I Dream In Cuban: Triplets turn 8months old.....no sleep, no Gerber, no problem!

I never imagined eight months could go by so fast. It must be the sleep deprivation but I surely thought that taking care of triplets on our own would have surely caused child protective services to step in sooner or later. When I was doing my research on multiples during my pregnancy ( by watching Make Room for Multiples on TLC) I would see the mothers hire five or six people on a rotating schedule to help out with the babies. I told my husband from the start, "We are screwed. I mean really, really, screwed." Who can afford that? But I believe God gives you just what you need. And I had a background in medicine. My residency prepared me to go years without sleep as well as a background in dealing with whining. This wouldn't be so bad. Also, I was blessed with great in laws who came by the house Monday thru Friday for the first ten weeks to give me some hours of sleep in the morning. I kept a daily feeding journal and, on average, I nursed 24-28 times a day. I would tandem feed two kids than finish up with the last one 30 minutes before I had to start all over again. Just typing that makes me tired. But....they are the healthiest, happiest triplets you could ever find. And in the small window of this lifetime, it wasn't so bad.
Now that I have discussed the early months. Let me break down life after the first three months.

FEEDING

I continue to nurse the babies and nobody seems to be losing interest. There are a lot of reasons why I chose to breastfeed but besides having two incredibly healthy older children who nursed as examples, I also enjoyed the savings of not using formula. That stuff is liquid gold in cost and smells like battery acid. Yuk! I remembered when I was younger how couples with multiples would come on the local news and receive lifetime supply of diapers, or a new van for free. So I was hopeful.....Not the case anymore. Thank you octomom! It seems everyone is having multiples these days. So when I sent Gerber a note about the trips and how a little help would be nice, they took me by my word and sent me truly a LITTLE help in the single $10 coupon for their food. I don't know if you've shopped for baby food lately but ten bucks is less than a day in triplet life. That only left me with a year to get through on my own.
I know it's not Gerber's babies. Yeah, I know. Just let me vent. Okay? I'm just saying if this was 1972 I would be stockpiled with diapers in my garage and my brand new minivan would be stuck in the driveway of possibly the free house we got. So I called my mom who has raised ten kids and was a Cuban immigrant who had literally two pennies to use towards diapers and food when she arrived here. "You people think you invented baby food." This is my mother's response to just about everything I ask her opinion on. When talking about how hard it was to get a job in college, "You people think you invented work." When I would tell her about some great night I had, "You people think you invented parties." And then,"You people think you invented sex," when I would tell her about...well, you get the idea. She followed up her baby food comment with great advice. "I let you suck on steak when you were three months old and you had the same food we ate at the table just pureed. Nobody died."I was going to argue with her but she had a point. What was so magical about Gerber other than their magically ridiculous prices? So began my dive into homemade baby food. I am no pioneer woman. (www.thepioneerwoman.com) I wish?!? But, I can make a huge tub of baby food that feeds my kids and makes them strong and happy for about $3.00 a tub. And the best part is that I like to eat it too while I serve it up. Delicious. Now if I could only make my own diapers. And the answer to your question is "no." I will not use cloth diapers. If you could see what organic baby food comes out looking like you wouldn't be asking that question.

SLEEPING
I think that I am going to remember all of this but the truth is I barely remember last night. What has happened in our house is sort of a "musical baby" scenario every night. Now I don't wake everybody up to eat whenever one baby wakes up because our little Beau mostly sleeps through the night. So we have put her in a swing to sleep at night in the computer room. As for the other two. Carlos and Gigi would eat every three hours if I let them. There were times I was just too tired to get up and grab a crying baby because I was still holding a baby in my arms on the bed. I would say, "Mike, go get me Gigi." My husband would mumble something and stumble out of the bed over to the crib Gigi was sleeping in when the night started only to find another baby in that crib or worse....Gigi in that crib. "Did you say Gigi?" he would ask while rubbing his eyes. With the baby crying louder now, I would roll my eyes and say, "Yes. Gigi. Hurry up." He would go to the other crib and pick up the crying baby and bring it to me and say. "This is Carlos." I would get ubher mad. " I didn't say,' bring me Carlos'. I fed Carlos already. I said,' Gigi'." Then my husband would reach down and rub the head of the baby I was nursing (because that is how we tell them apart in the dark) and say, "You already have Gigi." Then I would give him Gigi and take the crying Carlos and begin to nurse him wondering who the hell I fed before Gigi. And did Carlos really need to eat or was he just colicky from the feeding we just did. I can't tell you how confusing things are at night sometimes. It's like waking up in bed, hungover, half naked, next to a stranger on a Sunday following a scorching frat party (or so I have been told). So I started keeping a feeding diary by my bed and found that Carlos loves the boob. He would try and fake me out with a cry about 30 minutes after he ate because he knew the sleep deprived, half naked me, would feed him. So the journal put an end to his game. Now at eight months, Carlos sleeps through the night. Beau wakes up at least once for a snack but our sweet Gigi is holding out but has really spread out her evening feeds. But she is so cute I can't refuse her and her fuzzy hair.

CRAWLING
Each baby is rolling over and Beau is in position to start crawling but hasn't taken the first step. Carlos just rolls and rolls to get to where he wants and Gigi does the wounded soldier to get where she needs to be. And that is wherever she can best stick her hand into her siblings eyes and mouth. I think both girls want to be dentists the way they dig into everybody's mouth. Oh well, there are worse places they could put their hands, I suppose. If anyone looks like they are starting to crawl or even attempting to stand, I just shove them down. What? Don't judge me. There are no studies proving that intelligence correlates with the ability to walk early, so I am postponing the inevitable as long as I can.

MOMMY TIME
With each of my children I have tried to set one goal for myself post partum. I find that it gives me something to look forward to when I am in that first three month, "Where the hell is my body and who is ever going to love this." phase. I have run marathons after my first son, a triathlon after my first daughter, a marathon after our third and with the trips I completed a half marathon and will do a marathon in a few weeks. After gaining about 80 lbs with the triplet pregnancy, I needed to get myself back into shape and this works for me. But everyone has a different passion. What I did want to do was send hate mail to People magazine that put Mariah on the cover and said, "Lost 30lbs in 3 months after the twins." I laugh at that. I lost 32 lbs delivering them before I even left the hospital. The rest came with hard work, dedication and a ridiculous amount of breast feeding.(And no stretch marks either. Hurray!) I find that my getting back to my pre-pregnancy body helped me to focus on my babies better. I don't know if this is what everyone needs to get by but it has really helped me be a better mother to them and my biggins.

Well, I gotta go. I need to hurry up and sleep before someone needs me. I so miss stretching out on a bed by myself with no one touching me....but I am sure one day I will regret ever feeling this way when I can't get anyone to stop long enough to cuddle with me. As if on cue, my oldest daughter has just snuggled up to me. Excuse me while I soak it up.