Today, as it happened.

Whoops, forgot to set alarm, over slept. Baby waking, no coffee in pot. Oh dear.

Cecilia smiling, her big two tooth grin, but quite stinky on the other end. Changed, nursed, and snuggles for my baby A. Charlotte slips in. Other two up, no interest in nursing, ready for breakfast of cheerios, blueberries, and bananas. Cecilia's blueberries disappear; Dominic can't get enough cheerios but bananas are only for the worst cases of hunger. Ellie makes the biggest mess. 

Finally coffee for me!

Charlotte wants cereal and milk, Frederick wants yogurt.  Check his head with my hand.  Three days of fever vanished in the night. Hallelujah for small miracles.

Babies done eating. Charlotte whining about what to do. None of the options I give meet approval.  Move everyone to the living room to play.  Babies crying crying crying. Nurse Dom and Ellie and then Cecilia again, but no one finds happy. Dress them in clean clothes for the day. 

Frederick goes to his room to get dressed and doesn't reappear so I leave screaming babies to make sure he's not getting into something, but he just can't find the shirt he wants to wear.  

Babies seem to get more upset the instant they see my face again.  What is up with that, anyway? 

Forget it, nap-time starts now.

Babies scream as I move them to their room.

It's not even 10 AM. Oh my God how am I going to get through my day? Is this going to be ALL day? One by one I soothe them down to sleep.

In the living room, armed with a bowl of trail mix, I assign activities to Charlotte (addition activity book) and Frederick (stickers and sharpening pencils). Time is never on my side. In a flash I wash dishes, put dinner in the crock pot, throw sweet potatoes in the oven and eat a few cookies. All is quiet and running smoothly for a bit. Five minutes for facebook. Thankful for the peace.

Crap, I'm out of coffee, already? Maybe I need a coke. Yes, I need a coke.

Dirty clothes into the washer before getting lunches sorted out for everyone, even though it isn't even 11 yet. 

Genius move.  Babies wake cranky but trays full of food pacify them.  They like the sweet potatoes. 

MC and FC eat and then jump and dance and sing to the babies who giggle and delight at the antics of my firstborn. 

The smiles and giggles and laughter that make the chaos worth something and not nothing. It breathes life into my day.

At the first hint of unhappiness I pull out a blanket and we sit in the backyard in the shade of an oak tree. Frederick find batteries for the bubble gun and blows bubbles on the babies.

"Whoops, let's not eat leaves, Cecilia! Dominic, no grass!"

Fred joins us for a while. We play and nurse outside. Rubbing eyes, sleepy babies back inside.

Babies down for a second nap. I successfully convinced MC and FC to have a 30 minute reinstated quiet time while babies nap. Set oven timer for 30 minutes. Ahh, blissful quiet. Clean lunch dishes, pull out corn bread mix.

Drat, 13 minutes into bliss and MC is at the kitchen door. I threaten  her with added quiet time; she pouts back to her room.

Back to muffins.

Crap. Baby babble from the other room. Maybe he will go back to sleep.

Muffins ready for oven but MC whining again.  Spend the last 5 minutes of quiet time explaining that she has to stay quiet in her room.  Timer sounds, quiet time over.  Different baby fussing. Maybe she'll go back to sleep, too...

Lucky break, Frederick is asleep! Baby room quiet.

MC wants to play a board game. Blech.  Little kid board games bore me to death.  Ahhh! Playing cards.  I'll teach her Spit.

Wonder if she'll ever pick this up.

Holy cow, little girl is getting sneakier with the cards! We are both having fun.

8 hands later, Eleanor is waking up.  Happy dance for nearly two hours of babies napping! 

Charlotte wants to play PBS KIDS and somehow I promise 20 minutes after she reads me 4 books. Bad news, three babies are now awake and nursing, and I just can't focus on helping her where she needs it.  Nevermind she can't seem to sit still and read at the same time.

Ensue tears. It's as if even though we just played eight hands of Spit I still haven't given her enough of my time today. It's having five small children who all still need me so much that is the hardest part. How can I ever give them enough?

Frederick up and hungry. I offer a light snack of strawberries.  Charlotte has a fit that I won't let her eat something more substantial an hour before dinner then goes back to melting down about the reading.

I finally tell her, as I start moving the corn muffins to the oven, tearfully chased by crawling Cecilia and scootching Dominic, that I just can't read with her anymore right now.

Eleanor screeches when she sees that her partners in crime have left her behind. I move everyone back to the foam mats in the TV room. Crap! I have forgotten to start the rice. Distract babies with new toys and hurry back to the kitchen.

Dominic is distraught that I've left and cries the most pitiful, hurt cry that you've ever heard a baby make.  He's perfected it. He happily rides my hip as I finish getting dinner together. Charlotte and Frederick build a fort around the girls with an old comforter. For a moment there is peace.

It's 5PM, the babies seem to tell time and all meltdown again. 

I wonder if Fred has finished work for the day. 

Downstairs he comes at last! He loads the babies into their highchairs and oversees Charlotte setting the table.  Dinner in no time flat! Red beans and rice with corn muffins. The all five kids scarf it down.

Let's go for a walk! 

It's almost pleasant for July in Houston. Eleanor falls asleep on my back as we round the corner on our way home. Slip her into her crib and cross my fingers.  Get the other two wiped down, fresh diapers, into PJs, nursed, and into bed without waking her up.

On to the big kids. Room cleanup in progress! Slow progress. 

Okay, good enough, shower time! Search for the new matching oversize shirts from Lola. Found them! 

Eleanor up.  Hand off big kids to Daddy and get Ellie ready for bed.  Why does she hate putting on pajamas so much? You'd think I'd pinched her! Maybe she fights it every night thinking that if she can only evade pajamas she won't have to go to bed.  Crazy 7 month old (until tomorrow)!

Nurse and snuggles for my youngest (my last?) child while Daddy reads to the oldest two about Red Clogs and a Japanese weather telling game.

Eleanor finally in bed, without a peep, without disturbing her infant siblings.  

The dining room cleaned already by Fred and a glimmer of order in a sea of chaos.

The kitchen still a mess.  

Toys all over the floor in the TV room. Laundry in the dryer pleading to be added to the pile already on the couch, begging to be folded. 

The crispy lawn yearns for water.

My day still unfinished.

5 Months Old

Okay, 5 months yesterday.  Not quite half a year. I can't believe it has already been that long!

I am terrible at posting, I know.  There are so many things I want to post about and so many hours in a day. 

I took them to the doctor last week for their 4 month check up.  Yes, I'm behind.  They are all doing well! Dominic weighed in at 15 lbs even, while Cecilia and Eleanor still come in as peanuts at 12 lbs and 12 lbs 10 oz respectively. The girls are on the growth chart, but only just barely. They are my smallest babies by far, but I love it!

Charlotte continues to be the best big sister ever.  She loves those babies so much! And is a great help to me when I need it. Charlotte loves to sing to them and make them laugh.  I have to use my tickle fingers to get giggles from any of them, but they love to laugh at their sisters silly antics. 

At five months old they can all roll from front to back and back to front. Last to roll front to back, Dominic surprised me by rolling from back to front first and proceeded to do it almost compulsively, which would be fine except he still hated being on his stomach. This meant that for about a week I couldn't just put him down anywhere and step away for a few moments because he'd end up freaking out on his stomach.

Okay, and this post comes quickly to an end as it is now 8:40 and my brain is tired and mush. 

Happy Easter from the Sanchez Seven

We made it to 8 am mass with 5 kids. Take note, as it may never happen again. And yet, surprisingly, we arrived on time without any stress. And got called out by the retired priest who saw us just before Mass began, so I figured that the fussy babies at the end were not minded in the least.

Jesus Christ is risen today! Alleluia!

And now to get fat on some chocolate bunnies.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Okay. So there was no game, but we did get to go to the ballpark and had a wonderful time. Sweet babies and all. This is the whole crew in the dugout. :)

Good Morning!

I love Wednesdays - big kids go to school/MDO and I get to focus on these lovelies :)

Edited to add that Eleanor rolled over from front to back the same day as this post, shortly followed by Cecilia.

3 Months Old

Three months gone. Three months in and I feel a bit human again.  We can finally count on some order to our nights and days, at least some of the time.  With the emergence of an actual bedtime, at least there are a few minutes in every day that I can now reliably count as mine.  Now, what can a person get done in a few minutes? Not much. Spend a little time with Fred, make lunches, look up lesson plans for the week, watch an episode of a favorite TV show. Edit photos. Order things we need online. 

Blogging? Well, I think about blogging and the things I'd like to write and the memories I'd like to capture here. But actually blogging requires uploaded photos and a little free time.  But, may I present, to overload your capacity for cuteness, then and now photos of our three miracles.

Newborn loves

12 weeks old - Eleanor, Dominic, Cecilia

They are growing, too! The bows on the girls' heads were falling off in the top photo and are borderline too tight in the bottom one. (I love them and think I need to buy something similar in a larger size!) From leaving the hospital at around or less than 5 lbs, they have all doubled birth-weight. Cecilia claims the roll of family peanut and weighs (from this AM on our home baby scale) 10 lbs 12.5 oz, Eleanor 11 lbs 1 oz, and Dominic 13 lbs 8 oz.  Yes, Dominic has gained almost exactly 8 lbs since birth!

My first two babies gained weight like crazy, so these little weights seem like nothing when both Charlotte and Frederick weighed at least 15 lbs by 3 months old, and yet, I love it. I love having my little Cecilia fit so lightly in my arms, savoring her tininess as long as I can.

Though they were "term" babies, they still fall a few weeks behind developmentally than Charlotte and Frederick at the same age.  Yet they are smiling, cooing, batting at toys, holding their heads well, and trying to roll over. The smiles and the coos really make living with three small babies much more enjoyable! They even recently started cooing and smiling at each other. I can't wait to see how they continue to interact with each other as they grow.

Charlotte loves the babies so much she wants me to have twins next. Oh my!

Frederick loves the babies, but gives me a hard time about having my hands full with them all of the time.  In fact, they are full all of the time.  On the days when the big kids stay home with me, I there are no moments for myself.  The moment the babies fall asleep at the same time, I must shift my focus to whatever precious time I have with Charlotte and Frederick. I hate that I can't spend as much time with them as I used to.

And yet I love the days when they are out of the house.  Care of three babies, JUST THREE BABIES is so much easier than tending to all five.  Never in my life did I think that taking care of just triplets would be something I'd consider one of my easier tasks. I love the moments when I can focus on the babies, take pictures of them like above, talk to them and carry them about the house without having to tend to anyone else. The hardest part of having five children, five very young children, is feeling like there is not enough of me to go around. And yet, one day they won't need me so much and that too will be a sad day!

So, I am sure this has rounded out to being a pretty boring post, despite me always feeling as though I have something to write about.  Maybe more short posts as I feel more and more human. :-)

What Might Have Been But I am Glad Isn't

The photo below is what might have been if our pregnancy had met our original plan to  have one more baby. This is what I imagined when I first saw the pink lines on a pregnancy test last March. This would have been Frederick's 3rd birthday picture - me with my three children.  

Instead the photo looks empty.  There are people missing.  Two important little people who I cannot imagine my life without.  This is the photo that would have happened had the fertilized egg not split*, that would have happened had not a second egg matured. It's a life I can no longer imagine.

Don't get me wrong, I do LOVE this photo.  I mean, who doesn't love having her face painted by a 3 year old and wearing a glittery abstract on her face all day and having a photo to prove it? I love the happy faces and celebrating Frederick, my three year old.

What if God had only given me the things I'd asked for in life? Its sad to think about the love we would have missed out on without ever knowing.

*I haven't done a DNA test on the girls, so they may or may not be the product of a fertilized egg split and be identical :-).

The Arrival of C, D, & E - A Birth Story

Two months late, here is the story of how I went from this:

5AM on November 2nd 

to this:

2 PM on November 2nd

 in just 9 hours.

After no contractions for a week, Thursday night before Friday's scheduled induction I had a string of contractions. I called the hospital to see what time they wanted me to arrive the next morning, and the charge nurse told me there were no beds.  I warned her that I might end up coming in anyway, but that didn't seem to scare her. Sleep suddenly seemed like a better idea than timing contractions, so I went to bed to wait for someone from the day shift to call me.

Just before 5 AM I decided I'd had all I could take of trying to get comfortable and sleep so I heaved my body out of bed and settled into the glider. Within minutes the phone rang. It was the L&D charge nurse asking how long it would take us to get there.  We were on our way!

We got to the hospital just after 6 am and settled in. After waiting forever, my doctor finally came in to see me just after 9 AM. Apparently the hospital director found out a 37 week triplet pregnancy walked in for an induction and my OB had to jump through some hoops to get us cleared.

So at 9:03 she said I was 4 cm, broke baby A's water, and placed a scalp monitor so there would be one less baby to worry about tracking. At around 9:45 or so we started pitocin, and just before 11 I remember complaining that things were not picking up at all (I was busy sending text messages). But then things started moving quickly!

Suddenly I was breathing through painful contractions and couldn't stand the chit-chat going on around me. Since my doctor recommend an epidural as soon as I became uncomfortable, I asked for one. Fred, my mom, and sister (did I mention they arrived just before the contractions?) left the room. The epidural placement was more uncomfortable than I remembered, but it's effects were wonderful - minus the all-over everywhere itching. Fred came back in from grabbing lunch just as the epidural took full effect.

Baby C's heart rate suddenly plummeted and everyone moved quickly to get me on oxygen to bring it back up. The resident said I was at a 9 and +2, Fred dressed in his OR garb, my doctor appeared and in the blink of an eye we hurried off to the OR - four floors down instead of the usual L&D OR.

Just before delivery. Look at that belly!

Downstairs was crazy and busy! I was pretty focused on getting the babies out, but Fred counted more than 20 people, including 5 doctors. My MFM was on the ultrasound machine and my OB was to deliver the babies.

Baby A, Cecilia Anne, came out screaming with a couple of pushes at 1:14. The doctor then had to decide on breaking baby B or baby C's water. Baby C won and thus became baby B :). Dominic Conol followed 9 minutes later with the cord around his neck, but still screaming, at 1:23. Baby girl C then decided she liked all of her new found space and decided to stay put and needed a little assistance coming down. Eleanor Elizabeth arrived at 1:41 and needed a little suction to get breathing. I finally cried and said a little prayer of thanksgiving to have all three safely out. Somehow I survived delivering triplets without needing a single stitch, woohoo!

Cecilia (left) and Dominic (right), just minutes old.

Cecilia (left) and Dominic (right) with Daddy in the OR.

I am beyond thrilled and thankful to have carried these babies to term and deliver them vaginally. It was physically one of the most (if not the most) draining things I've ever done. I wanted to go to sleep right in the OR! Quite the contrast from bounding out of bed shortly after both Charlotte and Frederick's births.

All three came back to the room with us, despite having low blood sugar. Cecilia spent 48 hours in the NICU because she quit breathing when taking a supplemental (to combat the low blood sugar) bottle.

We enjoyed many visitors in our hospital suite.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the energy to take photos until Sunday after Miss Cecilia left us for the NICU, so these are of Eleanor and Dominic meeting some very special people for the first time.

This Big Sister went straight to work holding baby Dominic.

Charlotte and Frederick with the baby.  The time it took to capture this photo also captures Frederick's initial interest in the babies.

Lola holding baby Dominic.

Couldn't resist this face.

What 18 years of bondage looks like...

By Sunday evening, two days after delivery, we were ready to come home with these two.

Eleanor and Dominic ready for their first car ride.

I cried a bucket of tears over leaving the hospital without Cecilia, but she was home with us 18 hours later - just 72 hours after her birth.

Cecilia's homecoming on a sunny November afternoon.

I still look at all three babies and can't believe every negative statistic we overcame to have them here at home with me and healthy! They are truly miracles, and I am so thankful for all of the thoughts, prayers, well wishes, child care, meals, and love that carried us to this beautiful, exhausting, life with our three new loves.  God is so good!

He's going to be THREE, folks!

Today, as we were headed out to a party, Frederick peeked into the back of the Odyssey and saw his much wished for birthday present-a motorized Thomas the Train and track- and he went bananas with excitement. I tried to explain to him that it was for his birthday, and he couldn't have it yet, as his birthday is Friday, but that resulted in tears. Poor baby! So, when we arrived at our friends' house, I agreed to let him open it and set it up and play with it as long as he agreed to share. It took forever to set up, but he was so happy.

And, for the rest of the day he has proclaimed, "Now I am free (3)! Mommy, I am 3 free! Char-yett, I am free!"

I didn't have the heart to tell him it's still three days till his birthday so, 3 it is, big man.

Ready for church!

Eleanor thinks Cecilia should have milk in her elbow. Poor girl was quite mad when she didn't get any!