Breastfeeding 3 Babies with 2 Breasts

As soon as people find out I am exclusively breastfeeding the trio, the first question they ask is - how do you do that? It is very obvious that with 3 hungry mouths to feed I cannot do them all at once. So they wait. Dylan is the patient one. Ailah can wait sometimes. Isaac never waits. He's the screamer so I'd prefer to feed him first!

 

Feeding in the SCN. Look how tiny their heads were! Dylan on the left and Ailah on the right

It is rare that they are all awake and wanting a feed at once. Probably once a day, more if I'm unlucky. When they wake up, I change their bum then begin to feed. If one wakes and the other 2 are not stirring, I'll feed the first one alone. If one of the other babies is stirring, then I'll wake them, change their bum and twin feed. I use a 'Milkbar' twin feeding pillow, which is a lifesaver. That said, I can't wait til they are sitting up and I can sit them on my lap without the pillow. I don't take the pillow when we go out (unless it's to a friends place) as then I would be completely baring all to anyone in view. You can cover up when single feeding - but not with 2!

Don't get me wrong, I don't care about people seeing my boobs, I just don't want to make people uncomfortable. A bit of flesh is ok when feeding one and it's poking out the side, or a quick nipple flash as your popping it in a mouth, but I'm not into showing the entire of both my boobs! And I don't think Dan is either! Anyway....so it takes a lot longer when I'm out to feed them all singularly.

 

It generally takes a little over an hour to feed all 3 babies, most of that is spent burping and then repositioning I think! Isaac gulps so much in the first 30 seconds or so, you can actually hear the air in his stomach. So after about a minute I get him up for a burp. And what a burp it is!! He could give a grown man a run for his money! Ailah has such a teeny mouth and she doesn't latch as well as the boys, so she's on for longer. Dylan is like a baby bird. Opens wide and waits for the nipple! He is an excellent feeder and has 2 rounds. He likes a break between.

If they all wake together, one goes in the bouncer in front of me and I bounce them. They don't like this one bit, but what can I do?


When I was pregnant I had to really watch my nutrition. Now I try to eat as well (doesn't always work) but less. I've heard that breastfeeding burns 600 calories a day. Times that by three! But I'm not loosing weight....so I must be eating a little too much. Must fix that. I try to drink 4-6 liters of water a day. On a hot day that's pretty easy, on a not so hot day its hard.

I've just started taking some supplements. I take Brewers Yeast in tablet form, 2 tablets twice a day and I notice the difference! I also take Herbs of Gold Breastfeeding Support. Not because I could feel my supply dropping, but in case it did now that they are a little older. My original goal was to get to 12 weeks. That's Wednesday (oh my god!), so I'm pretty pleased with my boobs! I'd like to now get to 6 months. I'll be introducing food to them at 4 months so we'll see how that all goes.

I can't believe they are almost 3 months, it is very surreal! Just had to share these recent shots. They look so grown up!

 L-R: Isaac, Ailah & Dylan

Miss Ailah

 Mr Dylan

 Mr Isaac

The Way Things Are Now

I've had a lot of 'well, that's the way things are now' moments lately.
Like the state of my plastics drawer. BT (Before Triplets) it was neat and tidy. AT (After Triplets) it is a mess. Here's a few other things AT:
Getting in the car takes longer
There are more nappies to wash
I now breastfeed and read to/with older children
I have managed to grow and extra arm (not really - but it seems I have)
My floor is constantly filthy
Amali's room is constantly filthy
Jordan's hair never seems to get brushed before school. I am seen using my fingers as we walk to the classroom
Large plastic containers now get put in the dishwasher
The dishwasher is always on
The washing machine is always on
The house only looks clean and tidy for about 20 hours after mum has been here and cleaned it
'Daddy and Mummy Time' is around 7pm-8pm. If the older kids get into bed on time
I play or feed my horses with a monitor attached to me

But you know what? That's ok. Because all of that (and many more that I can't think of right now) goes away as soon as I get big smiles from my babies.

We've settled into a new routine.
Wake around 5am, have a feed.
Back to sleep around 6/7am
Sleep until 9/10am (sometimes longer!)
Feed and play and back to sleep around 12/1pm
Wake up around 3/4pm, feed and play then back to sleep about 5pm - Ailah doesn't sleep much from here so she gets an extra feed to help her fatten up!
Then I usually wake them as we bath them 7:30/8pm and they have a big feed and are in bed 9:30/10pm
I go to bed straight away too!
Isaac is the only one not sleeping through at this stage (woohoo!) he wakes around 3am and has a feed then back to sleep.


It is amazingly easy feeding just the one baby in the middle of the night! It's all over within half an hour - most of that time is spent burping him.

 The bubbas are having more awake time lately, which is great if they are happy awake! Isaac likes lying down the least, but that's because of his wind. I feel like he constantly has wind and I'm always burping him. They are really looking at toys now and Ailah finally got hold of a toy yesterday!! At only 10 weeks and 3 days I thought that was amazing, but she has been trying since she was 5 weeks old. You can see it in the pic above. Just this morning after burping her she reached out her tiny hand and touched my face a few times. Bought tears to my eyes.
 
 Isaac is such a cutie, he amazed me yesterday with tummy time, lifting his head up ridiculously high for a 10 week old baby! He held it for a while too. He has a little lazy eye sometimes which the Paediatrician isn't worried about, and it is super cute! He is still a big screamer, but I'm starting to be able to talk him round and then he looks at me cooing and smiling.




Dylan is just his own little man. He is quiet and easy, but that means he is sometimes 'forgotten'. But when he needs a mummy cuddle he really lets me know. He doesn't scream like the other two, just gives off these heart wrenching sobs! Those who know me know that I'm a bit of a hard ass when it comes to a baby crying, but Dylan breaks through that barrier when he cries like that - it breaks my heart! He has just started giving me gorgeous smiles - or half smiles like I got this morning. But he is the one who coos the  most. Just beautiful.








At 10 and a half weeks, I'm still exclusively breast feeding. I'm going to do a post all about that one of these days.

I got my amazing new born shots in the mail this week, done by the wonderful Anya Maria Photography. You can find her website here
She has just had her 4th baby too! She was 32 weeks pregnant when she did my shoot, and it didn't even slow her down, she was still climbing on chairs and bending over in the warmth and it didn't seem to phase her! I'm in love with her images, we can't wait to do family shots with her. Here are some of the images she did:

Can you guess who's who?

   

  

 

This is my favourite shot. Exactly how they were in the womb. Isaac head down on my right, Dylan breech on my left and Ailah head down in between them. I love this shot so much, so does Daniel, he's going to get it tattooed.

Also, a MASSIVE shout out to two Triplet mummas. The wonderful Jess from NSW had her 3 girls vaginally in and went home 5 days later! And the gorgeous Linda who's bubbas transferred back to Nambour from Brisbane last week....home is on the horizon!

And lastly, I have uploaded my birth video to YouTube. Yes, the whole thing. Why you ask? So I can encourage others to birth their babies vaginally. It doesn't matter if they are singletons or multiples. If one woman sees it and it inspires her to birth vaginally, then it was worth sharing.
There are 2 videos, with different music (copyright issues) so depending on which country you are in will mean which video you can watch. You can view them on YouTube here.

And this is how we sleep when we are out and about at friends places.

8 Weeks On

So, life's pretty busy! I swear I have been trying to write a post for the last 5 days, and I'm currently typing with one hand while holding a breast feeding baby with the other! The bubbas are great, we are sailing along smoothly (well, mostly), it's so hard to believe they are over 8 weeks already!

I'm great, getting lots of sleep, Dylan and Ailah have slept through twice, and Isaac just the once. Yay! I'm going to do a  photo post :)

A very proud Daddy with his babies - about 5 weeks old

 Our itty-bitty Ailah. She's slowly putting weight on, but she is stronger than both her brothers!

 Where I can be found most of the day! You quickly understand the need for being organised and having everything within arms reach. I can stand up while twin feeding though! Dylan on the boob, Ailah pretending to be a koala and Isaac asleep on the couch.

 How they all sleep. Note the rolled up wraps above their heads? To shove next to the dummy to help keep it in! Isaac is our main dummy man, then Ailah. Dylan seriously doesn't know what to do with it, he'll take it eventually, but sometimes it's quicker to let him have a cry and fall asleep than to get him to suck the dummy!

Isaac (being cranky of course), Ailah and Dylan. They are starting to have more awake time in between feeds and sleeps. About 6 weeks old.

 Isaac's first shower with Daddy. 7 weeks. After a bath he literally screams the house down until there's a boob in his mouth. After the shower he was so blissed out!

 Miss Ailah also loved her shower with Daddy. Dylan is yet to have a shower.

 My 3 beautiful little darlings. So very different! Ailah, Isaac and Dylan. 8 weeks.

 

All together. Can't believe they all looked! But I was jumping around, wriggling a toy and talking in silly voices!

 And one of the outtakes!

 

 This is how we shop when I don't do online. Amali pulling a face, Dylan and Isaac. Ailah was in the sling.

The beautiful Emily Black sent me all the photos and slide shows up the other day. Here are some other beautiful pics that I had to share. Some you may remember from the slide show.

My all time favourite. Hard to believe this was taken at 2:43pm. My waters broke at 8:04pm. Wow.

And then there is this. I love this just as much. Taken at 12:19am after a shower. About 2 hours after I'd finished birthing 3 babies and the placenta. I'm on top of the world. Notice I'm holding my back? Oh the pain!! I'm still wearing support pants for my back, it's almost better with the help of physio and massages. Must have been pay back for not having any back pain during pregnancy!

 

 During the slideshow, it was this image that bought me to tears. My beautiful children who had been so patient with me for many months while I was pregnant. Skipping down the hall to meet me.

And on a side note - the guy walking towards the camera? Get this - he is my old boss from Brisbane!

 

Daddy holding big sister, holding Dylan. And in a Dejavu moment:

 

Daddy holding big brother, holding Amali. Precious xx

Amali holding the love of her life, her little sister Ailah x

 Amazing, strong, beautiful women. Emily Black and my bestie, Taryn. Love you both xx

(PS: excited much girls?)

 Daddy with Isaac after the birth, just before he picked him up for the first time.

This next set of pictures makes me a little sad. They are all about Dylan's journey. Here he is being wheeled to the Special Care Nursery with two of the pediatricians.

 Daniel walked up and back from the SCN to Birth Suite many times, texting, phoning, and bringing me updates on Dylan as well as his first pictures.

One of my favourites. Daniel tells me he was lying there and no one (apart from me very quickly) had touched him without gloves on their hands. He went up to him and laid his hand on his chest and he says his colour changed and he relaxed. Beautiful first moment for them.

 And my little man. He looks very worn out and tired. In case you missed it, he was very stressed from his birth. He had fluid on the lungs which I'm told is fairly normal for a breech baby. But I believe that a lot of his stress is from his birth not being hands off like it should have. The registrar was very hands on, pulling his legs down (when they were clearly coming down by themselves) and pulling on him as I pushed. I wish I had have known what she was doing, or said something. I wish Ted had have been there, I'm sure it would have been a very different birth. But he's here, safe and healthy now.

 Miss Ailah gazing up at her mumma.

 

My placentas. Dylan's, Ailah's up the top, then Isaac's at the bottom.....we think!

 

And my other two amazing children. Dressed up for Jordan's school disco. He desperately wanted me to come as I missed the last one from being too big! They had a blast. I'm sure I can see a resemblance to Captain Jack Sparrow. And of course the fairy princess who is a dead ringer for me. Literally.

We've been trying to keep life the same for the older two. Hard, but very important.

Motorbike riding

 Trips to the park

 Fun outings with good friends. Zanthe and Amali. Note the matching togs? Too cute.

 

 And the smiles began rolling in from 5 weeks! Isaac above, and Ailah below in both pictures. Still am yet to catch one of Dylan's elusive smiles!

 All my crew!

 Nothing better than triplet cuddles. Honestly. Ask a triplet mum.

 We had our needles on Friday. They were excellent and didn't cry too much - nothing better than a big, milky boob! However, we've suffered the last 3 days. Cranky, not sleeping or settling, vomiting milk back up and very runny poos. Seems like today things are back to normal. Yay!