It's all fun and games until.....

Your husband, partner in crime and taker of the late, late shift goes back to work.

The schedule was working so perfectly! We'd split the nights in half so that each of us was getting about 7 hours of sleep per night. During the day we were both here, side by side, caring for the crew.

And then he went back to work....

Sunday evening, in anticipation of my taking over the night feedings, I decided to move the babies from the basement up to our bedroom. Since I'd be the one getting up with them through the night I figured that it would be better if in between feedings I could sleep in my own bed instead of on the basement couch. Chris offered to do the 5 o clock feeding before leaving for work. A last minute decision to see how long the babies could sleep after the 11 p.m. feeding was also made after consulting my triplet mommy friends (rather than waking them to eat at 2 a.m.). They all said, "Absolutely let them sleep and when they wake, feed them all".

Super.

I feed them all at 11:00, swaddled them, lulled them to sleep and crawled into bed next to Chris. I was so excited that I texted my mom to share the great news that they were all asleep and who knew, maybe they'd even sleep until around 3:00 a.m! How great would that be?!

No sooner had I laid my head on the pillow than I heard what can only be described as an explosion. Soon enough it was very clear who needed the diaper change and upon further inspection also needed a quick bath. It was intense. By the time he was cleaned up, settled and back in bed, another started crying and needed a diaper change. Then another. Long story short, someone was ALWAYS up- the WHOLE night. At one point I found myself "sleeping" while hanging off the back of the bed and rocking Everett in his bassinet while rocking Finn's bassinet with my foot, and praying for just 20 minutes of solid sleep. The whole time I was thinking, "This is insane!"

Thank God my parents are here because as soon as they got up, I immediately went back to bed. Clearly the babies are not quick ready to be upstairs so back to the basement they went. Until they're each sleeping for longer periods at the same time, there is no sense in everybody being up all night.

Gramma taking us for a walk so mommy can rest

Last night my incredible mother offered to do the 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. feedings and then wake us after that. However, she didn't wake us until 5:30 a.m.!! What a treat! By the way, I never thought that getting to sleep until 5:30 a.m. would be a "treat". Chris had gone to bed earlier the night before so he got up and did the 5:30 feeding and then woke me on his way out the door to work. We both felt like a million bucks after getting a good night's sleep. Thank you mom!!!!

I'm not sure what we'll do tonight, or the next.... or the next.... but I pray these babies start sleeping for longer periods AT THE SAME TIME. That's the key boys- the SAME TIME!

*** I wrote this on monday after a long night of no sleep and then didn't have a chance to click 'publish' until now. haha. I'm not nearly as overwhelmed as I was when I wrote this, but I still had to post it. Gotta remember these good times! I'm learning that so much of figuring out what will work is trial and error- and asking other moms with triplets what's worked for them!