Clagett Triplets: The Life and Times of Brooke Brynn Lexi

3 Months!!

Brooke, Lexi and Brynn are 3 months old this weekend, adjusted age of 6 weeks old. They are growing so fast its just crazy. I can't believe how much they grow and change each week. Since they have come home they have been getting sponge baths mainly due to time. This week with the help of Nurse Liz, Ju Ju and Hannah they all got in the tub. They loved it!! They were so relaxed and comfortable in the water. I took the cutest pictures which we will post soon. They go back to the GI doctor this week so they will get weighed then. My guess is that Brynn in over 10 pounds but we will see.

This week has definitely been filled with lots of emotion...

Stress: Hannah's food challenge. I'm happy to report she is still eating scrambled eggs and loving them.

Happy & Sad: Hannah starting school. She was so happy to get on the school bus with the other kids on our court. She had no reservations about leaving us and going to school. All I could get out of her when she got home was that a little boy cried for his mommy and daddy, they have a bathroom at school and that she thought she would go back. So I guess that is a good report for the first day. The sad part came from mommy who can't believe that she is old enough to go off to school. The night before school started, Tom and I got all the crying stopped and everyone to sleep and then I started with tears. When Tom told the story to someone that he got all the babies to stop crying and then mommy started they told him to get used to it -  living in a house with all women there will be lots of tears. On a happier note I really think school will be good for Hannah, Mommy, Brooke, Lexi and Brynn. They had a nice long nap on Thursday morning when the house was quiet and Hannah was at school.

So now on to my request..I have decided that I need to start using the crock pot to cook. Dinner hour is the worst here. Hannah is always melting down by that time, the babies are always screaming and Tom is still not home from work. Anyone with good crock pot recipes please forward them to me!!

*Anyone with kids starting school should read The Kissing Hand. Judy our super sweet volunteer gave it to Hannah and it is the perfect book.

*Also anyone with triplets should read You're All My Favorites. Ric and his wife from church gave the book to the girls and it made me cry.

Thanks for the great books and all the prayers this week for Hannah, they worked!

New pictures posted titled 3 months!!

Eggs Anyone?

Well its official, eggs have been added to Hannah's diet. It was a long day that started very early and with very little sleep, but it went well. Getting the IV in was more difficult than normal. She is bigger, stronger and understands more now that she is older. Once the IV was in and she calmed down, she was somewhat excited to eat the eggs. Its nice to see her excited about food. We made scrambled eggs and for Hannah she ate a good amount. Its so difficult to feed your child something that you know may make her very ill. I was sick on my stomach the entire morning. She is so brave and is such a fighter. Her allergist, Dr. Robert Wood, the chief pediatric allergist at Hopkins, is so amazing. When he is with you it is as though you are his only patient. We are so very lucky to have found him because he has truly changed Hannah's life. 

I did not have time to write about our weekend in the last post so....

This past weekend we took all four girls on a little adventure. We went to a triplet picnic at Celmyjontri Park in Virginia. We took my Dad with us for reinforcement. I went back and forth trying to decide if we should go or not. We went and had the opportunity to meet 14 sets of triplets and their families from the area. I  had the opportunity to meet all the other triplet moms that I have gotten to know through blogs and email. I think the nice part for Tom and I was that everyone who was there understands what we are going through each day. When we showed up with the huge stroller, all three babies crying and covered in throw up from the long car ride and reflux, no one looked at us liked we were crazy. They just understood. We got lots of advice from other families and got a glimpse at our future. I think I figured out that it will not really get easier, just different. Each age will bring new challenges some harder than others. I will say that there was a lot of chasing children going on during the picnic. But as I looked around at the group (our girls were the youngest) it did give me hope. All the babies/toddlers were beautiful and thriving and all the parents were still standing and alive.

Now that the egg challenge is over we move on to Pre K. Hannah starts school on Thursday. She is going to Pre K at the school in our neighborhood. She will ride the bus to and from school each day. I can't believe my baby is going to school. She has had a busy and eventful week!!

Prayers Please

This is just going to be a quick post due to time. Brooke, Lexi and Brynn are growing fast and changing each day. We posted some new pictures so everyone can see how they have grown. For those of you who know Hannah, our 4 year old, you know that she has severe food allergies and has been through so much medically. Tomorrow morning we go to Hopkins to attempt a food challenge for eggs. She will get the IV put in around 8am tomorrow morning and then eat the eggs around 9am. We will spend most of the day there until they determine if it is safe to bring her home. Please keep her in your prayers tomorrow, its going to be a long and stressful day!

You think your life is crazy...

If you ever feel like your life is crazy you should come spend a day or even an hour at the Clagett house. I never knew that my life would be so crazy, busy, exhausting and fun at the same time. The thing about multiples is that it just never stops. When one is quiet or sleeping you have another who is up and wants attention. There are very few times when everyone is asleep at the same time. Its been a long week filled ups and downs...

We missed Liz ( our student nurse) this week (she is at the beach) but were happy to have Kelli with us this week. We met her through the church and she was a wonderful help with the girls, so calming and gentle. They are going to miss her! She is going back to her regular job teaching at St. Mary's School in Rockville - her students are lucky to have her!

Tuesday- Started like most days except Brynn had a reflux episode first thing in the morning with milk coming out of her nose and mouth. She never stopped breathing but struggled to get her breath. I called the GI doctor and the pulmonolgist to see what we should do next. The GI doctor wanted her on more rice cereal in her bottle (its so thick now) and back on the reglan. I did not want her back on reglan (the side effects are terrible) but its what we have to do to keep these episodes from happening. The pulmonologist wanted Brynn on a monitor at night for peace of mind. I think we will all rest better knowing if something happens the monitor will alert us immediately.

This is when the fun began in our house. The monitor comes from Johns Hopkins Home Health and they deliver it to the house. They called and said they would be delivering the monitor in the evening. Well at 9:45pm when everyone was asleep I assumed it was not coming until the morning. I assumed wrong when at 10:00pm the doorbell rang and Jackson went crazy barking. All the babies woke up and when my mom opened the door and the delivery man jumped back because he was afraid of dogs, Jackson escaped. I really don't blame him for heading straight to the woods behind our house; I think he needed a break from all the crying. I've thought about running for the woods a few times myself! Anyway its pitch black and Jackson is nowhere to be found, the babies are all awake and Hannah is now up crying because "Jackson is gone forever". This is where the "If you think your life is crazy" comes in. Finally at 11:00pm Jackson returned from his adventure and the babies were calming down and Hannah was asleep. Now it was time to hook Brynn up to the monitor. Well to make a long story short, we received a faulty monitor that did not work after all of that craziness. I called the company who informed me that someone would be back out around 2:00am. I just laughed - I was not sure what else to do. I told the lady to please send someone in the morning.

The rest of the week has gone well. The monitor is now working and Brynn is wearing it at night. The girls are all growing so fast. They have almost outgrown their newborn clothes and diapers; I just can't believe it! They are smiling all the time and starting to interact more with people.

Everyone will be happy to know that we actually tried another trip to the park. This time no bike, helmet or dog and we took reinforcements along with us. Our friends Tara and Mark and their kids Caitlin and Samantha went along to help. We put Hannah & Caitlin in the wagon, Samantha in a baby bjorn and the girls in their stroller. It worked so much better because Tara pushed the triple stroller and I carried the baby who  was screaming at the time (one was always screaming!). Brooke gets the award because she was the only one who stayed in the stroller the entire walk. I feel like we accomplished something just getting out of the house as a family, thanks Tara and Mark!! Tara helped make me feel human again by coming over to do late night feedings so I could sleep and Miss Marcia from next door is always appearing like an angel at the door when we need help. On Friday, cousins Marcy, Kayla, and Erika came to rescue us and with the girls' help I managed to clean Hannah's playroom which hadn't been touched for sometime. Of course our church volunteers came regularly to help us get through the afternoons and evenings. Thanks Judy, Kim, Tracie, JoAnn, Mary Ellen, Hazel, and Richard (our shopper) - I don't know what I would do without friends & family!!

I will post new pictures soon!

*We made the Cumberland Times News - the local newspaper where I grew up. The link to the article is http://www.times-news.com/archivesearch/local_story_223003056.html   Maria Martirano Smith ( sister of my good friend Carla Cheshire) came down to Frederick with her husband John. He took the photo and she interviewed us for the story. It appeared on the front page of last Sunday's paper and was a wonderful story! That day we had close to 1000 hits on this blog!

Busy Week

This has been a busy week for the girls. Monday they had their GI appointment in Leesburg. We loved the doctor and hope that he is on the right track in helping them with the reflux. He is weaning them off one of the medications because he feels it is the reason they are more fussy and irritable. He also increased the amount of rice cereal in Brooke and Brynn's bottles and added rice cereal to Lexi's bottles. The GI doctor will follow them closely and will see them again in three weeks.

When we got back from the doctor, I had a brilliant idea that we could take a walk with the girls and Hannah. So the girls, the triple stroller, the monitor hooked to Brooke, Hannah and her bike, Jackson the dog ,Tom and I started on a walk to the park. I was determined that we were going to start doing things that a normal family would do. I realized really quickly that we are not normal ( I'd like to think that we are better than normal but I'm not sure about that either). Hannah decided half way to the park that it was bumpy and she was not going to ride anymore. The girls each took a turn screaming. The monitor kept falling off of the stroller. It was hot and not a fun trip. It was really clear to Tom and I that we were out numbered. You can't walk, push the stroller, push a bike, hold a bike helmet (she decided she didn't need the helmet if she was not riding), hold the dog, and hold three screaming babies (one of whom is hooked to a monitor). I was exhausted when we got home and decided that it will be awhile before we take another trip to the park.

Tom and I decided after our trip to Leesburg and the park that we should just get t-shirts made that read:

Yes, there are three on them

Yes, they are triplets

Yes, they are all girls

Yes, they look alike, they are identical

Yes, we know we have our hands full (we even have a 4 year old at home)

Yes, 16 will be rough

Yes, the stroller is huge

No, there was no fertility (not that its any of your business)

No need to say "God Bless You"...he already did!

Tuesday the girls had their evaluation with the Infants and Toddlers Program for Frederick County. Both an occupational and physical therapist came to the house to evaluate them. Brooke and Brynn both qualified for the program and will start to receive physical therapy once a week at the house. Their main goal is to strengthen their neck muscles and get them to have full range of motion with their heads. Brooke was already starting to show a flat spot on the back of her head from only keeping it to the right. Hopefully the therapy will help. Little Lexi did not qualify for services. She may be small but she is the strongest and the loudest of the bunch. They said her range of motion for her head was great and she did not need services.

The best part of the week for all of us was a new addition to our house during the day. Miss Liz started helping us during the day. She is a student nurse who helped take care of the girls in the NICU. She worked for us this week and will be back after her vacation to the beach. She will be helping out two days a week to help keep mommy sane. This will also allow some mommy and Hannah time which is much needed. We are so blessed to have met her in the NICU and even more lucky to have her helping with the girls.

This has been such a long and busy week that again we would not have made it through without the kindness of other people. It amazes me how wonderful friends, family and even people we have not met can be. Just when I think I have hit my breaking point and I'm not going to make it someone shows up to help. Our church family has just been amazing. Volunteers coming to run errands and hold, rock and snuggle babies (which the babies love!) I was starting to feel like a zombie from lack of sleep and my friend Heather showed up with a bag packed to do a night shift. I have other friends (Liz and Lisa) who put their kids to bed and them come to our house to feed at 9pm and 12am. As I type right now my mom, her good friend Rosie and my neighbor Marcia are all holding babies to give me a break. Then there are all the people who have made special plans for Hannah. One of my biggest worries through all of this was Hannah and making sure her life stayed as normal as possible. Friends and family have been picking her up to go to the pool, park and all kinds of fun outings. She has enjoyed everything that everyone has done for her. I feel so lucky to know that so many people love and care about our family. Saying thank you is just not enough. So many people have sent gifts, made meals, called, come to our home to help and just supported us through this adventure. Finding time to write thank you notes has just not happened. I just want everyone to know that we are grateful and thankful for everything that has been done for our family. Thank You!!