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 :)