March Multiple Mom Check-in Week of 2-20

direwolfmini

Any multi mamas still hanging out?

@anonellis Was your induction last week? How are you and those little guys doing?

@AandDM2014 Are you still hanging in there?

@mrsyimster How are the little ladies doing?

Ladies that already had your babies, feel free to check in!!

direwolfmini

As for me, I'm doing pretty well. Today marks 1 week home from the hospital and the boys are 12 days old.

I had a really rough time when I came home from the hospital without the babies. I only had one day without them at home, and I was irrationally emotional about it. I tip my hat to all of the NICU mamas, because even my one day without the boys was heartbreaking.

i am recovering exceptionally well from the c section. I'm not sure what I was expecting (to be mostly incapacitated for several weeks, I guess). I only took the Vicodin in the hospital and have been ok with just ibuprofen.

The boys continued to lose weight when they came home, so we had to put them on a strict eating schedule, every 2-3 hrs. As of yesterday they are both above their birthweight!

I was really hoping that I would be able to breastfeed, but they are too little to latch properly. In addition, I have a super low supply. I pump 8 or more times a day and get between 20ml - 2 oz at a time. My bigger guy eats 2-3 oz per feeding, so I'm having to formula feed about 75% of the time...  I am going to try to keep it up at least until my 40 week due date to see if things improve, I've been told that your supply can improve up until about 6 weeks postpartum (some have said 6 weeks adjusted postpartum... so 6 weeks after my due date... so I'm still slightly hopeful).

Thats what's up with us! I hope to hear from some
of y'all, too!
(One week old in this pic)

wintersong

Lurking! @direwolfmini your boys are so cute. Make sure to keep giving them opportunities at the breast before you pump....you want your pumping schedule to look like their feeding, every two hours. (As if your hands weren't already full enough, lol.) and even if they aren't really suckling properly, just having them there will help stimulate supply. Certain foods can help, too.

No matter what happens with nursing/pumping/formula, though, good job keeping those boys strong and healthy and over their burthweights!!

AandDM2014

@direwolfmini What cuties!! I hope feeding starts getting easier for you!

I'm still hanging around, still pregnant. 32+5 today. I feel so very large and uncomfortable and ready for these babies to come, yet at the same time totally not prepared at all. We finally set up the nursery over the weekend, so we have two cribs, a dresser and a changing spot in there, and we have one crib and a changing spot in our bedroom. We plan to have them sleep in one crib until they can't anymore, then move them to their room until they all need separate cribs, then we'll fully move them into 3 separate rooms.

I went yesterday for a gestational diabetes class, that was oh so fun. I'm back to poking myself 4x a day, but luckily I should only have a max of 4 more weeks until they're here and I no longer have to do it. Yay!

Oh crap, I only have a max of 4 more weeks until they're born, and it could be sooner! Yikes!!! We're so not ready!!!!!!!

I'm doing twice weekly NSTs, plus at least one other doctors appointment each week until the week of March 20th. That is getting to be a pain. I made the drive myself yesterday for the first time in a week and it was super challenging. I'm definitely going to have to get someone else to drive me from now on as I just don't feel safe doing it anymore.

direwolfmini

@AandDM2014 It is super impressive that you are still going! 32 weeks is average for triplets, right? You're totally crushing it! 3 appointments a week is a lot, hang in there!

Are you still planning on cloth diapering? I started on my bigger guy (the peanut is still too little for the newborn size prefolds!!) It has been easier than expected, actually. I waited until his umbilical cord stump fell off and we started on the cloth on Sunday. They have been working like a charm: holding in what would have been HUGE blowouts in a disposable. I'm working my way through a box of disposable freebie diapers (from my shower) and then I'll start the peanut in cloth. I'm considering using disposables for trips out and about, but haven't fully decided yet.

I took them on their first solo trip on Monday. We went to Buy Buy Baby and it was awesome. They slept the whole time and everyone left me alone (thankfully). There are members of my Facebook twin group that post about "5 months old and we finally went on a solo trip" and I refused to be one of those moms. 

afbaby0715

Hi Ladies.  Hope you're all doing well.  The girls are 7 weeks old today and have been home from the NICU for 2.5 weeks. We are "settled" into a routine at home now. That routine involves little sleep and lots of coffee, but a routine nonetheless lol.  

AandDM2014

@direwolfmini Thanks! Yes, the average is 32 weeks and today I'm 32+5. I can definitely tell things are happening, but not quite sure if they mean anything or not. I have another NST tomorrow and I plan to ask about recorded contractions to see if I should be concerned. I feel like a crazy person FTM, so I'm trying to just relax and not worry about every little feeling I have. I am still planning to cloth diaper. I have all my newborns washed and allocated to the three changing areas. I'm sure I'll need to adjust once they're actually home, but for now I'm going to leave it as is. I would think about doing disposables for outings, but we have little wet bags that would work great, so I'm undecided. It's all a learning experience and I won't know until we try! Kudos to you for getting out alone with them! I have a feeling it's going to be a while for us because one of them will need to be big enough to wrap or put in the chest carrier, and I don't know when that'll be. Plus DH has close to 3 months off work, so he'll be around to be helpful.

@afbaby0715 what cuties!!!

direwolfmini

@afbaby0715   So sweet! Glad that you're settling in at home! It must be such a relief after so much bed rest and NICU time!

@longliveregina Thanks for the breastfeeding advice. It really does help to hear what did and didn't work for STMs+ I've been driving myself a little bit crazy with all of the differing opinions on things. Apparently a lot of people think nipple shields are a no-no, but in my mind... (because they were so early) they can't breastfeed without them, so isn't it better to have them latch and actually feed with a shield than to have them just scream and not try to without one?

Another problem is that they've settled into an eating every 3 hours schedule, but I've been trying to pump every 2... so sometimes I was pumping before feeds and sometimes after (a lot of times, both)!

Breastfeeding (or at least, the groundwork for it) has been going OK today. I have to give them at least PART of a bottle to "take the edge off" and we've been offering boob for dessert (my lactation consultant's terminology). It was really working today for BOTH babies for multiple feeds, so fingers crossed that my supply might reflect this success! My mom is coming to help me on the night shift tonight, so I stand the chance of getting some sleep, so things are looking up! Regardless, I think I can give it another several weeks to see if things improve.

wabash15

Lurking*** @direwolfmini you are doing great with the BF, at one week post partum getting 2oz a session is great!! I had to use a nipple shield for a while with DD and our LC recommended it. Keep up with the pumping and as @longliveregina said keep giving them the chance to try nursing. DS had some hick-ups in the beginning but then got the hang of things (though we had to work hard to get a good latch every time) but DD did not transfer from me till she was 7 weeks. Initially I also had to supplement with formula but by 10 weeks was able to boost my supply enough to EBF until 6mo when we intro'd food. We actually ended up nursing till 21mo which is way longer than I ever expected. Hang in there, a fed baby is best one way or the other and any BM you can give them is great. GL

mrsyimster

Ok ladies!!

so sorry I've been mia!!
elena came hone Wednesday night! 30 days in NICU and exactly 1 months old at 6lb9oz

chunky monkey is in a apnea monitor 24/7 which is like super dooper loud (and once her leads fell out and it won't turn off..seriously worries how it affects her hearing)

since weve been home, being a first time parents has been like super rough! I think we are finally figuring out a pattern.

not gonna lie... it's been so hard running back and forth from the hospital to see Alexa while I'm in min sleep, Elena eats every 3 hours and must eat that frequently, plus she wakes up to eat (used to NICU schedule u guess) hubby isn't good at taking care of her a night and I have not really gotten a break yet

i was super depressed about leaving Alexa behind (we hope to take her home by Tuesday)

but now I'm pretty happy about it, till we can really get in a routine, omg @direwolfmini I don't know how u are doing it!

anyone heard from our triplet mom?

AandDM2014

@mrsyimster I'm still here! Still pregnant at 32+6. I had my second NST this morning and all the babies are doing great! Baby C is an overachiever and got her heart rate increases quite quickly. She also enjoyed kicking the monitor. Baby B was the slowest to get his, but still got enough in the 20 minutes. Baby A was in the middle. My girls are definitely outshining my boy, but that's okay. As long as they're all still going good, everything is a-okay with me! I have two more NSTs next week, plus an MFM appointment and a follow up with the diabetes case manager. We officially have less than 4 weeks until we meet our babies. I'm still doing okay, still have heartburn, carpal tunnel and use the cpap, but overall I think I'm doing pretty well considering I probably have more than 11 pounds of babies in me!

direwolfmini

Thanks @wabash15 I love hearing success stories that don't involve having to do anything crazy. I'm going to play it by ear, and I'm not going to quit on a bad day. Its interesting, as I open up about my struggles to my mom friends, I'm finding that pretty much everyone I THOUGHT breastfed exclusively actually had to supplement either at the beginning or through their whole breastfeeding journey. 

@mrsyimster I'm totally sucking at this, tbh. I cried for like 2 hours yesterday because neither baby would stop fussing or crying. Then my mom came and they shut up for her, so I cried more because clearly this means I'm a horrible mother (postpartum hormones are no joke). Basically I'm treading water.

My husband is not the best with the babies either. He is actually getting a lot better, but I'm the one that stays up with them. I change the diapers. He is good about calming them down (or trying) and feeding them (sort of...) but he JUST started a new job when they were 4 days old, and he needed to be on his "A" game so I let him sleep.

anonellis

Hi!  Just checking in because I didn't want to be one of those people who drops off as soon as their babies are born.  My boys are one week old today and they are home and we are all happy as can be.  I actually had a super complicated birth and have a long recovery ahead of me but a) the boys are totally fine, the complications only related to me b) I only had to stay 2 extra days in the hospital and c) I can still have children if we want to (that initially was in doubt).  Only one of them had NICU time and it was only a few hours.

im having success with breastfeeding/supply, despite hating the lactation consultants at the hospital who put so much pressure on me to supplement.  I am pumping a ton, but I'm also falling into the habit of feeding them pumped bottles more often than I probably should just bc it's easy and I'm tired.  @direwolfmini the "dessert" trick sounds like a great idea.  I'm also super impressed that you took them on a solo trip already....

The problem with not being very mobile after the delivery for me was that my husband got really good at changing diapers, soothing crying babies, swaddling, etc very quickly while I'm only learning now.  When I can't stop their crying but he can, or I start putting a diaper on backwards, I get so frustrated. I know I'll catch up, but it's hard...

AandDM2014

And I've been admitted to L&D and just got my first steroid shot. Hoping the babies wait until Monday to be born. 

direwolfmini

@AandDM2014 Hold tight, babies!
I know it is super scary, but depending on what you're in for there is a really good chance that you can hold off labor for 24-48 hours to have the full effect of the steroid shot! Every hour you can get is an achievement! It is hard, but try to stay as relaxed as possible!

Best of luck, keep us posted when you have a chance!

@anonellis Sorry to hear that it was a bit of a traumatic delivery, but I'm glad to hear that the babies are you are ok!
I'm so happy (and maybe a little jealous) that you have a good supply and have had luck breastfeeding! I know what you mean about having to try to learn everything about the babies... It has been the opposite it my house. My husband only came to the hospital 4x during my stay (2 were BEFORE the babies were born) and had literally never held a baby before, so I've been trying to teach him how to change diapers, get a onesie over the babies heads, button up a sleeper. All the while, I feel like a complete fraud that barely knows how do to this stuff myself... I feel like we are kindred spirits, and it is really hard to not beat myself up because I try to be a high achiever in everything that I do, so it sucks to feel like an idiot with baby stuff.

I'm actually really proud of my husband. I wasn't sure how much help he would be able to provide because he uses the wheelchair in the house/walks with crutches, but he really has been a decent help (this is the same guy that refuses to bring his dishes/coffee cups from his office to the kitchen b/c its "too hard" so, I was literally expecting nothing from him other than to love the babies).

AandDM2014

@direwolfmini I started leaking amniotic fluid this morning. So far everything and everyone is still looking great. I haven't had that steroid shot boost I was hoping for though. I'm just really tired (it's 4pm here). I'm glad to hear your DH is being helpful!!!

AandDM2014

The babies were born yesterday! Info in the birth announcement thread!