12/04/2024
And she never complained once!
Jonathan and Sarah's identical triplets, Abigail, Hannah and Phoebe, were born at 30 weeks and spent 10 weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at the Women's and Children's Health Network (WCHN).
The girls are now 4 years old and mum Sarah shares some highs and lows of being a parent of multiples.
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴?
💤 𝐄𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 - 3 non-sleeping bubs at once (plus a toddler) nearly killed us. Plus all the work of caring for 4 under 3. The girls only recently started sleeping through the night (occasionally).
🍼 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 - As babies it would take 1.5 hours to get all 3 fed. Breastfeeding is a huge challenge with multiples. The girls were slow to catch onto breastfeeding and it's hard to dedicate the time to each baby. When feeding them alone I would sit on the floor with 1 on the breast, while bottle feeding 1 in a bouncer, and then feed lucky last all alone while the other 2 (hopefully) rested quietly!
💸 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 - not just 3 of all the clothes (and the nappies - soooo many nappies), but the prams and the huge van we had to buy to fit all 4 kid seats (our son was 2 when the girls were born), and all the extra car seats.
🕧 𝐈𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 - not just because we had COVID babies! It can be a huge effort to get so many babies ready to go at once, in between feeds/sleeps/sickness, so it was tough to catch up with friends.
💬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 - I get "that's my worst nightmare" and a few people have said "how horrible". On any given outing I'll usually get "you've got your hands full", or "are they triplets?" then plenty of follow ups about whether they're "natural", but most people are just polite and curious.
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴?
💜 You will not only survive this, but you will have moments of pure bliss when you get double (or triple) the hand holds, the kisses, the group hugs.
💜 Join MBSA - Multiple Birth SA Inc - it's a community of multi parents who absolutely get what you're going through, with a private forum where you can ask any questions at all. They have a second-hand sales page, multi discounts, and events for multi families. They also run the Home Help program, which is a free nanny service for new parents of twins and triplets - use it!
💜 Don't expect things to be the same as your friends with singleton bubs (especially swimming lessons!) - but also don't rule out activities without giving it a try. I've done mum and bubs yoga, library story time sessions, dance classes and more - it's often hard work, but we get there. And staying home is also hard work, so give it a go!
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘴?
When you get three times the joyful smiles at a new experience, or three times the giggles, or the warmest group hug around. And also, seeing them become best friends as well as sisters.
Thank you so much to Sarah and Jonathan for sharing your experience and advice!
For more information about our Multiple Birth Services visit https://bit.ly/43Ee4oj.
