Well, the babies have been home now for six, maybe seven weeks. None of us are getting much sleep. Understandably, I think. Many things have become fuzzy. Like the passage of time.
A reporter came to our house and wrote a wonderful article about the babies, titled "Triplets Born with Rare Condition Defy the Odds". You can find it on Yahoo Buzz on the following link. If you have a yahoo account, please go there and vote (buzz) for it. I'd love to see it move up the popularity list!
If you go this next link, you will see the exact same story, but it has pictures of the boys as well (one at the top of the article, and a closeup of the boys towards the bottom):
And, of course, the obligatory picture from home:
There is no lack of love for the babies, but I easily get frustrated with Dave these days. I'm sure the lack of sleep plays into it. I often get only 2-4 hours of sleep each night. Dave routinely gets 7-12, then complains that he feels too tired to do anything. Playing 20 questions with him (because of his aphasia) has not been fun for a very, very long time. He stays up until 7AM before waking me up for my shift with the boys. He thinks of it as doing me a favor - trying to let me sleep more. What he just doesn't get, no matter how many times I try to explain this to him, is that I need two people awake during "normal business hours" so I can try to spend a few hours each day working on the business - making phone calls, paying bills - without attempting to watch four kids at the same time. If I can just get him to stop waking me up every time one of the babies smiles after 8PM, I can sleep earlier in the evening, he can be in bed by 2AM, and we can get everything done that we need to get done....
Oh, and he is back to watching TV while holding a baby in his lap. I lost track of the number of times the baby had a bottle in his mouth, but was not actually eating. Dave calls it his "bonding time" with the kids. I see it as an excuse to watch TV - he isn't really paying attention to the kids. I wish he would do something like feed the kids, and spend the free time washing and folding clothes. Something useful. (He could even do that in front of the TV - but then it would not be fun!)
Unfortunately, I feel like I am back to beating my head against the wall. It has become easier to give him the silent treatment, ignore what he does, then to explain over, and over, and over again why I would like clean underwear, why he needs to go to bed earlier, why the boys need to sleep at least part of the day with the light off and in their own bed. He has asked me why I have stopped telling him that I love him. It is hard to feel that, when I feel I am taking care of 5 kids - a set of newborn triplets, a 3 year old, and a 44 year old stroke patient.
Then, to top everything off, my mom is in the hospital right now for surgery on her ankle. My parents have been living with us since Dave had his stroke, and have pretty much been running the business for me through my pregnancy and these first few months with the boys. With my mom laid up (which she will be for many weeks while she recovers), my dad will be at her side. So, time has suddenly become much tighter, things have become more stressed.
Well, I think I will end this post here. I seem to have run the full gamut of emotions. Gotta save something for next time!
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