Grandma is here!!

Daddi (aka Grandma Gera) arrived today and the little ones are thrilled to meet her. It's very helpful having her around and we are so happy that she'll be with us for a couple of weeks...maybe Geeta and I can sneak away from for coffee this weekend ;)

Only hours after Grandma arrived, she has already partaken in feeding, and diaper changes...hopefully her energy will last!!

Three unique personalities

One of the most interesting discovery's of being a new parent of triplets is how distinct Jaiden, Kailen, and Ariya's personality's are. Who knew that our little babies would have such apparent persona's?

Jaiden is our little feisty guy, sometimes referred to as our 'little terror'. He's a small guy with a big bark and tends to get what he wants first because mommy and daddy don't want to deal with his wrath! He also has this charisma to him; this cute little face that is used strategically to melt mommy and daddy heart at will ...we expect very naught things from Jaiden as he gets older!!

Kailen is our friendly giant. He's a whole lot bigger than his siblings but he's calm and tranquil...Geeta thinks that he is more like me....more serious in nature. He loves to sleep, like a big bear going into hibernation. He rarely voices his opinion and kind of just goes with the flow. He's tolerant of his feisty brother, and gentle with baby sister Ariya.

Ariya is a little princess. She looks small and fragile, but she's strong willed. She sticks her tongue out all the time almost like she is trying to taste the world. You can almost feel that she will be the one that wants to explore the world and taste all that it has to offer. Her little face, her big lips, her big eyes, and defined nose make her quite different looking than her two brothers...and she's got a quite a distinct personality to match.

Daddi (aka Grandma Gera) arrives tomorrow from London, England. Geeta and I are looking forward to her visit and are eagerly looking forward to having some additional help around the home. The last week has been extremely busy and has take a toll on us, especially on Geeta. They say the first few months are the toughest so hopefully things will get easier in good time.

1 week at home!

Time flies with the kids at home and life has definitively changed drastically. We got through the first week fairly well and much better on nights when our nanny was here. It's pretty tough to get through the day and night on our own - sleep becomes a rare commodity!

Last night Geeta and I had to do 3 sets of feeds/changes for all three angels...not fun in the middle of the night when your eyes are having trouble opening! What was funny was that by morning all three babies were sleeping between us in our bed. They seem to sleep so much better when beside us and it seems to make the night time much easier on us.

This week the babies had their first doctor's appointment. Things are well although Geeta quickly discovered that the triplets are attention grabbers and it's hard to go out in public without being stopped ;( The little ship (i.e. triplet stroller) turns quite a few heads! Interesting enough, Geeta and I have seen two other moms using them in our neighborhood. The babies are growing really well. Kailen is about 6.5 lbs now, Jaiden is over 5 lbs, and Ariya is about 5 lbs. All babies have also grown 2 inches taller since birth.

Day 4 and Daddy The Gruffalo?

Totally off topic but I had to put this in ....we were doing a video chat earlier today via skype with Geeta's sister in London, England and I came to learn that my little nephew Adrian refers to the 'Gruffalo' (character in a popular children's book) as 'Sacha'. Isn't that hilarious...i guess he sees me as a hairy beast - LOL! I wonder if Jaiden, Kailen, and Ariya will do the same? See picture of the 'Gruffalo' below.

The first 4 days at home have been an adventure. Geeta is pulling double duty and I'm having to constantly juggle work and baby stuff. It would have been really nice and amazing to have paternity leave ;( Luckily, I've been able to work from home all week which has been nice.

The babies love sleeping together - you can tell that they are remembering what life was like in mommy's womb. You almost get a sense that they find comfort in being around each other. The brothers especially love sleeping side by side (some pics below).

Jaiden and Kailen - two brothers

Day 1 at Home

Geeta is a machine....she doesn't get much sleep anymore and literally has to sneak in cat naps whenever she can. Our first night went relatively well since our nanny was here and was able to handle all three throughout the night hours which allowed daddy to get some sleep for a busy day at work. Mommy got to sleep enough to function throughout the day and is getting used to running on fumes. Our little ones have their first doctor's appointment tomorrow with their pediatrician. It will be quite the adventure for Geeta to take them out for the first time but luckily Sarah (our nanny) will be there to help.

Getting through a day with our little angels takes a lot of work, patience, and organization but every hour of sleeplessness and tiredness is worth it. The funny part is that taking care of the little ones reminds me a lot of my MBA Operations course...getting through a day in the life of a triplet parent is like running an effective supply chain: you have to make 'just in time' delivery work by getting the laundry, milk, diaper supplies, baby equipment, and of course dinner all done at just the right times. You also have to figure out what the bottlenecks are (i.e. 'the herbies') so that we can remove them and gain efficiency (i.e. sleep time and minute or two to check email, write blogs, surf FB, and of course call family and friends ;) ).

One thing is for sure - they are so precious and all the day's stresses seem to melt away when we hold them. Becoming a parent is one of the most incredible things one will ever go through in life and it's amazing how quickly a bond forms between parent and child. It's like overnight these other little people come into existence any you'd be willing to give up anything for them just to make sure they are okay.

A video of our three angels taking a nap together at home.

They Are Home!!!

After 32 days in the NICU at Mount Sinai Hospital in downtown Toronto, our little angels are home with mommy and daddy today. We are so excited to bring them home and are so thankful for having three healthy babies that have all fought their own battles to progress from tiny premature babies to self-sufficient beings. We are thankful to all the staff at Mount Sinai Hospital for everything they’ve done for them over the last month, as well as to all our family and friends that have supported us through this adventure – we couldn’t have done it without you!

Geeta and I can now offically join the new-parents club with having experienced our first sleepless night…..getting up to feed, change, burp, and comfort the babies every three hours is quite the feat considering that there are only two of us and three of them! We’ve tried to stagger their feeding schedules about 15-30 mins apart so that we can get through all of them without making one wait his/her turn. Our nanny, Sarah, has also started now and we are relieved that she will be around to help out. The next 3 -4 months will be quite the difficult ones because these are the months where they don’t sleep through the night. Geeta and I will be quite the zombies for some time so please bear with us if you don’t hear from us for a while!

Many of you have asked if you could come over and visit them…..Geeta and I can’t wait to have guests however given that Kailen, Jaiden, and Ariya are preemies we are under strict instructions from the hospital to limit visitors in the short term. Until April 10th (their original due date) we will be holding off on any visitors and thereafter we would be happy to have guests come over and meet the little ones (assuming you have no symptoms of illness :) ). We will be limiting visitation from children (i.e. kids under 10 years of age) until after June 10th when our little guys have gotten their vaccinations and their lungs have developed further. Premature children are highly susceptible to lung infections and more specifically a virus called RSV (a virus that is more prominent than H1N1 for small children at present and masks itself as a minor cold in adults and especially young children). Given their susceptibility to illness, we will have to be very careful for a few months so we hope you’ll understand if we’re being super-paranoid ;)

Some pictures and videos from the last couple of days and their trip home from the hospital.

Babies coming home...soon!!!!

Yesterday, the nurses surprised Geeta and told her that they wanted us to stay the night Wednesday and Thursday at the hospital and take the babies home Friday. We were caught off guard since we had planned for at least a few more days to get the house in order, to get some advance cooking and groceries done etc etc. Geeta was able to negotiate a couple of extra days for us and she has been home busily getting things in order. We'll be camping out at the hospital on Friday and Saturday and likely bringing home the babies on Sunday!! We can't wait to bring our little ones home...such an exciting feeling after a very long month in and out of the hospital on a daily basis. We are nervous (at least i am) and excited at the same time.

The three babies passed their car seat test today so as long as mommy and daddy can handle the babies ourselves at the hospital on Friday and Saturday we should be good to go. Our van (i.e. big ship) is all ready to go with three car seat bases installed by the Toronto Police Department. Keep you posted on how things go this weekend.

On a side note - It's funny how nature works sometimes. Geeta and I have had this ugly looking plant in our home for over ten years - from the days of when we were dating through to the present day. We have taken it from home to home over the years and in the back of our heads we always questioned why we kept such a nasty looking thing. The damn thing has not grown an inch in 10 years! ...then all of a sudden.....this week it decides to grow a nasty-ass flower for the first time ever (see below)....just in time for the arrival of our little ones at home. What a sweet present :) Who knew that this plant was even capable of flowering??

Thank you Mr. Ugly Plant. We will now keep you for another 10 years and hopefully you will give us another flower the week before the kids leave to attend university :)

One Month Old....pretty much ;)

The babies are almost one month old! Well...this Thursday actually.

Some good news to report - Princess Ariya has lost her feeding tube! We thought she would be the last to lose it but she is first ;) She now feeds via nursing or the bottle. Her two brothers are close behind and we are hopeful in a few days that they will lose their feeding tube too. All of the babies are becoming less dependant on the tube - as a result all three have experienced a slight drop in weight over the last couple of days which is normal when they make the transition.

The doctors think we are getting close to bringing them home! If all goes well, Geeta and I will be spending the weekend at the hospital (overnight) and put to the test as parents - i.e. to see how we cope with handling all three at night and whether they are ready to be cared for exclusively by their parents (i.e. without the nurses). We are anxiously waiting for them to come home. They also need to pass the car seat test (i.e. sit in a car seat for 1.5 hrs without crying or having disruptions to their breathing). The best case scenario is that they will be home early next week. We are crossing our fingers.

Below are some pics from earlier today. Grandma Gera (aka 'Daddi' in hindi) wanted some facial close-ups ...so here they are. We are awaiting her arrival in a couple of weeks from London, England.

Thank you to Grandma Uppal (aka 'Nanni') for helping us over the last month. We couldn't have done it without all your help around the house and we hope you'll be back from Ottawa soon!

On another note, the kids met their Grandpa Uppal (aka 'Nanna' in hindi) for the first time last weekend - pic below.

Jaiden Jaan

Kailen Ishaan

Ariya Bella -->No Feeding Tube!!
Nanna holding Jaiden for the first time

3.5 weeks ...

The kids are doing really well. It's really nice to see all the progress over the last 3.5 weeks; we've seen our kids progress from from being fragile, tiny, and being dependent on their incubators to being self-sufficient little munchkins that are much more capable. They are getting cuter by the day and their little faces almost seem to change daily.

What's new?... The kids are now all feeding off bottles although it's quite apparent that Kailen and Jaiden are much more flexible with the bottle than little Ariya. Ariya definitely has a preference for the real deal (i.e. mommy). She almost despises the bottle! If all goes well, we are hopeful that all three will lose their feeding tube (i.e. the tube that runs via their nose to their stomach) by next week. Kailen is about 5.5 lbs and is packing on the weight. Jaiden and Ariya are about 4.5 lbs are steadily growing.

Kailen could be the first to come home some time during the next two weeks if he becomes a bit more comfortable with the bottle. He is so patient and calm, and just loves to sleep a lot. We sometimes have to push him a bit with the bottles because he tends to fall asleep a lot after taking a few gulps of milk...the trick with him is to make him a bit colder...take some of his layers of clothes off and not snuggle him so much!

Ariya hasn't had anymore spells over the last couple of weeks, and is off the caffeine. She feels like the most fragile out of three for some reason....and we tend to worry about her a bit more. She is so sweet and patient, and she rarely complains or cries. It looks like she will be the last to come home given the extra monitoring that the hospital has to do following her spells. She is so precious and calm just like her older brother Kailen.

Jaiden is becoming feistier by the day. He is vocal when it comes to displaying his frustration and he is definitely the screamer out of three....I keep telling him to be more patient...but he doesn't listen to me ;) We are so happy with Jaiden's progress...he was born the smallest but we probably worry the least about him of the three. He is a strong boy with the sweetest cry. Honestly, Geeta and I love it when he cries...it's like music. He also has a number of different cries...and we are learning slowly what they all mean.

What else is new...? The babies just love to fart - they have had a lot of gas lately and it may be a product of grandma's home cooking - LOL! ...the nurses joke about how stinky our kids are ;)

Day 19...

I'm back to work and starting to work longer hours already...it's really tough being away from the little ones all day. I didn't get to see them on Monday, so I made an effort to get off of work early to meet Geeta in the hospital today. It's amazing how quickly they are growing up - they are getting bigger by the day! People at work keep asking me...'it must be so busy for your guys'...but the truth is that for both of us taking care of our kids doesn't feel like work at all. It is such an amazing feeling to be parents.

What's new?

All three kids are out of the incubators now and into cots. Another big win for the little ones! The nurses will try feeding them with the bottle this week and hopefully we can get rid of their feeding tube soon! The babies are also growing really quickly now and putting on the weight (see graphs below)

Three babies - Three cots!

Baby Kailen - Our Calm Little Boy

Princess Ariya

Feisty Jaiden - who is getting pretty vocal all of a sudden!

Projectile Poop'ing

The days are getting longer for Geeta at the hospital as she is starting a more rigorous feeding schedule. Soon, she will be spending 14 hours a day at the hospital with set times for feeding, diaper changes, skin to skin time, and pumping - it will definitely be a challenge for her to keep up but for those of you that know Geeta well you know how organized and timely she is....and of course you know she is doing it with enthusiasm and a big smile on her face. She was definately meant to be a mum of triplets - no doubt about it and I don't how she does it.

Daddy has been getting a bit of break lately trying to finish off a few other tasks before work starts up again. Work starts on Monday for me and I'm not looking forward to all the long hours starting up again! The last two weeks have been a great opportunity for me to spend time with the kids and to get a little time to recuperate - I didn't realize how burnt out I was. Unfortunately, with work starting up and with additional baby duties on the horizon my frequency in posting blogs will diminish to perhaps once weekly but I will do my best to document their progress.

What's new with the kids?

Well, some friends of ours (who recently had twins) told us that we would learn all about 'projectile poop'ing' in good time. We didn't really understand what that was until the last couple of days!...in essence it's pretty nasty stuff that comes out at the wrong time during a diaper change in a projectile fashion ;) The funny part is that it always seems to happen to Geeta when she is changing diapers..she always tends to get pee'd or poo'd on - LOL! Daddy is running a clean record so far (maybe because I change them less often :) ).

In other news, Kailen passed his hearing test today - woohoo!

Some recent videos and pics:

Ariya

Jaiden

Some of Kailen

Some Videos of Jaiden and Kailen - I didn't get a chance to take any of Ariya yesterday (yes - I'm feeling guilty for not being fair)

Happy two week birthday!

It's hard to believe how fast the last two weeks have passed! We've seen a lot of progress over the last 14 days and are so blessed to have three healthy babies that continue to grow by the day. All three babies are doing well. We were a bit concerned with Ariya over the last few days, so Geeta has been doing more skin to skin and breastfeeding with her. That seemed to work wonders for Jaiden and we are starting to see the same results with our little girl - she gained about 70g overnight which is a really good weight gain. It's amazing what more one on one time with mommy can do for a child; truly nature working its magic!

All three babies have now surpassed their birth weight with Kailen measuring about 4.5 lbs, Ariya and Jaiden at about 4 lbs. Below are some recent pics from a couple days ago - perhaps you can notice some of the weight gain on their faces?

Geeta spent all day at the hospital today while I worked to finish off our taxes. I know that once work starts up again and once the kids come home it will be very difficult to get stuff like taxes done.

Kailen sleeping on his belly

Jaiden sleeping on his belly

Ariya sleeping with her hand on her face just like she used to do during the ultrasounds

Kailen getting some one on one with mommy

Two brothers side by side (from last week)

Ariya dancing in her sleep (from a couple of days ago)

Day 12...

Today was a short visit to the hospital - Geeta and I visited the little ones for a short while in the morning and then we decided to take a little bit of a break to catch up on a few things. Mommy caught up on some well-deserved sleep and got a few errands out of the way, while daddy got in a little exercise after a really long time (i went skating and slapped a few pucks for the first time this year!! ...I felt inspired by Team Canada's Double Gold in Men's/Women's Hockey!!). We also worked on registering the little ones' birth certificates, SIN cards, applying for child tax benefits, researching their RESPs, and getting a head start on our 2009 taxes...yes -all the fun stuff you get to do when you have kids. The nice part of the day was that we went to see Avatar in IMAX 3D - was amazing! Now Geeta knows why I want to be a 'blue man'. We are both really missing our little guys and gal and will be back first thing tomorrow morning to see them.

Some great news from today's visit to the hospital - Kailen is out of his isolate and into a cot (i.e. he is out of his box or cage as we like to call it, and into a miniature crib). Way to go Kailen! Now we are waiting for Jaiden and Ariya to follow suit.

Picture Below: Kailen in his cot dressed very warmly to help him get used to the 'colder' room temperature (relative to his isolate)

Day 11...

I thought I'd write this one from the hospital - Geeta and I have been here since the morning and 3pm is usually a good break time between their feeding and change schedules. We definitely have a good grasp on their schedules now and I think we have a decent feel of what life will be like when we get home. In essence everything needs to work like clockworks and any deviation to the schedule can throw a real curve ball into a pleasant day in parenthood.

As much as it has been tough to wait for our little ones to come home, it has also allowed us both to spend some quality time with them. I'm lucky enough to have another week off and I'm really looking forward to spending as much time as I can with them.

After 11 days in the NICU, things have become more and more familiar to us. We are at a point where we understand the babies' schedule and don't have to ask the nurses whether it's okay to hold and cuddle our kids. We have also gotten used to the sights and sounds of all the other little ones: behind Jaiden is a little baby that reminds of 'cookie monster' and on the other far side of the room is the 'pavorotti' baby; a baby that sounds like he is singing the opera on a mic when he cries. Our little ones don't cry a lot yet, but sure like to sleep a lot.

In terms of how everyone is doing - mommy continues to heal up but is still in a bit of pain. Jaiden is on a growth spurt while Kailen has been growing slow and steadily. We've been a bit more concerned about Ariya lately; her weight gain has been slower and she continues to have the occasional 'spell'. The doctor has put her on some caffeine to help counter the 'spells' and we are hopeful they will subside, nevertheless mommy and daddy are a bit worried. Apparently, the brain development in weeks 35 and 36 are helpful in regulating the body's operations and hopefully a little time and development will solve the issue.

Kailen

Jaiden

Ariya
Thia Ji (Uncle in hindi) --> Uncle Sumit (Sacha's Brother)