the real-time length was literally a matter of minutes. We were chatty and the technician was not. In fact, she seemed to be concentrating a little too hard, so I began to panic. I'm not patient and silence makes me crazy, so I asked if everything was okay. Her exact words were, "Yeeeessss...but maybe Dad wants to sit down." Without further explanation, she turned the screen toward us and pointed at two flashing white spots within the big black circle. "Identical twins." We actually laughed! As she continued to probe around, we were saying something about not believing it, what are the chances, isn't that funny....when suddenly her tone changed again. "Oh, Emily...I think there's one more." And then finally, "Yes, there's three...and three separate heartbeats. These are identical triplets." We reacted as you would expect...stunned silence followed by some stammering and a few inarticulate questions. We were not the only ones, though. The technician questioned herself for a second, "Wait, is that possible? How would that happen? I need to go get the doctor...my knees are shaking." From that moment, despite the fear, I never wanted anything more. But I also knew life was about to change...drastically.
Stress turns me into some sort of crazed detective. I read everything I can and then TALK and TALK and TALK until something makes sense. Unfortunately, my independent research project left me pretty empty-handed this time. I didn't find much for triplet blogs, and the ones I read didn't seem to answer my most immediate questions. I wanted to know how my pregnancy was going to play out, what complications people endured, how big their houses were, what kind of help they enlisted, what vehicle they drove and how it accommodated four car seats. I wanted to know, EXACTLY, how people did this. Bottom line: We were going to have to learn on the fly.
We've made it through some pretty major stuff, but still have so much to learn and do before we're functioning as a normal family again. So, here's our current problem. We recently brought our identical triplet boys, born at 27 weeks, home from the hospital. The trio joins our two-year-old son, so we now have six people in the 1000 square feet (2 bedrooms) that we call home, which also happens to be three hours away from our nearest family and friends. Our beloved ranch is on the market and we've purchased a 100-year-old bungalow, close to family, that is currently gutted. I felt like a pretty capable mom up until this year. Now, well...it's safe to say that reformation is in order. I don't want to feel like we're barely making it through every day, so we're on a mission to conquer the chaos and that's the purpose of this blog.
First, the members of our club:
William is a truck-loading, car-vrooming, swing-swinging, drum-beating, dance-loving, book-reading, ABC-singing, outdoor-playing, firetruck-obsessing, two-year-old. He's energetic and funny, and keeps us busy all on his own.
Isaac will always be "Baby A" in our book, but he was actually born second. Ike was extremely growth restricted in utero and weighed less than a pound and half at birth. He has proven to be our fighter and is the feistiest baby I've ever had. Not sure if that's his personality or because he's had to be tough to survive, but he's definitely our tiny wild man.
Benjamin is our "Baby B," but first born of the triplets. He is sweet and gentle, and very serious.
Charlie was "Baby C" and the biggest at birth, but still under 2 pounds. He's definitely a "Good Time Charlie"...so happy, smiley, and laid back.
(From left to right: Ben, Ike, Charlie. I wish I had a better picture to post, but it's nearly impossible to get a shot of all three....something I continue to work on!)
(From left to right: Ben, Ike, Charlie) THIS is why we have professional pics done!!
Jason and I have been married for 8 years and have lived in three states. Jason works for a large food company and I am now stay-at-home mom to our 4 boys. We love to plan and create, and although it often adds an additional layer of stress, (like taking on a complete renovation when you just brought triplets home) it's just our style.
No comments:
Post a Comment