It had been a long time coming for my husband and I in getting pregnant. We had been trying and trying for many years and when we finally found out the news that I was pregnant, we were extremely excited. We had already started to buy many things for our baby: a pram, a basinet, many toys and lots of clothes. One thing though that we weren’t prepared for was when we first went in for an ultra sound. At first when we saw the scan and the doctor’s face, we thought that we were having twins! This had come at a bit of a shock for us, and we were trying to think of all the different ways to prepare for the onset of twins and what that would mean for our house. We would have to buy more things, more clothes, another crib and a lot more food on a regular basis. But it wasn’t twins. It was triplets! Well you can just imagine our shock that came from that! Now it was even ‘worse’! Everything we had planned on just got multiplied by three, and boy did we really have to start re-thinking all the things we planned for!
As soon as we got home that night and after a few phone calls to tell everyone the news, we soon had to sit down and write down everything that we already had and everything that we would now need. We had to buy ourselves a special pram so that was the first thing we had to look out for. Then came the purchasing of the different types of cribs for each of them, and all the extra clothes that we had to get. We also decided it would be a good idea to start buying baby food and formula in bulk so that in the long run we could actually save money. As the time went on though and my belly got bigger and bigger, we would soon realise that there was even more stuff that we didn’t have! An example of this was nappies. I was 8 months pregnant, the size of a small country and starting to get a bit cranky. I decided to go into the baby’s room just to check and noticed we only had 2 bags of nappies. I asked my husband where he had put the other nappies and he had no idea what I was talking about. We hadn’t gotten any other nappies and were stuck with 2 bags! We had to rush out and buy a whole heap more nappies so that we knew we would be stocked up. It was a constantly hard task, but that was nothing compared to the birth!
I was brought into the hospital about 3 weeks before I was due and the babies were brought on by a c-section so it wasn’t too bad. Each of them was born healthy and I was blessed with 3 of the cutest little girls you had ever seen! They were kept in the hospital for a few weeks just to allow them to get on their feet and get healthy and then we were soon faced with the task of bringing them home in each of their little bundle of the joy goodness! And you know what? As soon as we got them home we of course realised that we hadn’t gotten everything yet again! There was more stuff to get, more baby wipes, more baby bottles, more nappies (you never realise how much these babies actually go to the bathroom!) and more clothes. It was a constant struggle at first to get into a routine which we were both used to. And I think at first, both of us were way too proud to admit that we needed some form of help. Because realistically we both did. We were both trying so hard to be these ‘super parents’ that we didn’t realise we were burning ourselves out something chronic and needed the assistance of some other people. My mother was happy to come and help out, as was my husband’s mother so that was a bit of a relief for a few days. We did however need to get the assistance of a professional as even our mothers were getting burn out by our little ones! We contacted the hospital in which we had been at and asked what they would recommend, and they offered the services of one of their night nurses to come and help out for a few nights a week for a small cost. Well this was music to our ears as night times were generally the worst times for our kids so we jumped at the opportunity and it made things so much easier! Whenever they cried, she would help out. Whenever they were in need of a feed, she was there again It really was amazing, and for the cost, it was well worth the money!
So after the initial shock of learning we were having triplets, through to the phase of having to make sure we had everything bought, right up to when we had the babies and had to start caring for them, it has been an amazing experience right from the start. It’s like all my Christmas’s have come at once, it really is! It’s funny too hearing all the things that people say to me when I’m out in public with my babies, as it ranges from the really nice and sweet to the really mean and sometimes down right stupid. I really do hear it all. But I wouldn’t change it for the world, not one little bit. Because each of my children really is a little bundle of joy and I just can’t wait to experience them growing up and seeing everything that life throws at them and me being here every step of the way.
So although I can’t exactly say to you “go and have triplets” as that’s kind of impossible, if you do find yourself having triplets then you should embrace the opportunity and in no way become scared of it. It’s a daunting prospect yes, I’ll admit that. But the positives will far outweigh the negatives once you have them in your life. You will know exactly what I mean in due course, trust me!