I feel very lucky that I got to experience this situation that is not available to most of the people (not that anybody would want to be in my shoes J). The first reaction when people know that I am a mom to triplets, “Triplets!, How many girls and boys?” “I know somebody who has twins.”
About them all being girls. “Wow, you are so lucky, so blessed, are you going to try for a boy now? Another comment would be,”You know , now-a-days girls are more reliable to have than boys, they care for you”. And when its known that I have a younger daughter too. “You went for another one uh? Brave one” “You are going to have to plan for 4 weddings“ (what about 4 college tuitions….? ) "4 teen age girls uh…”. And then there is this lady at the gym who referred to me as a mom who has 25 kids or something. And another one who said, “Look at the troop following you, So cute”.
Then the usual question creeps in “Were they natural?”, and the one's who feel, they were not asking me the N/F question “Do you have this in your family?”.
The Pregnancy
The only thing I remember of my pregnancy was all that monitoring, those bands on my tummy and the unending discomfort. Being small framed, I ballooned up so quickly. By 20 months, I looked like I was at the term of my pregnancy. And when I walked I had to hold my tummy with my hands as the weight was too much on my frame. My outings were just to the doctor’s office. When I walked, people thought I was in labor and offered to help me.
Then I was thrilled when I hit the 30 week mark and my travails started with a small cough. Every sneeze/cough felt like my tummy would tear open due to the jhutka. With the cold/cough's my contractions started to increase and I was brought into the hospital. The doctor told me that my platelet count was getting low and they will have to get the babies out. I was hoping to go up to 34 weeks at least, to give a good start to my babies lungs. But,every minute of the last 2 weeks had been sheer pain, I felt breathless. It had been long time that I had laid down to sleep. With constant monitoring, I pulled through another week in the hospital. Then, the day came when the doctor said we’ve just got to do it today. Hubby dear, had been off work the past week and had just reached work that morning, when I called him from the hospital and asked him to come right back. I was happy that I pulled through 1 day short of 32 weeks..
The Birth
The surgery was smooth and I could hear the cries, ‘that’s baby 1’, ‘that’s baby2’ , ‘that’s baby 3’. We have prepared a list of names that would fit the babies. Luckily, we met an Indian intern at the hospital who gave us lots of suggestions on the names since, many names could be mis-pronounced and could lead to a different meaning from what it actually means. We named them P, N, K.
I felt very odd leaving the hospital after 4 days and not taking my babies with you. Then after 3 weeks my first baby P came home. We were so excited. I was shuttling between the hospital and the baby at home. During that week, the neonatologist mentioned that we could take baby 2 home in a week and half. This time we didn’t get excited. There was already a baby at home and we hadn’t gotten adjusted to the change yet. But, baby 2 did come home in a week and half’s time and we did get adjusted to the change easily. Baby 3 was the smallest of the 3 and took her time coming home. This was difficult for me, like I wanted to tear myself into 2 parts so I could be at the hospital and home. But then, the day came when she was ready to come home too. And then, the whole family was together.
About them all being girls. “Wow, you are so lucky, so blessed, are you going to try for a boy now? Another comment would be,”You know , now-a-days girls are more reliable to have than boys, they care for you”. And when its known that I have a younger daughter too. “You went for another one uh? Brave one” “You are going to have to plan for 4 weddings“ (what about 4 college tuitions….? ) "4 teen age girls uh…”. And then there is this lady at the gym who referred to me as a mom who has 25 kids or something. And another one who said, “Look at the troop following you, So cute”.
Then the usual question creeps in “Were they natural?”, and the one's who feel, they were not asking me the N/F question “Do you have this in your family?”.
The Pregnancy
The only thing I remember of my pregnancy was all that monitoring, those bands on my tummy and the unending discomfort. Being small framed, I ballooned up so quickly. By 20 months, I looked like I was at the term of my pregnancy. And when I walked I had to hold my tummy with my hands as the weight was too much on my frame. My outings were just to the doctor’s office. When I walked, people thought I was in labor and offered to help me.
Then I was thrilled when I hit the 30 week mark and my travails started with a small cough. Every sneeze/cough felt like my tummy would tear open due to the jhutka. With the cold/cough's my contractions started to increase and I was brought into the hospital. The doctor told me that my platelet count was getting low and they will have to get the babies out. I was hoping to go up to 34 weeks at least, to give a good start to my babies lungs. But,every minute of the last 2 weeks had been sheer pain, I felt breathless. It had been long time that I had laid down to sleep. With constant monitoring, I pulled through another week in the hospital. Then, the day came when the doctor said we’ve just got to do it today. Hubby dear, had been off work the past week and had just reached work that morning, when I called him from the hospital and asked him to come right back. I was happy that I pulled through 1 day short of 32 weeks..
The Birth
The surgery was smooth and I could hear the cries, ‘that’s baby 1’, ‘that’s baby2’ , ‘that’s baby 3’. We have prepared a list of names that would fit the babies. Luckily, we met an Indian intern at the hospital who gave us lots of suggestions on the names since, many names could be mis-pronounced and could lead to a different meaning from what it actually means. We named them P, N, K.
I felt very odd leaving the hospital after 4 days and not taking my babies with you. Then after 3 weeks my first baby P came home. We were so excited. I was shuttling between the hospital and the baby at home. During that week, the neonatologist mentioned that we could take baby 2 home in a week and half. This time we didn’t get excited. There was already a baby at home and we hadn’t gotten adjusted to the change yet. But, baby 2 did come home in a week and half’s time and we did get adjusted to the change easily. Baby 3 was the smallest of the 3 and took her time coming home. This was difficult for me, like I wanted to tear myself into 2 parts so I could be at the hospital and home. But then, the day came when she was ready to come home too. And then, the whole family was together.
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