The sonograms told us that we were pregnant with fraternal triplets. By
keeping off her feet and daily monitoring for any signs of contractions, my
wife was able to carry them for 33 weeks. By that time she had gained over
40 pounds. Her blood pressure was becoming higher by the day, so our
doctor told us that it was time to go.
The hospital had been prepared for our arrival. The delivery room was full of doctors and
nurses from all specialties. The C-section delivery went very smoothly. The babies were
born less than 40 seconds apart.
Our first visit to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was a little frightening. The babies
weighed 4-4, 4-6 and 3-12. All of them were attached to many monitoring devices. The
nursing staff was very compassionate and ready to answer any questions that we had.
One of our sons required a few days on a respirator to help his lungs finish developing.
Dealing with all the wires and tubes soon became second nature to us. With the help of all
those doctors and lots of prayer, our three children were all home by their original due date.
The first six months of parenthood is a difficult learning experience. I don't believe that there are any rules that apply to all children. Seeing the three of my children develop simultaneously and differently convinces me of that. The best advice I can give to parents of multiples is to write everything down, especially feeding times and amounts of formula and water consumed. We even found it necessary to chart diaper changes(960 the first month!). Color coding all the toys, bottles etc. is necessary to maintain some semblance of sterility. The color coding also gives the children a sense of what is theirs. Even to this day our children, when given a choice, will always pick the same color that we assigned them seven years ago.