Bad Mom Day

Alex had to work today and I wasn't feeling good so I just laid around on the couch all day. I let the kids play amongst themselves pretty much all day. You could tell the poor things were so bored.

It was 3:30 and we were still all in our pjs. When Alex got home I took a shower and decided to get the kids out of the house. We had free kids meal coupons at Frisch's, so we were going to take them out to dinner. The girls decided to skip their nap today, which seems to be an every weekend occurrence these days. They fell asleep in the car and were in cranky moods when they woke up. We got seated and it was a disaster from the beginning. None of them wanted to sit down, they didn't want to share the crayons, and they wouldn't stop screaming and yelling at each other. It was about 15 minutes of us begging them to sit down and stop screaming, when I decided I had had enough. It had been 15 minutes and no one had even walked over to take our drink orders. With three toddlers this seemed like forever. There were 4 workers walking around filling salt and pepper shakers and just having a good time. None of them were our waiter but they could have at least told our waiter we were there. After the 10th breakdown and the wait, I decided to just get up and go. Of course as we start "trying" to get the kiddos up to leave the waitress starts walking towards us and I head her ask the other lady if we had been there a long time. We were trying to get out of this place and we have three 2 year olds screaming "No I want to eat" and screaming all the way out the door. Talk about a scene we were! I know everyone in that place thought we were bad parents!

We got to the parking lot and Alexis still was not a happy camper. She kicked herself out of my arms and would not walk with me either. I yelled at her to come on. Of course more people look at me like a bad parent. I am generally very patient with them and they normally are well behaved in public. I very rarely yell at them because at this stage explaining what I want them to do or what they are doing wrong seems to go over better anyway. I have probably only yelled at them a handful of times but never in public. It just makes everyone around you uncomfortable. I felt like the biggest failure of a Mom today!

We decided to just go to McDonald's across the street. We were going to just get it and go home but we figured another 20 minutes before they could eat, probably wasn't a good idea. We went in and they were so good! They all sat down and ate and had no breakdowns. There were these 3 older couples across the way that Alexis kept waving and smiling at. When they got up to leave they walked over and asked if they were triplets. We told them that they were and they said they kept trying to figure it out. They told us how cute and well behaved they were. They told us that we were so blessed. They said Hi and Bye to the kids and then they went on their way. This is how I wish every stranger conversation went. None of them asked if they were natural (I do not consider my kids unnatural and I will never refer to them as that), or if triplets ran in our family (I know people generally mean do multiples run in our families, but sometimes I just want to say yes, my brother and sister both have triplets.) None of them told us how sorry they were for us or how full my hands must be. They just genuinely wanted to say Hi. I loved those people. They made me smile.

I am telling myself every Mom has a bad day, and am already thinking about how to make it up to the kiddos tomorrow!

Being Thankful

I think a lot about how crazy our life is. I have my fair share of breakdowns but when I went to kiss the kids goodnight tonight, I couldn't help but thank God that he has given me these three miracle babies.

I was on medication to help me get pregnant, and I said several times that I didn't think I could handle more than twins. On my last cycle of the medication I remember lying in bed and saying, "God, if I have to have triplets, in order to be a Mom, I am ready." I found out two weeks later, I was pregnant. I am not the religious type and I admit I do not pray often, but I knew God was listening to me that night.

You may have been trying to have a baby for a long time and finally get your miracle, you may be holding your baby now because someone else chose you to be their Mommy, you may struggle everyday to provide for your kids, everyday may not be smiles and roses, but at the end of the day you are a Mommy, and it is the greatest feeling in the world.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Outside Play

The kids have kind of been going crazy being stuck in the house, since it has been so cold. It was nice outside today, so we finally got to play in the backyard. They finally got to burn off some energy!

If anyone ever needs a way to entertain several toddlers for a while, these balls are definitely the way to go! They love these things. We play with them inside and outside. I also have them count and tell me the colors, which makes them educational too! Here is couple of pictures of all the fun. I have a video too but for some reason it won't upload. :(

 

Alexis in the basket and Kaylee throwing balls in with her.

 

 

Kaylee in the basket and Alexis throwing balls in the basket.

 

 

We came inside and had snack time. They always have to sit side by side during snack time for some reason. As soon as they get their snacks, they all sit in the middle of the floor as close as possible. I finally decided to get a pic of it!

 



Because it felt so good outside, we had the back door open with the screen closed. I heard a cat at the door, so this was our excitment for the night. They already named the cat Figaro. Of course, who else. I admit they watch too much Mickey Mouse.

 

 

 

How Do You Look Awake?

The question that I get asked the most is "How do you look awake?!?" I have gotten lucky and have three pretty good sleepers but I was kind of a Zombie the first 8 weeks.

The first 8 weeks they LOVED to sleep, but I had to wake them every 3 hours to feed them. When they first came home they were still having troubles eating. The nurses at the hospital said once they have tried to eat for 30 minutes, then they are burning off more calories than they are taking in, so to stop at that point. I would have to feed all three of them for that 30 minutes. Up until 4 weeks, I had to feed them one at a time. Some of it was me still being uncomfortable but mostly because I had to really focus my attention on them in order to be able to get them to eat. I had to rub their cheeks, rub their foreheads, move them around, anything to try to keep them awake. All they wanted to do was sleep (except from 10pm-2am) For some reason from 10-2, they all wanted me to hold them and were impatient with their feedings. With Alex having to go to work, I tried as hard as I could to let him sleep but some nights I would wake him up and say please just hold these two! We had tons of help from our family but it seemed like at 9:00 when everyone went home and Alex went to bed, the little ones knew it was time to tag team Mommy!

I tried putting all three of them in the pack in play the first night they were home. They looked so cute!

 

BUT.. they hated it. So within the first hour, I put them all in their bouncy seats. They were used to being separate in the hospital and their bouncy seats were very comfortable and warm! I slept on the couch and had them lined up in front of me.

 

For the first two weeks when Alex was off work he slept in the recliner next to me in the living room. After he went back to work he moved back to our bed to be able to get some rest. I slept on the couch for the first 8 weeks. It just became my routine and I felt like I could see them a lot better.

 

The first 4 weeks, I went most nights with an hour or two of sleep. I had to feed them all one at a time for 30 minutes. By time I spent 30 minutes feeding one and 20 minutes getting them back to sleep and doing that two more times, it was time to start preparing bottles again. Most mornings Alex would get up for work at 5am and I had not been to sleep. For some reason they loved sleeping in the mornings so at their 6am feeding they would all eat and go right back to sleep. This is generally when I got my hour or two of sleep.

I remember one day, I had told Alex that I had to get some sleep, so as soon as he got home, I changed the sheets on the bed, took a shower, and put on the comfiest pj's I could find. I slept form 4pm-9pm. I will never forget how amazing that 5 hours of sleep was. I don't think I have slept that good since!

Around 4 weeks old, they started getting much better at eating. I no longer had to beg them and they could drink their 2ml in about 15 minutes instead of 30. Because I didn't have to force them to eat, I started feeding two of them at a time. I would sit on the couch Indian style and have one leaning up against my leg on each side. Instead of an hour to feed 2, it took 15 minutes! At this point I could have them all fed and back to sleep in an hour and half! Yay for an hour and half of sleep between feedings! At this point I was getting about 5 hours a night and I was still sleeping with them in their bouncy seats in front of me on the couch.

When they turned 8 weeks, our lives got a whole easier. At this point we could stop waking them up every 3 hours. I also read somewhere that at 8 weeks, they can begin to understand the difference between day and night. This is when I started our nightly bed time routine. I would not let them nap after their 6:00pm feeding. I would try to get them to sleep after their 3:00 feeding but if they did not, I would still make them stay awake. I did everything I could to keep these three babies awake. I didn't swaddle them at this time and I would have them all three lined up on the couch singing and shaking rattles in front of them. For the first couple of weeks, I have to admit, it did kind of seem like torture. But if they slept after 6pm, of course they wouldn't want to go to sleep, who would? At 7:30pm, I would start bath time. They would all get baths, get lotioned, and swaddled for bed time. At 9:00 they would get their last bottle feeding. After they ate I would put them in the bouncy seats and let them fall asleep on their own. I would wake them up for their midnight feeding, since I was normally still awake anyway and then they would sleep until their 6:00am feeding, go back to sleep and sleep until 9.

I never at any point walked or rocked them to sleep. I know it sounds kind of heartless but there was no possible way that I would be able to rock or walk three babies to sleep at night. It was extremely hard for my mom not to rock or walk them, but every time I would remind her! I feel like this is why I get the sleep that I do now.

At 10 weeks, I decided it was probably time that I start sleeping in my bed again. They were all still so tiny, so when I put them in their cribs I felt like the beds were huge. They were used to sleeping in their bouncy seats and I knew this would be a hard transition, so I put their bouncy seats in their cribs. This way, they could transition to the new room and still feel safe in their seats. The first week they all cried it out a little. It was rough to let them cry but how would I choose which one got the special treatment? The first week it only took them about 5 minutes every night to cry it out (they were exhausted from all the rattle motion they had in front of their faces) After the first week, they all went straight to sleep when I put them to bed.

 

I let them sleep in their bouncy seats until they were 20 weeks old. I think it was a comfort zone for me. I felt like they were safer there. They transitioned really well and slept all night their first night in their cribs!

 

Connor

 

 Alexis

Kaylee

 Every now and then, Alex and I will wake one of them up and let them sleep in our bed. A lot of times on the weekends one will start to move around really early, so we will run to get that one so the others don't wake up at 6am on a Saturday! I love this cuddle time, since we don't get it very often. Even now, they get bath time at 7pm and Mickey Mouse is at 7:30. At 8:00, we go upstairs, potty, brush teeth, get their gummy vitamin (Princess or Car Nummies, is what they call them), read a book, and they all get in their beds and go to sleep. This schedule is probably the most important part of our lives. I feel like this schedule makes our lives so much easier. We have followed this from the beginning and the kiddos know it. They know what is coming next, so we never (okay, rarely) have any breakdowns. After our book is read, and kisses go all around, It is sleep time! They are generally all asleep by 9. Now it is time for me to start my 3rd job....maid service!

The Day My Life Changed

I will probably blog a lot the first couple weeks, because I want to go back and write about some of the big milestones we have gone through so far. Most of this is just more for me to look back on!

For some reason on Wednesday June 23, 2010 I went to bed really early. I was super tired and what else is there to do in a hospital? Because I went to bed so early I woke up around 5:30am. I watched TV, which I did all day everyday, until they brought my breakfast. Just like the previous 52 days, I ate sausage, and biscuits and gravy for breakfast around 8:00. I think this may be the only thing that I miss! The biscuits and gravy were awesome! Every Thursday morning, I would have an ultrasound to make sure everything was okay. Even though I loved getting to see my babies, these were pretty hard to get through. At this point it was pretty impossible for me to lay on my back. I guess from all the pressure. When I layed there for longer than a couple minutes, I would get really dizzy and feel like I was going pass out. During the ultrasounds I had to pretty much lay on my back the whole time. They did extensive test on each baby. They made sure each baby was practicing breathing, measured them to see how much they weighed, and watched them to make sure that they kicked at least three times in 20 minutes. So this was always over an hour long process. I was 35 weeks to the day when I went in the ultrasound room on Thursday June 24. By the way, this wheel chair ride to the ultrasound room was the only time I was able to go outside of my room. It was my weekly stroll! It was about 8:30am when they wheeled me over and the same lady that I saw every week was there.  As she helped me out of my wheelchair onto the table, I said "Can you help me out this time." She kind of laughed. She would tell me every week, that she probably wouldn't see me the next week. I saw her 8 weeks in a row! At this point I had met my 35 week goal, and was pretty miserable. I used to love having my shower days but at this point standing in the shower was really getting bad. I had to start showering on nights Alex came to visit because I couldn't bend all the way over to put my pants on. I had felt all three babies kick and move around that morning but when she did my ultrasound Baby A (Connor) only kicked 2 times in the 20 minutes of allotted time. I had felt him all morning, so I wasn't extremely concerned, but they called the doctor in right away. They had said previously that by this point if I failed anything on of the ultrasound test, they would take the babies. Around 9:30am, the doctor came in and asked if I was ready to do this. It was baby day!

I called Alex right away and told him it was time and he left work right away. I got set up on the first IV that I have ever had. Once I got changed into my gown, it was just time to wait. Since I had eaten breakfast, they wanted to wait until around 4:00pm before I went into surgery. Here Alex and I are waiting in triage. I thought it would be a long wait but I feel like it went by really fast.

 

 

They came to get me right around 4:00pm. They asked if I wanted to walk or ride in a wheelchair, but since I hadn't walked much in weeks, I asked if I could walk. I was really nervous getting my epidural. I remember loud music being on in the room and tons of people standing around. There were so many people in the room. There were several students standing around watching and I feel like there were nurses everywhere! One of my high school friends works in respiratory at the hospital and she came in to work especially for me to help out with the babies! Alex was so grateful that she was there to talk to him while he was standing outside waiting to come in the OR. I felt like they were working on me forever before my little Connor came into the word. I heard the doctor say, Baby A 16:25 but I didn't hear anything else. It took a couple of seconds and here came the cries. I remember the doctor walking him over about 10 feet away just so I could see him and then he took him away. I have this picture forever in my mind. He looked so tiny. I looked at Alex and said I thought they said they were all 5lbs. He looked so much smaller than that. At 4:26pm little miss Alexis came into the world. He showed her to me just as he did Connor. (Her picture is less bloody, so here it is) This is how I got to see all three of my babies for the first time.

 

 

Little Miss Kaylee wasn't sure she was ready to make her debut. I remember feeling alot of pressure on my left side almost towards my back. Alex looked over the curtain and said the doctors hand was in my stomach all the way up to his elbow. She was tucked away nicely! She came into the word at 4:28pm. At first I wasn't sure if they had taken them straight to the NICU but Alex told me they were all still in the room. Everyone checked them over and got them cleaned up and they all got to spend quite a bit of time in the operating room with us. I think they stayed in there until I was ready to go to recovery. Here are a couple more pics from the OR. Alex has Connor and Alexis and I have Kaylee. This has to be the best moment in my life!!! You can just see the love in Alex's face! It is priceless.



 

 

 

This is one of my favorite pics. I love that I have this picture of them all lined up right after they were born. 



 

Connor Lee Uhling 4lbs 10oz 16.25 inches

Alexis Marie Uhling 4lbs 9oz 17 inches

Kaylee Jean Uhling 5lbs 1oz 18 inches

 

Everything was completely fine with all three babies but they wanted to take them to the NICU just for observation. I had to go to recovery. We made the decision way before hand that Alex was going to go with the babies. They had to go passed the waiting room to take the babies to the NICU, so everyone out waiting would be able to see them as they walked by. I heard it was quite the party out there!



 

Thanks to everyone that came out to support us! It really did mean a lot to us that you all shared this special day with us.

 

I wasn't able to get up out of bed to go to the NICU that night to go see them, but all I could remember was how cute they were! I got lots of pain medicine and Alex and the grandparents went to check on them several times. I remember the pain medicine making me extremely sleepy but I was too excited to sleep. They wanted to keep them in the NICU over night just for observation to make sure that they were okay through the night. Alex brought me back several pictures of them and he got to feed them. I couldn't wait to go see them the next day. It was such a surreal day. I still think about it now and can't believe that this all actually took place. I will never be able to describe how much love and anxiety I felt on this day. It was the day I became a Mommy!

 

I went down to the NICU the next morning and finally got to hold and feed them for the first time! I remember being so nervous and taking all the advice I could get from the NICU nurses. Later that day, they transferred them to the regular nursery, so they were able to stay in our room the remainder of the time. The only issue that we had was Kaylee keeping her temperature stable. (which at 2 and half still seems to be a bit of an issue lol) They weren't ready to release them so they let me stay in my room one more night, so we could all go home together. Kaylee's temp was fine the next day, so on Monday June 28, 2010. We brought the babies home! It was the start of this thing we call LIFE!

 







3 years ago....

Three years ago today on 11/14/09 I saw the word "Pregnant" pop up on probably the 100th pregnancy test I had taken in 16 months. I remember looking in the mirror with my mouth wide open and tears just pouring down my eyes. It was a Saturday and Alex had to work. I took the test while he was at work. I had taken so many before, so he was never there with me when I took them. He always got on the computer when he got home so I set up a screen saver on his computer that said "You're Going to Be a Daddy". I think waiting for him to get home was the longest 4 hours of my life. He was so excited! I couldn't wait to tell our parents. I think they were all just excited as we were! It was such an awesome day! We found out at my 8 week appointment that we were having triplets. I will be completely honest and tell everyone, I was not excited. I remember crying and crying. It was hard to get through the next few days! I wanted a baby for so long but THREE! Alex and I took turns having breakdowns. One day I was optimistic and told him we would get through it and the next day I would be a mess and he would say everything will work out. I wish I could go back in time and know through my pregnancy that everything has turned out the way it has. I tried to stay calm but my head was constantly spinning. I felt like I had very little time to be excited about being pregnant. Right away my mind was racing! How will we be able to do this? What if somethings goes wrong, what if I go into very premature labor, what if something happens to me and Alex has three babies to take care of on his own, will my work give me more than 12 weeks of leave, how will we take care of three babies at once, how will we afford 3 babies, where will we live, what will we drive, will I go back to work, if I do how will i find a daycare that will take all three and not break us, what stuff do I just need one of and what stuff do I need three of? We weren't prepared and nothing we could do would prepare us. I worried every single second of the day, from the time I found out there were three. For some of you that may not know, I was put on hospital bed rest at 27 weeks and stayed in the hospital until they were born at 35 weeks. They were all extremely healthy and actually came home from the hospital with me. I wish I could go back and know that this is how everything would be. I wish my pregnancy consisted of more happy days than sad days. But I can't go back now, and I can't believe they are 2 and half already. I know that as time goes by I will start to forget the cute things they say or how fun (or awful) one of my many project ideas turned out. I know some people may care about our journey and others get tired of hearing about it, so I am starting up this blog again for you all to hear my stories only if you wish! Beware, blogs will come with many pictures and videos! I will post a link on my facebook if I make a new entry. Hope to post more soon!

I needed to stop by the grocery tonight, so I decided to take the kids along and go out to Chik Fil A for dinner! It was their first Chik Fil A trip and I think this is the first time we have ever taken them out for an after work week night dinner! We hardly ever make a group trip to the grocery, so tonight was definitely an adventure!