Advice needed for friend, widowed, expecting triplets, has a 15 month old.

umbcpt

So my very good friend lost her husband three weeks ago in a car crash and she is 27 weeks pregnant with triplets.  He was a police officer killed in the line of duty on Easter Sunday.  She is on strict bedrest with a cerclage.  And, she has a 15 month old son.  Family is very far away, and it is not really an option to either have her move there or have them come here.  So, I am asking you ladies for some input. 

Do they make a triple snap and go, or something similar?

Any recs on quad strollers? 

Recommendations on car seats?  She is going to get Graco snugride infant carriers to start, but we are looking at convertible car seats that will work in their truck.  They drive a full size SUV with three rows, and planned to put two in the far back and two in the middle, but they need the middle row to have one side empty so they can access the babies in the far back easily.  So the plan is to put one car seat by the door and one in the middle, so the other seat can stay folded down.  The trouble is the Britax Marathon or the Evenflo Triumph are WAY TOO wide to make that possible.  I don't know what else to suggest that will be long lasting and is highly rated for safety.   

I know that when the babies are born, she is going to have to take them to doctors appointments, and it is going to be tough for her on so many levels.  But we are helping her through this very tough time, and we just have to get her to deliver three healthy babies...I am not sure she can handle anymore hardships.   

Thanks ladies for your input.  It is much appreciated!

laurenpetro

jesus mary and joseph.  that poor woman.

i have no advice but i'm so sorry for your friend. 

Temp159135562506975

peakay can probably give you great advice on triplet stuff - she's got triplet boys.

I would suggest getting in touch with her local moms of multiples group - many of them probably have items they can donate to her to help out.  A support group of twin and triplet moms will be very helpful for her.

that is horrible. Post here any time you need info, etc.  I'll keep her in my prayers.

pea-kay

I read about that, so, so sad. I'm so sorry for your friend.

There is a Foundations Quad stroller and the Quad Runabout, those are the only two I really know about. Neither of them take carseats. 

The Triple Decker stroller would be good, it fits the Graco Snugrides.

The Sunshine Radian convertible seats are the narrowest out there, she should look at those.

You are a good friend...I wish her the very best.

pea-kay

Triplet Connection has a forum that might be a good place to post for advice, too...

kimi_brighteyes

My heart goes out to your friend.  I am so so sorry.  The sunshine radian is a highly rated seat that is very narrow and you could potentially put 3 in a row if you needed to.  It is pricey (along the same lines as a Britax seat), so I don't know how big a consideration that it.

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i was just looking at the Combi Coccoro convertible seat for my son (i have 3 boys in my car, too - it's tight)... it says it can fit 3 across one row - has video of it- might be another option.

allinduetime

i am so sorry to hear that.

one suggestion i have about the convertible carseats - we just bought Graco ComfortSports for my twins, i have them seated side by side right now, and we could easily have fit three across in my truck (a silverado).

cost was a major factor for us.... the ComfortSports go up to 40 pounds and were $89 each.

mlkwmu

First of all, I'd like to start by saying how sorry I am for your friends loss.

We're having twins in June and I joined a Mother of Multiple (MOM) club for support.  I've seen them during their clothing sales taking donations and doing a bake sale for a local MOM in need.  (similar scenario - mother of triples who also lost her husband)

https://www.rrstar.com/news/yourtown/x1606969667/Father-of-rare-Machesney-triplets-dies-after-accident

A local MOM club might be able to help your friend out even if it's just in the way of support.

Here's a link to see if there's any in the area.

https://www.nomotc.org/

Secondly, I have seen a triple stroller at Buy Buy Baby (BBB).  Hopefully there's one in your area.  They have been a tremendous help to me with picking out car seats, strollers, etc. Their staff is much more knowledgeable and helpful than Babies R Us (BRU). I'd check with them on strollers and car seats.

I don't know much about the convertible car seats yet since we're starting off with the infant car seats that can snap info the stroller.. makes it much easier and convenient. The infant car seats just attach to the stroller and then eventually the twins can just sit into the regular stroller seats.  Only bad thing about going that way is that we incur the infant and convertible car seat costs. 

Just a few thoughts and suggestions for you.  You can also just seach triple strollers on the internet.  I'm sure you will get tons of other suggestions.

SoldiersGreenBean

I'm so sorry for your friend's loss.

Does she live near you?  I know that Columbia has a MoM club, so I'd recommend checking that out.  It's a bit far for me (I'm in HarCo), but it's come up in my searches.  Montgomery County also has one.

I agree that I've heard good things about the Sunshine Radian for convertible seats, for safety and narrowness.  You might be able to contact a couple local day care centers to see which quad strollers they use.

ETA links: https://www.camom.net/index.shtm for Columbia's, www.mcpom.org for Mont. County's. 

MamaCrystal

Goodness, that is terrible that they lost their husband and daddy at such an important and exciting time in their lives : (

We also have an SUV (Envoy XL) with 3rd row seating, and I'm sorry to say that whatever we tried, we could not fit a convertible seat and booster seat next to each other and still have access to the single fold-down seat.  We had to put our oldest into a seatbelt booster on the side with the single fold-down and we have to remove his seat every time we need to access the 3rd row to get the infant seats out.

The only thing I can think of for your friend would be to do with same thing but with an infant seat on the single fold-down.  She could strap that seat in with a seatbelt instead of the base, and then fold that seat down when she needs to access the 3rd row.  Just make sure that you work out a configuration before the triplets arrive!

I think that's the only area I have knowledge in that might help.  My heart goes out to your friend and I wish we lived closer and could help!

ancjph

I'm so sorry about your friend. You are a great friend to care so much.

 We also have an SUV and I will tell you what we do, hope it helps. We do two and two, Two of the triplet sit in the third row. We have the baby behind the drivers side and the other is in the middle. A lot of other triplet moms suggest the sunshine radian seats. They are suppose to be very narrow.

As for the stroller I've heard the foundations quard can get really heavy. The triplet would have to be older to ride in it. We had the triple decker and was really great.

I agree with Pea-kay check out tripletconnection.com

MrsAmyB

I am so sorry about your friends loss. I don't have actual experience but I will have a toddler and triplets. This is NOTHING like losing a DH but my DH is partially paralyzed and cannot carry a baby and walk so visits to the Dr and other outings may be similar to hers.
I have an Acura MDX and 3 Baby Trend carseats fit in the middle row. My toddler will be in a booster in the back. I hear what you are saying about being able to access the back but I can still access the back with a base in. This works best for me so I can have the room for a stroller in the back.
I just bought a very expensive stroller and because of it's price (and that it has to be imported) it's not as popular as others but she may want to look at it. It's from Adventure Buggy Company in Australia. It is the size of a double jogger with 1 or 2 seats on top of the stroller facing mom. I also bought a platform for my DD to stand on.
Ditto Triplet Connection. She can get a few months worth of formula for free along with some other deals for triplets. I don't have the link but these deals can be googled.