FA"T"Q Part 1

We went out to the mall tonight, Rick, the girls and me. We went into a few stores and it didn't take long for people to catch on that the girls are triplets. As always- the questions start to pour out and we take twice as long to get out of the store. I'm not complaining~ triplets are a fascinating thing and most people start with, "I've never seen triplets before!" so i do understand the general curiosity that comes with it.

Several of my blogging buddies have left questions before in their comments on different posts and i have recently re-connected with several friends from high school thanks to facebook.

So~ in the spirit of Jon and Kate (plus 8) I've decided to do my own version of Frequently Asked TRIPLET Questions: Please feel free to leave comments with possible future questions! :)

1. Do you watch Jon and Kate Plus 8? You bet! Their life makes my life look NORMAL! Most people either love them or hate them~ I can relate to them. :)

2. Are the girls identical? No- the girls are fraternal in every sense- while they look a like to many- they look completely different to us! And their personalities are WAY different!Here's a run down...
Emily is the oldest- she is the shortest, has a red tint to her hair and hazel eyes.
Ashley is second oldest. She has the longest hair and grey eyes.Madeline is the youngest. She is the tallest. Her eyes are blue.3. Did we take drugs? Yes- lots and lots of them! Kidding aside- we have always been open about the fact that we had to go through in vitro to conceive our girls. While those nearest and dearest know all the details, we leave it at that for the general public (and this is a question I get asked all the time!). And yes- I have pictures of various people that I know giving me my shots- and no- you don't get to see them here. :)

4. Did we have help? Yes- because our house was being remodeled at the time, we actually lived with my parents the last 3 months of my pregnancy and the first 3 months after the girls arrival. My mom took care of me while on bed rest and often took the early morning shift to feed the babies (she and Ashley bonded over "Gunsmoke" at 3 a.m.). Our family and friends helped often, Michelle came every day to help before she moved to Japan, and we did hire someone to help my mom once I went back to work for a few months until we could get settled into our new schedule.

Michelle with Ashley and Emily


5. How was the first year? I don't know. I honestly don't remember much of it- besides looking at pictures. Sure I have random memories of the girls and things that happened with them- but all the extra stuff- no clue. So if you came to visit us during that time period- my apologies if I don't remember! I can tell you this about the first year- we went through 30 diapers a day (sometimes more)- so about a case a week. We went through a can of formula a DAY (and at one point that can of formula cost $25!). We went through 24 bottles when the girls ate every 3 hours. When the girls first came home from the hospital they were on a staggered schedule of eating every 3 hours. SO we literally fed babies all day- on the hour- every hour someone was eating- it'd take half an hour to feed- the remaining 1/2 hour was spent burping, changing, burping and getting a little cuddle time. Then it was on to the next. We stopped that soon and put everyone on the same feeding schedule! We also did at least one load of laundry a day (which hasn't really changed).

Below was a typical evening at my parents house...
6. Are they natural? No- they are aliens made of silicone. :) Guess this all ties in with the drugs question- but we get this one a lot too- we understand what people are asking- but when you really think about it- its a funny question LOL

7. Do we always dress them alike? No- in the beginning we were good to get clothes on them before they needed to be changed again. There was a time period when I did dress them a like a lot, more for convenience I guess- plus when the girls get gifts of clothes they are usually matching outfits (and that is not a complaint because I KNOW how hard it is to find 3 of anything in the same size!). Now I'm not super OCD on the matching stuff like the one mom I saw on Supernanny (or one of those shows) that changed both her twins when only one got dirty so they would stay matching. Nope- unless you are dirty- you keep your current clothes on (we do enough laundry around here thank you and if its close enough to bedtime- your pajamas will do just fine!). Since starting school I have made every effort to dress them differently every day. I may dress them in the same outfit but different colors or they will wear matching pants, but different shirts. The only time I really dress them alike these days is when we do big outings and I need to find them quickly (ie- Disneyland).

8. How many minutes apart are they? The girls were delivered (c-section) in 3 minutes- they each have their own. We tell Emily she was an only child for one minute.
Emily (A), Ashley (B) and Madeline (C)

9. How early were they? I was almost 36 weeks when the girls were born. Standard singleton (that's triplet speak for ONE baby) pregnancy is 40 weeks. Average triplet delivery is between 32-34 weeks so we did great! My blood pressure was the final cause for delivery as the babies were doing great!

10. Did you know what you were having/how early did you find out it was triplets? We found out at 5 weeks that we had triplets. From that point on we knew this wasn't going to be a normal pregnancy and that bed rest and discomfort were going to involved along with health scares and much more that I shudder to think about. Because so much of my pregnancy was out of my control- I had to have control of something- so I decided I did NOT want to know the genders of the babies. After all that work- I needed a surprise to look forward to! Rick and my mom were not as thrilled with this decision and would try their hardest at my ultra sounds to see something (and in the end I was having up to 3 a week!). Did we expect 3 girls? No- I thought we were having boys and we went into delivery with 2 boy names and Emily's name. Rick right before we went in announced that he thought it was going to be 3 girls and we laughed at him! LOL So while I was in recovery we sat together and came up with the other 2 names. I'll post about their names another time.

So there you have it! Thanks for sticking with me! Any other questions that you are chomping at the bit to get answered? Leave a comment and it may be included in the next round of FATQ!