Here I sit the evening of my first Mother's Day, next to my amazing husband, all three of my beautiful girls sound asleep, a glass of wine, reminiscing this past year. I could not be a happier woman/mom! It is so hard to believe that exactly one year ago we found out we were having triplets!!!!!!!!!! How fast did that year go? What a crazy whirlwind of emotions this past year has brought me.
It was quite a shock finding out that I was going to be a Mom. Then, it was difficult to grasp the concept of having three babies at one time(that thought never crossed my mind). Learning the risks we faced with a multiple pregnancy was incredibly eye opening and down right scary. It is unbelievable the number of issues that can arise with any pregnancy, let alone triplets. The safety of the babies scared the heck out of me, Brooke and Taylor with their cords all tangled and poor Sydney all by herself at the mercy of her sisters. We were faced with decisions that are unimaginable, we chose to pray for the best and give all three babies a change to thrive and thank God we had that faith. I spent a lot of time wondering when the day would come that I would be put on bed rest because my doctor told me it would be week 21-23. It is truly amazing that I went into the hospital at 27 weeks and was only in the hospital 12 days before the babies were born.
Then, our daughters came, how awesome, but with much anxiety about their health being born so early. I found this excerpt on another Mom's blog and thought it did a great job describing the next 53 days of our lives:
Parenting a child born so early is not the rosy picture portrayed in most media descriptions of childbirth. Our children often do not cry when they are born, we don’t get to hold them or kiss them and sometimes don’t even get to see them until days after birth. We are put in recovery rooms with moms who have given birth to full-term babies while we wonder if our children are even alive. When we do see our children for the first time, they are hooked up to IVs, monitors, oxygen support, feeding tubes, and in isolettes. We are told to wear protective gowns and wash our hands and can only change their diapers every 3 or 4 hours. This is the extent of our physical contact with our new babies, often for weeks. We are told not to even speak out loud. If we have plans to breastfeed, it is often a long, arduous and frustrating task as most preemies, especially micro preemies (<32 weeks gestation), lack the inherent ability to suck, swallow, and breathe. Our first breastfeeding experience is usually with a breast pump. We have to ask to touch our babies, we have to ask if we can help bathe them or change their clothes or blankets. Our image of parenting and our preconceived notion that the parent-child bond is one attained through physical contact has to be altered. There is nothing like parenting a micro preemie. There is nothing like walking out of the hospital without your child, day after day, week after week, month after month. But we do it. We have to, because they are our children.
Kinda of sad, but truth be told, it was by far, the most frightening and challenging time of my life, so far. There were a huge range of emotions during that time. We were beyond thrilled that they were doing so well, yet, it was so awful to go to bed at night without our tiny children at home with us. That being said, there was no better place for them than under the care of the skilled NICU docs and nurses! Then, all three girls came home on the same day and that was wild! Thank God we were blessed with relatively chill babies, it was not EASY, but it could have been unbelievably difficult, I think we got lucky! Although it was a lot of the same day after day, night after night when they were so tiny and susceptible to illness, just being able to watch them, hug them, love them, comfort them and care for them at home was an amazing feeling. We got them sleeping 12 hours at night by 4 1/2 months and here we are now at 7 months! Now we get to enjoy smiles and baby chatter!
Time sure does fly and it has been an amazing ride so far. We have so much to look forward to, but I am really trying to take things one day at a time and enjoy it all. I feel so blessed and thankful for my three healthy, adorable daughters!
Now, about today. Since it was up to me, I really wanted to get out of the house as a family. So, we went to brunch in Lake Geneva. Chris, the girls and my parents went to Geneva National's Hunt Club, and it was great! It was very important for me to be with my Mom today because I could not have had a better teacher and role model. If I can be half the Mom you were to me then my girls are very lucky! I love you Mom, so incredibly much! Unfortunately, Chris's parents were traveling back from St. Louis visiting Rick's Mother and other family, so they couldn't join us. The girls were good and I don't think we disrupted anyone! The only problem was that they did not get an afternoon nap which threw them for a loop. They didn't even sleep when we got home so they were REALLY overtired and unhappy and made going down to sleep a little tougher than normal. Although I will not do that again any time soon, I think it was worth it and to be out as a family for brunch was all I really wanted! Thank you Chris for making my first Mother's Day so special, we have the best family, I love you!
No comments:
Post a Comment