Archive for October 30th, 2005
Weights and Measures
Our (well, stricktly speaking, the girls’) health visitor has been on holiday for a few weeks, so, until Friday, they hadn’t been weighed for a bit. It’s been pretty clear that they have had a growth spurt over the last three weeks or so, though, from the constant waking early from naps and demolishing of enormous bottles of Nutriprem 2 (the special premature baby milk we’re prescribed), and I think I’ve mentioned before the fact that there have been days when one or more of the girls will have visibly grown between my leaving for work and returning 9 hours later. However, I don’t think anyone had fully appreciated the effort all three girls have been putting in to their growth.
The health visitor weighed Jemima first and, to use her words, had “never, ever, ever seen weight gain so rapid in [her] entire life”. She was so flabbergasted that she double-checked the scales to ensure they weren’t malfunctioning, Jemima having gone from being in the 2nd percentile at birth (ie. 98% of babies are bigger at that age) to somewhere around the 95th percentile!
We were warned early on that although most premature babies eventually catch up with other children their age, that isn’t the case for triplets. They nearly always remain small throughout life. Well not with our three! I reckon I might have that basketball team after all… if I can persuade J to have a couple more.
And Jemima isn’t the only one to have grown well. Evelyn and Scarlett are also up in the nineties for their weights. Plus there was another suprise: while Scarlett is still the biggest at a whopping 11lb 9oz, Jemima has overtaken Evie for second place at 11lb 3oz to her 11lb 2oz. If she carries on at this rate it’ll only be a few months before she’s gone from smallest to largest of the three. Talk about making up for lost time.
Before they were born, I would, like everyone, talk to the bump every day. And whatever else I said, I’d always end by telling the girls to “grow big and strong, big and strong for Daddy” over and over.
I think I may have to begin being careful what I ask for. I wanted babies so much and got three. I wanted so much for them to be healthy and they astonished everyone at the hospital with how well they were. Then, I wanted big, strong belters of babies… and they’re going off the scale. Fantastic!