Love in a time of Scheduling March 31, 2008

Everything I read in multiples books and was told by moms of higher order multiples had something to do with organization and scheduling. We have found that in order to achieve success and not go crazy taking care of a 3 1/2 year old and one month old triplets this advice on organization is key. Every morning we gear up for the day and every evening we gear up for the next half of our shift in the middle of the night. This consists of cleaning a dozen bottles and filling them back up with pumped breastmilk. In the morning after the night shift has concluded, our bedroom where the triplets and Chris and I sleep looks like a war zone: empty bottles everywhere, washcloths saturated in spit up strewn about the floor, dresser and bed, baby clothes with spit up in piles all over the ground, breast pump accessories all over the night stand, and I could go on but I won’t. By mid morning everything has come back around to order and our daily routine is well underway. The babies are on a fairly strict schedule of feeding at 7, 10, 1, 4, 7 and 10. They wander off their schedule when they are too tired to get up in time for a feeding, which unfortunately usually happens at the first feeding of the morning — 7am. We end up getting them back on schedule either by 10 or 1.
Chris and I continue to dream about the day when the babies are sleeping in their nursery and we can have our bedroom back. Right now we do not sleep in the peace and comfort of what was formally our bedroom – we sleep in the middle of a tropical jungle where you can hear the sounds of wild parrots and other rare birds, chimpanzees, and as hard as it may be to believe, cheetas. I believe the cheetah noise is coming from our little delicate Violet while Preston is particularly good at the rare bird sounds. I have been religiously wearing my ear plugs since the second day they were home. Chris finally succombed to the noises of the jungle and is now wearing a pair of earplugs each night.

Although the 10, 1, 4 am feedings are somewhat torturous, Chris and I are managing a little better than I expected. I must say that half the time I do feedings in my sleep – I have to pump for 20 minutes while I am feeding a baby. This kind of rigorous activity at the wee hours of the morning is just inhumane but it is amazing what your body can adjust to when given no choice.

I have to say that these babies are so sweet and cuddly and enjoyable. I wanted to make sure with myself that I was able to enjoy these babies and appreciate them as tiny infants despite the work and lack of sleep, and not let this time slip away without being able to appreciate those special moments. I had such a special moment of love with Elsa last night. She was upset in her crib in the middle of the night and so I took her to bed with me and cuddled her up face to face and she just sat there with the most peaceful look on her face and in her eyes and stared at me for about 15 minutes until we both dozed off. Those are the special moments. Simple, but special. A brief moment in time but absolutely priceless.
I am determined to enjoy all these simple little moments with each of the babies despite our need to schedule and organize for the survival of us all.

For now, the mothership is signing off. . .

Visitors March 26, 2008

Okay friends. I know you are overwhelmed just thinking about us here taking care of a crazy red-headed preschooler along with three premature triplet babies. I know you imagine us in our home running around like chickens with our heads cut off, in a zombie like state from the lack of sleep and napping at all hours of the day. I am here to tell you that while caring for so many little creatures so small is not easy or restful, we are doing just fine and welcome phone calls and visitors. Yes, we have had immense help from first my mom and sister and now Chris’s mom and dad, and could perhaps fall apart at the seams when Chris’s parents leave tomorrow, but for now we are taking care of these children with a happy spirit and loving heart. So, don’t be afraid to call, write or visit. Our only requirements for visiting are that you and those in your house have been healthy for a week and that you come during feeding times so you can help feed babies (7,10,1,4).
It is 8:35pm and rapidly approaching our bedtime so I must sign off now.
But before I do, I wanted to let you know that Brenda has put a smaller version of our pictures in a slideshow on her website if the big version was taking too long. Just go to bisharatphotos.com and click on “blog” and you will see where it says “triplet birth”.

Life With The Babies Home March 23, 2008

I am trying to figure out whether I think life with the triplets home is easier or harder than I thought, different or the same as I thought it would be, and I have decided that I cannot decide. I definitely don’t think life with the triplets is necessarily hard right now but I think I may be in a time that can be described as the calm before the storm. The babies are now about 38 weeks old and they have been in the world for an entire month now. Their life right now is all about food. I have finally mastered the task of breasfeeding Elsa and Preston at the same time which I figure saves about 20 – 25 minutes of time feeding babies. Violet is too fidgety on the boob so she always gets a bottle. One of these days I will try to breastfeed her again. After I breasfeed I pump. It is a rigorous schedule of expelling milk from my body but I am still able to exclusively breastfeed the babies which makes me feel good about myself and it saves us tons of money in formula.

Our feeding day begins at 7am each morning and continues every 3 hours from there. So, the babies eat at 7, 10, 1, 4, 7, 10 etc. I like the schedule a lot because we are usually able to get the babies fed before we go to sleep at around 10 pm and then we are only woken up twice in the night. At 7am the babies are still sleeping but Ava isn’t. Unfortunately for Chris, he has Ava morning duty which begins around 6am and consists of two, not one, but two glasses of juice/water mix delivered to Ava and then back up to bed. Chris usually falls back asleep with Ava in her bed. I have the delightful task of bringing the most restless baby that morning into bed with me and we cuddle up and fall back asleep.

The babies are very good and quiet right now, with the excepetion of Violet who is never very quiet. She has so much to say already and likes to assert her opinions in a series of loud and cantacorous grunts that go on and on. She is most active and opinionated between the hours of 7 and midnight, unfortunately for us. Her brother Preston also gets a little more fidgety at night. Little Elsa is super easy going and consistently pleasant. Mostly she is either awake and content or asleep and content.

We have decided that Preston is indeed a Chris clone, while Violet is a child from my grandma Cora Traub’s mom’s side (complicated I know) with her small features and very petite frame. Elsa seems to look like me based on some baby pictures we dug up, except her dark coloring throws us all off. My grandpa refers to Elsa as “the dark one’ which is funny considering the red-headed coloring of all her other siblings.

Chris and I got an unexpected date night again last night. Chris’s parent’s are in town for 5 days and have kindly agreed to do the night shift with us and the babies. Last night they offered to stay with the kids and Chris and I snuck out for some fajitas and margaritas. We determined on our way home that Chris’s parent’s would be holding Violet and Preston while Elsa would be sound asleep in her crib. Sure enough that is the situation we came home to so I guess we know our babies already.

More later – the mothership is signing off for now. . .

The Woolsey Possy Is Home March 15, 2008

First of all, I want to tell you that the very wonderful and talented Brenda Bisharat sent us all the pictures she took of the delivery of the babies. They are very cool and beautiful as only Brenda could do.
http://www.bisharatphotos.com
go to enter site
hit “proofing”
enter Woosley as the password. Notice the “s” and “l” are switched. And it is case sensitive. There are over 300 pictures so it takes a little time to get through.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Brenda. You are an amazing person.
I also wanted to let you all know that Brenda is nominated as Sacramento’s Best Photographer. If you want to vote for her, here is her info and voting just takes a minute:
http://kcra.cityvoter.com/brenda-bisharat-photography/biz/77750

Exactly three weeks from the day they were born and admitted into the NICU, Preston and Violet made their way home to Cameron Park. Elsa had arrived earlier in the week on Tuesday and so we had a little bit of time to adjust to a newborn in the house again.
It was very emotional for me taking the babies home yesterday. As I made my final expedition in the Lactation Station room at the hospital where I have spent so much of my time pumping, I got teary eyed thinking that this phase of life is officially over for me. As strange as it seems, I look back on my stay in the hospital, my C-section, the babies time growing big and healthy in the NICU and my time pumping in the Lactation Station as some of my fondest life memories. To think that we are officially closing this chapter of life and beginning the new chapter with the babies home brought a rush of emotion to me. When I left the hospital from my three week stay I had to say goodbye to all the special nurses who took amazing care of me while the babies grew in my belly. I could no longer ring the nurse at midnight for a couple of bowls of jelly, or first thing in the morning for my customary cup of cranberry juice. I guess I was going to have to get it myself from now on 🙂
I had the same type of emotions all over again yesterday as we loaded up the babies into their carseats and headed out. I had to say goodbye to my favorite nurses who loved our babies and took care of them with love and compassion. I was no longer a visitor in my babies lives, Chris and I were now full time parents. When you are bringing three babies home from the hospital, this thought is exciting and very scary at the same time.
As we left the hospital’s with the babies, we stopped by my nurse’s station to show them the end product of my hospital stay. They were truly beside themselves with happiness when they saw the babies and I promised to send pictures along the way. As we packed them up in the car, our favorite nurse Ann was there helping us and she teared up as we departed — she said she truly loved our little crew and would really miss them. It was an emotional day.
So, last night was predictably sleepless. Preston and Elsa were very peaceful and sympathetic to their mom and dad’s need for some sleep, but Violet sat in her crib and moaned and groaned and shreeked and sucked furiously on her binkie until it fell out, and then she shreeked again. I didn’t know a 4.6 pound baby was so loud, and neither did her brother and sister. Everytime she screamed, Elsa and Preston jumped in their sleep. We eventually demoted Violet to the pack n play in the family room with the special vibrating function, hoping for some peace but we learned you can run but you cannot hide from the Violet shreek. Chris ended up holding her and they slept together and there was at last a few hours of peace. We are hoping for a better night tonight.
Sleep or no sleep, the babies are so precious and we love them so much. Ava loves them also and she always says, “they are such cute babies”. It is sweet. All the kids look so different from one another and so far they all have personalities unique from one another. I have a feeling I am going to have to be Preston’s advocate with all those girls around him. He seems like such a gentle, mellow little boy.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off . . .