Gosh, can you even imagine? Not one, not two, but three tiny babies. All jostling for space and growing in your tummy. I mean, how do they even fit in? And then there are all the questions about what on earth do you do when three babies all arrive. I’m not sure I’d have the space and trying to think about feeding and bathing three teeny wriggly newborns is too much for me to handle.
On the flip side there will be three bundles of joy. Three gorgeous little people that you have made. An instant family for you to love and nurture and that in itself is an awe inspiring feat of nature.
Today I am handing over to one of our readers, Lorna, who is currently pregnant with triplets. She is going to share all about her experience so far and we look forward to bring you more updates once the babies arrive.
I’m a mum to be of triplets.
Most people when I tell them this either: stare open mouthed, laugh, say ‘really????’, ask if they are natural or ask if I have a house big enough.
When I found out I was going to be a Mum of triple trouble (as we’ve nicknamed them, hopefully not too much of a premonition), it was at our 12 week scan in September. I laughed and cried at the same time, which Steve (my husband) still tells people about with a mixture of awe and amazement.
I’m amazed that I’m going to be a Mum at all, let alone a Mum of triplets – as we had a lot of struggles getting to this point.
It seems to me that getting pregnant is either (a) very easy or (b) very hard. We fall very much into the ‘b’ camp… Took over 18 months for us to conceive and this was after me being diagnosed with severe PCOS, numerous blood tests, referrals and visits to the consultant, tubes being flushed and lots of tears on my part as it seemed that everyone around me was pregnant and all I wanted was a baby. As it was my ‘fault’ we couldn’t get pregnant that made it worse…
Anyway, I’m sure I’m not the only one to have problems conceiving and I have now been blessed with getting my family in one go.
Where am I now? Feeling fat at 25 weeks, starting to waddle, have awful acne on my face, back, shoulders and chest (mine is definitely not a blooming pregnancy) and I want to cry most days at work. Sitting down for long periods is hard, but then so is standing up. I commute to a full time job in London and cannot believe how many harsh words I’ve had to exchange with random strangers to get them to give me a seat.
But it is all worth it for seeing my babies every 2 weeks when I get scanned by my Foetal Consultant – and I see my two identical girls and boy moving around… My babies were ‘supposed’ to be twins but for the fun of it my girl decided to become two. Three is the magic number.
My husband gets scared every time we get scanned, he confessed a few weeks ago to being terrified that something would happen to the babies before our 12 week scan. But when we get scanned and hear those three heartbeats is truly an amazing thing. Scan pictures aren’t so great as my girls are hyper and keep moving around in the sack they share all the time. Whereas my boy is already a chilled dude and posing for scan pics.
They are all named already. But I am organised and like to have things planned! This will probably all go out the window when my babies get here, but for now I can at least pretend.
Triplets are unusual, I know that, you know that. Apparently it’s a 1 in 5000 chance. So I have been blessed, the problem is the world isn’t set up to deal with triplets, twins yes, triplets no.
The house – thankfully we moved to a big enough house in September and have a room for the nursery that can fit all 3 cots. They will sleep together until they play up and need separating. Well that’s the plan anyway.
The car – we had to swap our car as there aren’t many cars that can take 3 child seats across the back.
The buggy – nowhere, and I mean nowhere, in the UK does a triple buggy so we are importing one from the U.S., Australia or Poland. My husband is still busy with his internet research trying to work out what option (there are realistically only 3) we go for. At the recent baby show in Olympia the suggestion from some of the buggy manufacturers was for us to buy a double AND single buggy, how does that work? Simple answer: it doesn’t.
Help – My parents are moving house to be nearer to us, pretty much their house went on the market the day I phoned my Mum in tears (of happiness) and told her about the triplets. I know that having Mum and my sister there to help and provide support will be invaluable. Same for my husband’s family. We are having to get a maternity nurse for the first 3 weeks I’m out of hospital, as want to try and get the best start we can in establishing some vague routine and getting our questions answered – as I won’t have time to Google ‘what are my 3 babies screaming their heads off about now FFS?!?’. Any offer of help/hand me down clothes/toys I’m saying yes to. Ideas of buying everything new and having a baby that is spoilt lots just isn’t a reality
The birth – I will carry the babies as near to 35 weeks (21 February 2016) as possible and they will be delivered by c-section. The body cannot cope with triplets beyond 36 weeks and realistically 28 weeks (which is 3 January 2016) is the major milestone we are working towards – as any day beyond this is a bonus. Most likely I will need to stay in hospital for a week after they are born and have already been told that I could end up wherever there are 3 spare beds for the babies – even if that’s miles and miles away
That’s it really. Am I scared – yes. Do I have any idea what my life is going to be like – no. But I know no different, so it will be what it will be.
Sometimes I worry that I’m going to be so huge when I’m nearer their delivery date that I won’t be able to do anything (and I have to keep moving otherwise I’ll get blood clots), I worry that I won’t be able to give the babies all the cuddles and kisses they need, I worry how will I cope with knowing that they will have to self soothe a lot earlier than I would like, I worry that I will forget to treasure all the memories of them being little as I’m not having any more children after this and I worry that I won’t be able to provide everything they need.
But at the end of the day would I change my situation. Not at all. I believe I have been blessed and fate has decided after all my tears about wanting a baby, I have three little bundles of trouble that I cannot wait to meet.
Watch out world, my triplets are coming!
Is anybody else expecting a multiple birth? Please do share and let us know how you are feeling or if you have already had a multiple birth are there any words of wisdom that you can share with Lorna.
This is amazing! Huge congratulations.
I know a couple who had triplets… They’d been together just under a year and then kapow! 3 babies! And they did fine. They coped and so will you.
I think any new mom, regardless the number of babies they have, feels exactly like you do and you know what, you’ll be great. You’ll probably muddle your way through perfectly and it sounds like you have a fantastic support system around you which I’m sure will be invaluable.
Wishing you all the luck in the world and I hope you’re able to enjoy every second on your new babies lives. I look forward to an update once they arrive.
X
Thanks Becky – all getting a bit more real everyday that passes. I get scared and excited in equal measure… L x
Ah Lorna this is so wonderful, huge congratulations.
I think you’re right when you say you won’t know any different so you’ll just get on with things, and you’ll be absolutely amazing at it too.
It sounds like planning and support is key and you are preparing as much as possible with the added support from family. It’s going to be such an amazing journey and I can’t wait to hear your progress xxx
Also – I’m in shock that you can not source a triplet pram in the U.K, that’s just craziness!
Hello Lorna (such a fab name!) – We tested one buggy that was from a supplier in Essex but would be shipped from Poland and couldn’t fit it through our front door. Minor point! So have ordered an ABC Adventure from Australia, but bought it in Aussie dollars and saved £300. Every penny counts at the moment. L x
Congratulations!!
It’s made my skin go all prickly reading this. You must be terrified and yet so excited and happy all at the same time.
Good luck and thank you for sharing. I have 2 wonderful kids both by fertility drugs and have sadly had 2 ectopics we are trying desperately for our third miracle baby and I love reading success stories as it can feel such an empty time xx
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your Karena. When you fall into the camp when getting pregnant feels like the hardest thing on earth, I think you just have to believe that fate will look after you in the end. Doesn’t stop the teary moments, but I hope you get your miracle baby too. L x
Wow congratulations on your pregnancy! It sounds like you’re very much in control but I’m sure there are days when you dont feel it. I have a 3 month old baby (“just” one!) and I take a photo every week next to a fluffy rabbit and a label with her age- definitely worth it if you can get them all in one place at one time! Good luck xx
That sounds like an amazing way to document your baby’s first year. I can try my best to do something similar, but with three little ones I might struggle… We are going to do a “newborn” shoot with the babies within their first two months, so at least we will have some photos of the three of them! L x
Oh Lorna, my response would be the same as Beckys – wow that is amazing!
I can understand how daunting it must be, but those 3 little bundles of joy will absolutely adore you, no less or more than if their siblings weren’t around. You will be their mummy and therefore the best mummy in the world. You will love them like no one else can, so try not to let any guilty feelings overcome you. And we all have those feelings, despite how many children we have.
Practically, just take gazillions of photos and videos. You forget everything so so quickly, the way they twitch when they’re asleep to the noises they make. And I can only imagine with 3 that the lines could potentially blur even more! so just photograph them or video them and download it to a computer / tablet every week – as I have literally months of missing photos because I ran out of storage on my phone and missed many opportunities! That way, when they’re all a bit older and entertaining each other (major bonus of siblings!!) you can look back and relive those moments you were maybe too tired to fully appreciate. (That’s how I feel anyway).
I wish you all the best with your beautiful family, xxx
You’re so right, they will be loved and guess you can never fully escape the feelings of guilt (goodness knows what I’ll be like when I go back to work). I will get that new phone on order with 100+GB of storage for all my photos and videos of the triplets. L x
I have three hilarious, very naughty but utterly cute cousins who are triplets. They are now 11 years old. They are also 2 girls and a boy and they have a big siuster who is 2 years older. It was a definite struggle for there mum and dad when they were first born, constant feeding and changing. Bath times were wet, very very wet with four of them in the bathand it was always a race to let them have as much fun as possible before any of them boiled over! My aunt and uncle accepted as much help as they could. My mum is from a family of 5 siblings so they always had someone in helping at the 6 o clock feed. They also had an au pair for the first year I think. They ended up getting a double buggy and having the third in a sling because even a double pram is the size of a small car and not at all practical when shopping. Shopping was always difficult, the energy it took to get 3/4 of them in the car often meant that my aunt would take just one or two and the others would stay either with dad or the au par. I watch them now and they are a lovely little family, they have had the most fun both the children and the adults and all have a very special relationship, the journey has been monumentous! O yes and routine, get a routine in quick and stick to it. Bedtime was always 7 and they were not allowed out of there bedroom again unless something was wrong! You’ll need that time to get the house straight again. Good luck you are a very lucky lady and remember to rest. x
Your cousins sound like bundles of fun! Guess the car journeys and shopping trips will be a bit trial and error, until we work out what works… It’s always the practical things that seem the hardest to do logistically. Reminds me of that Michael McIntyre sketch about leaving the house with kids!!! L x
I have 2.5 year old twin girls, and it’s been a very up and down journey for me. I am from South Africa so we don’t have much family support here, which I think is invaluable, and it sounds like you will have in abundance. I’ve found it incredibly hard, but I also love having two. One of my now very good friends, who I met at the clinic while undergoing our fertility treatment has triplets that are a couple of months younger than my girls. She is an amazing, incredible woman, I have the utmost respect for the job she’s doing. It’s not easy, and every stage is very different. In fact, in hindsight we have both agreed that the first 6 months were by far the easiest!!
Her girls were born early, so they spent about 6 weeks in neo natal, and because of that they were sent home on an already set up routine, which she said was the biggest blessing to come out of having to leave them in hospital. Regardless of this, you will find yourself getting into a routine far, far quicker than those with a singleton. My twins were sleeping through the night (6-6) by 13 weeks and I attribute this to routine. If you don’t do everything in sync, you will just spend all day feeding.
Emotionally, even with just 2 I felt quite left out of a lot of things in the beginning .. I couldn’t go to certain groups, I struggled to meet with my NCT friends a lot – or had to leave early because I couldn’t hold both babies at the same time etc. Be prepared for that, it upset me a lot more than I thought .. you have this vision of how it will be when you are pregnant, and the reality is a lot harder – especially with 3.
The comments don’t ever stop .. were they natural, are they 3 girls/3 boys/are they triplets .. I wasn’t prepared for that!
there are a lot of twins club’s around the country, I joined mine in London and I’m friends with my due date group and we have a whatsapp chat going which can also be an invaluable help .. one of our group has triplets.
It’s an incredible journey, as hard as it will be, try and enjoy those early days when they are tiny. When they can’t move, or talk LOL!!
Good Luck with it – and make sure you enjoy the last few weeks of life just the two of you, before your babies turn it all upside down 🙂 xx
Hello Nikki – Thank you for your very useful post. They are now thinking that our babies will come at 34 weeks and should (all being well, touch wood etc etc) stay in hospital for 2 weeks. The intention is to get them into a routine ASAP and your comment definitely reaffirms my mind on this. We are going to give NCT a go and also look into other Twins/Multiples groups locally too. L x
the routine will be a natural progression Lorna. Also, if you go down the formula route, the bottles of ready made formula were the best thing we bought, especially in the middle of the night. You can give it room temperature, straight into bottles! Expensive, but we only did it for the first month x
Wow – huge congratulations! I have two singletons and no experience of multiple births, so can only suggest that you accept all the help you’re offered in the early days. I’m sure being a mum of triplets will have its ups and downs but I bet the joy of seeing them growing up and playing together as friends will outweigh any negatives. My brother went to school with some quite famous sextuplets – coping with six is just unimaginable for me!
If you’re on Instagram, are you following chloeandbeans? She’s an Aussie who’s in her early 20’s and has six little ones under 5, including a set of baby triplets. Her and her husband look to be doing an amazing job – might be worth a peep? xx
I’m indeed working on the premise that the early years will be tough, but our little gang will play together when they are older. Thanks for the chloeandbeans tip. I’m now following her!
How exciting (and daunting). I have twins who will be 6 months on Christmas Eve. I know two is a lot easier than three but one thing that I think has been invaluable is being relaxed and calm, it definitely passes on to the babies. I have very chilled out girls who are a lot easier than some people’s one baby!
I do remember seeing an exhibitor at the baby show in excel but they weren’t at Olympia who had triple and quad buggies (but no twin ones!) so might be worth looking at their exhibitor list.
If you’re interested in baby wearing try to find a baby wearing consultant who can help you, there’s also lots of YouTube videos showing tandem carrying. I use a twingo now the girls are a little bigger it’s so much easier to get around than with the buggy and that way you can have two in the twingo and then a single buggy.
Cheap bath supports make feeding them together nice and easy and I can put them in the car as they slot together and don’t take up much room.
I also believe that babies pick up vibes off their parents and those that have a close involvement with them. I hope I can be as chilled and relaxed as possible… Enjoy your first Christmas with the twins!
Hi Lorna….I can’t tell you how much hope your post has given me. I’m 15 months I to my PCOS and trying for a baby journey. Which sometimes feels like a nightmare!! Sadly I’m not responding to treatment so have to decide whether to go straight into IVF or try an ovarian diathermy first. Big decisions! But thank you for the hope you have given me that someone else out there with a condition similar to mine is making their baby dreams come true!!
Sorry Sarah, I appear to have posted my reply as a post… Triple baby brain!
Sarah, I have severe PCOS and lucky for us our first round of IVF worked (thankfully, as it cost us the same amount as a new car). There is hope, if you get the right consultant that manages your drugs correctly. I hope you get your dream soon, infertility when everyone else around you seems to have no issues can be an incredibly lonely place. Hang in there x
Thank you!! I can tell you understand where I’m at completely, which makes it less lonely. Very best of luck – I hope you let us all know when your babies have arrived safely 🙂 Merry Christmas xxx
my two arrived 2.5 years ago 😉 I hope 2016 is your year x
There is hope and I have my fingers and toes crossed for you. PCOS varies in the severity of how hard it hits us girls. Try not to google too much for answers and trust in the hands of the Drs. I wish you all the luck in the world and hope you get your baby (or babies!) in 2016.
Thanks Lorna! I’m hoping 2016 will be the year too 🙂 kicking it off in early Jan with an IVF information evening with our consultant…..hoping they will tell it to us straight so we can make an informed choice. Scary and horrible but a little exciting too!
Wow Lorna, congratulations and good luck with the rest of your pregnancy and those early days! Three gorgeous tiny people will be so amazing. And if you think about it, at the minute you have four hearts – how weird is that?! 🙂
I love this thought Tracy. I am clearly bursting with love at the moment…!!! Maybe more just bursting given my 25 week bump measures 48 inches (and it’s still got 8 and a bit weeks to go!)
Congratulations!! I have twins and love it, although I know triplets is going to be a whole other ballgame but you can definitely do it!!
Am trying to think of any tips – My first tip is: TAMBA if you haven’t already joined – you might even be able to meet up with triplet parents for advice.
Re: feeding – if using bottles have LOTS so you don’t need to wash them all the time and perhaps two sterilisers as they won’t all fit in one. Ready mix formula is great for trips out, otherwise we managed to get our twins to take milk straight out of the fridge (we made loads of bottles in a morning, cooled it under running water and kept in fridge until needed – I took a cool bag everywhere with milk and ice packs, and also took a cool bag with milk in upstairs at night). Likewise when weaning, have plenty of everything (bibs, plates…) so you only have to wash up once in the day.
Practicalities – we spent a lot of time on the floor – used horseshoe pillows for them to lie on for feeding, sleeping etc. Oh and you can definitely balance bottles for feeding using your ankle!!
And never say no to help!!!!
Good luck – hope there’ll be follow up posts from you!
Huge congratulations, so exciting! I have 6 month old twin boys and echo many of the comments above. TAMBA is great, I would definitely recommend joining. Mothercare give 10% discount for members – which is useful when buying big items like cots. TAMBA also has a charity called ‘helping hands’ – they can supply some families with a Norland nanny for a few weeks. Two of my friends with twins had one and they were an amazing help.
Facebook has loads of really helpful groups. If you are planning on bf’ing there’s one called ‘breastfeeding twins and triplets uk’. For formula, a perfect prep machine will be a godsend given the amount of bottles you will be using.
I would suggest you ask to go and have a look round NICU, just to familiarise yourself with what it’s like. Your three will probably need some form of help and in hindsight I wish I had prepared myself for that side of things, just so it isn’t such a shock after the birth when your hormones are already all over the place.
NCT is great. We have meet ups at each other’s houses and invariably someone’s baby will be asleep so they can take one of yours.
The hardest thing for me is having to listen to one (or in your case, two) cry while you see to the other one. Invest in dummies!! (Even if you are anti dummies now, you will need them!)
I don’t know where you are but lots of areas gave active multiples groups. I have made loads of friends through it and the support has been invaluable.
Someone asked me what the best thing about having twins is. That’s easy – it’s that you have two!! It sounds cheesy but I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have two beautiful boys. I can’t imagine how you will feel with three – your heart will probably burst with all the love!
Anyway, will stop blathering on. Good luck xxxx
Congratulations! We have 9 month old twin girls and they are an absolute joy. We also ‘don’t know any better’ and I think it helps! It’s tiring, but I honestly don’t think its twice the work. My husband is amazing, but we moved to China when our girls were 4 weeks old, so apart from that first month (when my mums laundry service was a godsend) we haven’t had any family to support us and it’s been fine. My top tips: buy the tommee tippee perfect prep machine. It makes a bottle at the perfect temp in 2 mins. We are on holiday without it now and boiling and cooling bottles is so annoying! We also loved the fisher price rock and play sleepers for nap time or a safe place to put them down. We do monthly photos with a rag doll, but individually and it’s amazing to look back on their growth!
Multiple pregnancy is so exciting, but exhausting and terrifying! Good luck! Can’t wait to hear all about the little treasures when they arrive.
Hi Lorna,
I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog here and I can’t wait to read the follow ups later. You’ll be an amazing parent because you are amazing. I am in awe of you.
If ever you want an extra pair of hands, I’m here, and I really mean it too.
I love how you talk of being blessed and you certainly are. Where you worry about relishing every moment of their infancy and treasuring those moments, just know that there are plenty of mums of 3 kids, not triplets, just mums of three who cherish a moment every day. Baby #1 might coo, baby #2 might smile and baby #3 might sleep peacefully in your arms and today, those are the moments you will add to your jar of joy. Good job mama!
How are you doing?! Congratulations! Triplets are a complete blessing!
I was a nanny to triplets last year and it was so incredible to work with them!
Enjoy them!
Hello Adele – Babies arrived earlier than we thought on 1st February at 1:26pm, 1:28pm and 1:29pm. They were born at 32 weeks and went straight into neonatal intensive care. It has been a very emotional month and we are now home with two of our babies (as of Sunday). One of my daughters is still in hospital and likely to be there a while. L xxx
***update blog entry to follow, when I have time to write it!***
Eeeek Lorna, just seen this. Huge huge congratulations. Hope you are all doing well and can’t wait to see them (send me a little pic when you have time). Big hugs to the whole family xxx
Hi both, my wife and I have just found out on our first scan we are expecting triplets. The happiness/shock has now subsided and I’m not starting to think how can we practically do this?!
My wife laughs at me that one of my first thoughts/worries is what car? Do I need to buy one? can you buy car seats that fit across the back of a standard car? Do people put 2 in the back, 1 in the front with an adult squeezed in the middle?
All the info I’ve found on Google doesnt really seem to help and seems to be more American. Is there any advice anyone can offer?
Thanks
Andrew
Congratulations Lorna.
Just found your post, and reading it help me a lot and boosted my confidence.
Your Babies must probably be 01 year soon. I fount out about 2 weeks ago that i am having Triplets. I conceive Naturally but it took my Fiance and I one year to get here.
We are so Happy, but Unfortunately none of our family is here with s, so it is gonna be a struggle, But i am sure i will be fine. I am gonna be 8 weeks in 2 days and to be honest, I am still really scared, everyday i pray that my babies grows well in my tummy and that i have a healthy Pregnancy, I am 28 Now so all i want ed was a baby and GOD granted me not only 1 but 3 as I have always dreamt, because yes I have always dreamt on having Triplets.
Finally Having my first midwife apt in about 10 days, I can’t wait to see the babies growing, and hearing their heartbeats. I Had two vaginal US which show that they are very well, heartbeat there, sac and everything… I thank God everyday for this amazing GIFT.
I had been so worried about few bleeding, which had settle considerably and doctor told me i am going to be fine, just relax and enjoy the pregnancy.
My fiance and I have been looking on internet about how to start? what to buy? where to buy? Car? moving house? It is going to be a financial Struggle but i believe God can only give you what you can handle. I seriously just want my babies to grow well so that i can meet them and hold them finally in my hands.
Thank you again for this post. and Wish you well and the babies.
Nelly