Fraternal or Identical ?

One of the questions we have had from the beginning is if the triplets are identical or fraternal?  While I was pregnant the ultrasounds seemed to show that each baby had its own sack and placenta, but they always told me they would know more after they were born.  During the c-section my doctor told us they would test the placenta(s) to determine if they were identical or fraternal.  When I went for my postpartum check-up he looked over the report.  The results: inconclusive.  All the report told us was each baby had its own placenta.  Fraternal and identical multiples can have their own placentas depending on when the egg splits.  We are pretty sure Chase is fraternal.  He seems to be different in every way.  His cry, personality, hair, skin, size and overall look is different from the other two. Ryan and Tyler at times look very much alike, but have different birth marks.  Tyler has white spots in his hair and Ryan has a birthmark on his left leg.  For this reason we never had to use nail polish to keep track of their identity as planned.  I can tell Ryan and Tyler apart pretty easily, but more often than I would like to admit I will briefly confuse one for the other.  We were told to ask our pediatrician about their blood types to help us find out.  If they happen to have different blood types, they would be fraternal.  The Pediatrician only had documentation of Ryan's blood type and not Tyler's.  So long story short....we still do not know if they are identical. If I had to guess, I would say they are all fraternal.  We could have DNA testing if we chose to do so, but in the end it doesn't matter one way or the other.  We love them all just the same.

Just Me and the Babies

Today is my first time to take care of the triplets by myself for the day.  I have been blessed with wonderful help from Derek, family and friends everyday since they were born.  Derek is at work and Ben went to Chattanooga last night to stay with his Papa and G-mama.  He will be attending the UTC Mocs first home game tonight.  Derek and I are a bit jealous of him.  It has been very quiet around here, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the quiet and spending quality time with my three sweet babies.  They have been on their best behavior today!

The Gift of Sleep

I was given the best gift today.  My sweet sister-in-law came down to visit with my nephew for the day. At some point during the day, she decided she would spend the night and send my nephew back to Chattanooga with Derek and Ben, who were going up for the weekend.  My mom and Jennifer did all the feedings during the night and early morning.  I was able to go to bed early and I did not get out of bed until 9:00am.  This was the first night in almost 8 weeks that I have been able to get more than three    straight hours of sleep.  Amazing!

The Trips Nursery

The surprise of the triplets made us rethink the entire location of the nursery.  Where would we fit three cribs?  The room that we planed to be the nursery for our "second baby" has a large window and double door closet that didn't leave much wall space for three cribs and a changing table.  Plus, it was currently occupied by our Great Dane, Maynard.  The futon that he claimed as his bed was in this room.  We were already concerned about taking his favorite bed away to convert it to a nursery, but now with three babies coming we really hated to take his refuge away.  We had to come up with a new plan...

So we moved our office into Maynard's room and kept Maynard's bed in there as well.  Maynard loves hanging out with anyone who is working in the office.  Derek now uses the new office all the time, which is funny because he never used the old office.  The location, layout, and size is all better than it was before we moved it.

The old office space became the trips nursery.  It has more wall space, it's next to our bedroom, and it's farther away from Ben's bedroom (although the babies have never woken Ben up in the middle of the night).  It's still not a large room so we opted for convertible mini cribs that will convert into twin size beds when they get older.  Mini cribs are awesome because they fit through door ways.  For the first few weeks, we moved one of the cribs into our bedroom, so the babies could sleep comfortably in our room at night.  We quickly moved them to their nursery at night.  It's hard to sleep with three babies making their little noises at night.

Mini crib bedding on the other hand is very difficult to find.  It's either very plain or very expensive.  Luckily, our friend's mom gladly agreed to custom make bedding for us!  Teri and Connie even went shopping for the fabric and would bring samples by my house while I was on bed rest.  I can't thank them enough for their beautiful work!

Daddy Returns to Work

Derek returns to work today.  I had to fight back the tears as he told me good-bye.  I have caught myself looking for him in the house throughout the day only to remind myself he is not here.   I truly enjoyed spending the last seven weeks with him at home taking care of our family.  I am so blessed that he was able and willing to take off seven weeks from his job to stay home and help.  He was willing to step away from developing a new office for his accounting firm to take care of his family.  I am also thankful for his colleagues, who kept the ball rolling at work while he was away and let him keep his focus on his family.  We continue to transition into our new normal here at the Daniel's Den.  Luckily, my mom came back this week to stay with us and help out.

Volunteers Needed

Many you of have asked how you can help and we hope this post will answer that question.  First, I want to thank everyone who has offered a helping hand.  We really, really appreciate it.  Triplet newborns are a full time job for more than one person. The hardest part of the day is feeding time.  I simply do not have enough hands to feed three hungry babies at the same time.  If you are interested in assisting with feeding see the list of times below.  I would like to have consistent help to simplify things as much as possible, but I also do not expect you to be able to come every week.  Please let me know if you are interested in during one of these times.

Monday 11:00 am
Monday 2:00 pm
Tuesday 11:00 am
Tuesday 2:00 pm
Wednesday 11:00 am
Wednesday 2:00 pm

On Sunday nights we meet with our Bible Study group.  We are looking for volunteers who would like to come care for the triplets during this time from 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm.  We would love to have two people to come and help at the same time.  We will start meeting on September 9 and we meet for three weeks in a row and then we take a week off.

If you are interested in helping, please contact me by email at jenniferdan24@gmail.com or call/text me.  Our family thanks you in advance!

A Simple Update

Just wanted to take a minute to give a simple update of the Daniel's Den.  We love being the parents of a toddler and newborn triplets, but it might just be the hardest thing we have ever done in our lives.  Derek and I are exhausted to say the least.  Neither of us have slept more than 2 hours at a time for the last 6 weeks.  This week it seemed to catch up with us both since we were on our own.

The triplets are growing and thriving.  They are becoming more alert every day.  Their cheeks are starting to get chubby.  I can't believe how much they have already grown and changed since they were born.  They are on a good schedule and usually sleep at the same time, except for the occasional fussy one.  They eat every three hours during the day and every 4 at night.  When one wakes up to eat, we wake up and feed all three.  Derek and I have the night feedings down to a science.  We can get all three changed, fed, and asleep in about an hour.  We have become very innovative in figuring out how to care for three at the same time.  We can not wait for the day when they extend their night feeding and eventually sleep through the night.

Ben is a wonderful big brother.  He comes and loves on them and wants to hold them.  He gets very excited when they are awake.  He has adjusted to our "new normal" very well.  He seems to be happy that I can now take care of him again.  Ben started back to mother's morning out 5 days a week from 9-1.  He absolutely loves it!  He is so glad to be back with his friends from last year and he loves his teachers.  It's amazing how much he has changed since I took him to school last year for the first time.  He loves to come home and tell me about his day and his friends.

All is well in the Daniel's Den!