My Diary of Triplet Fatherhood

Here’s a few of my favourite pictures from the last few days. I’m still so captivated I’m taking snaps of my beautiful girls at every opportunity. This time feels precious and I want to capture some of its magic before it passes. Having the wonderful newborn phase of all my children at once is truly amazing – but also sad, in that it will all be gone so soon.

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The morning muscleman competition. Unswaddled, the girls have a good stretch before starting the day.

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Evelyn and Jemima drop off together with hands held!

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Hark! Is that bottles being made up I hear?

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Happiness is a warm gum – milk and cuddles, what more could a girl ask for?

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Wide awake after bathtime.

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Scarlett looks for a nipple in an unlikely place.

Last night was the third of Gina Fording the girls and the fact that my eyeballs ache from tiredness is proof that the system hasn’t worked… yet. I do think that it will work though. It just requires J and I to be patient. After all, the girls aren’t even a day old yet, gestationally, and don’t have the body fat reserves to go for any time without eating. As they get bigger they’ll be able to have fewer, larger meals and go for longer at night. Also, the fact there are three of them makes it difficult at night – often only one will wake up hungry an hour before we would want them to but we then have to feed all three to keep them in synch. In essence, there’s three times the chance that they won’t last out any particular nap period.

That said, there have been definite improvements, even in three days. Part of the regime involves always putting the girls in the cot that they spend the night in during daytime naps, with the curtains closed, etc., to ensure it’s as dark as possible. At first, part of the problem with their unsettledness during the night was that they weren’t used to the room (they slept downstairs during the day) and had never really experienced darkness before, so when they woke up even a little they got frightened and couldn’t settle themselves back to sleep. Now they sleep happily upstairs in their cot during the day. At night they seem to settle better, too.

Another part of Gina Fording is to ensure the baby (or in our case, babies) eat enough during the day to keep them going all night, so night time feeds are just top-ups, which can be moved further and further apart as the baby gets more self-sufficient. In three days this hasn’t really worked for the night time, but yesterday was the first time J and I got an evening together, as they slept through from their 7pm to 10pm feeds uninterruptedly for the first tiem since they came home. I really hope that’s a sign tht they are taking to the routine. Having a few hours together to relax and recharge makes the World of difference. Not that we want to be free of the babies of course, as demonstrated by the fact that we spent the entire time looking at photos of the girls. It’s just good to have a break from the relentless demands of feed-change-keep awake-get to sleep-quickly washing baby things and making bottles-feeding-etc.

I am only working half days at the moment so am able to get back in time to let J have a nap in the afternoon herself (and sometimes have one myself, too). I think that may be the only thing keeping us bouyant enough to keep going through the interrupted nights. In two weeks, however, I’ll be back full time. I just hope the girls are settled into a routine and only waking once a night by then, otherwise it may get much harder to keep going. So, come on Gina Ford – you have two weeks to prove your methods work. Please don’t fail us.

On another tack, we have decided to change one of the girls’ names (I think it’s people like us tht make it necessary to allow six weeks before registering a birth). Scarlett Agatha Kathleen is now Scarlett Cecilia Kathleen. I think it rolls off the tongue better now. Plus Saint Cecilia is the patron saint of music, and with those long, graceful fingers, she’s bound to become a World-famous pianist.