Tag Archives: feeding

We’re Learning

The triplets and I have been learning a lot these past few days!

On Tuesday evening we tried cereal for the first time.  More came out than in that’s for sure!  Logan didn’t last too long either.  You can see in the video below when he starts to freak out.  It’s a lot to do all at once!  But the triplets and I are learning and we’ll get the new feeding thing down.  Or at least I hope we do!

Just yesterday, I found that Logan and Owen can sit up … sort of.  We need to do a few sit ups to tighten up their abs.  Not only are they learning how to sit up, from this video I learned that I should NOT be a video commentary.  Please excuse my nonsensical mommy talk.  It’s a little peak at what it’s like when it’s just me and the boys.  I never knew I talked that fast.  Is that normal?

In addition to the mom thing — I’ve volunteered to help with Teacher Appreciation week at Jaden’s school.  I haven’t helped with anything this year and I was feeling guilty.  (I mean come on — being very pregnant is NOT a reason haha)  So I thought, what the heck — it’s just collecting some gifts and assembling them into baskets.  It would be something I could do in the convenience in my own home, at whatever hour I found time.  Easy, right?  Ugh wrong!  Like every thing in my life (or so it seems) it’s gotten a little crazy!

We’ve been blessed with generous gifts from fellow parents, however in the form of cash.  That means I’ve got to go shopping.  Whoops, didn’t plan on that one!  It’s also meant drafting reminder notes to be sent home with kids.  Another whoops!  We got this great idea to send home a worksheet with the kids to have them fill out.  We would then create a book for each teacher as a thank you.  Holy cats did that one blow up in my face!!

The first wrong move was that we wanted to include the paraprofessionals.  Since mom is one at Summit View, I know how much being included in ‘teacher’ things means.  But what I wasn’t planning on was that each para helps multiple teachers.  And sometimes, they help a different teacher in the morning than in the afternoon.  How on earth were we going to do that one?

I tried to be good and get another mom help out.  I used my new Zumba class as an excuse.  ”I would do it, but I’ve got Zumba tonight ….”  I tried!  Tried is the key word there.  BUT when I heard that the other mom I was working with was had to show her home for the first time the next day, my heart-strings pulled.  I found myself putting labels on worksheets with her until 10pm last night.  We got it done tho!  But I lost out on time with Doug and putting Jaden to bed, and a feeding and (very important) watching American Idol.

Along with the triplets, I’m learning too.  I’m learning my limits.  I need to do things that make me happy and keep me sane.  But with my babies, I need to be realistic on what I get involved with.  If I get in over my head, it becomes work, rather than a relief.  So while volunteering and giving is a love of mine, I need to keep it in gear and not get in over my head.  It’s just sad because I’m really good at saying yes!

Love, Mel

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Filed under Milestones, Posted by Melissa, Triplets

A Day in the Life

When talking with Doug tonight he made a comment that he thinks I spend 8 hours a day on the computer. HA! Yeah right!  But it made me realize that unless you live it, you probably don’t know what a day in the life of Melissa is like.  So I thought I’d do my best to give some insight on what goes on in the Bissing household all day.

*****

6:00 am — wake up, use the bathroom (otherwise you’ll have to wait until 9am!), make coffee, start warming up bottles and changing diapers

6:15 -7:15 am — feed babies while directing Jaden to eat breakfast and get dressed

7:15 – 7:45 am — pump

7:45 – 8:00 am — quick shower and get dressed

8:00-8:15 am — get Jaden dressed for the bus stop (snow pants, coat, hat mittens, backpack)

8:15 am — leave for the bus stop

8:23 am — bus picks up Jaden

8:25 am — back in the house

8:25 – 9:00 am — empty clean dishwasher, load bottles from night feedings, check email and blow dry hair

9:00 – 10:15 am — feeding again!

10:15 – 11:00 am — free time!  I fold clothes, read a book, clean up the kitchen, craft or more dishes – any of these is usually accompanied by a mid morning snack

11:00 – 11:30 am — pumping

11:30 – 11:45 am — load bottles from last two feedings in the dishwasher

11:45 – 11:55 am — leave for the bus stop and get the mail

11:55 am – 12:30 pm — make Jaden lunch and make sure he eats it.  I usually sit a the table with him and get the low down on his morning at school

12:30 – 12:50 pm — clean up lunch and hang with Jaden for a little bit

12:50 pm — Mom calls to check in for the day and let me know she’s on her way over!

1:00 – 2:00 pm — feeding time again,  Jaden grabs a blankie and cuddles up on the couch.  We usually watch Tom and Jerry cartoons.  Mom arrives at about 1:15-1:30 and jumps in to help with the feedings

2:00 – 4:00 pm — hang out time.  We do any of the following but usually only one of the following: bath time, laundry, play Nintendo/Wii, I run errands, doc appointments or on a rare occasion I sneak in a nap

4:00 – 5:00 pm — feeding time again

5:00 – 5:30 pm — I decide what I’m going to make for dinner and get Jaden started on his meal

5:30 pm — Doug gets home

5:30 – 6:00 pm — Doug gets settled from work, I finish dinner and Doug & I eat

6:00 – 7:00 pm — Jaden takes a shower/bath and gets his lotion on

7:00 – 7:30 pm — I brush Jaden’s teeth and we read two stories in his recliner chair in his room (same one I rocked him in when he was a baby!)

7:30 – 8:30 pm — chase Jaden back to bed while trying to feed the babies.  Doug and I have our shows playing in the background too

8:30 – 11:00 pm — Doug and I catch up on TV, I play farmville, clean up the kitchen for the night and put away the dinner dishes

11:00 pm — last feeding of the day!

12:00 am — Doug and I head off to bed

*****

There we have it!  A day in the life of Melissa Bissing.

What do you think?

All the triplet moms said how much they needed a schedule.  I thought in the back of my head, “schedules are great and all, but I don’t need that much structure, I like to to be flexible.”  Boy oh boy do I need my schedule!  When we wake up late, it ruins the entire day.  I struggle to get back on track.  I think it’s because there are so many balls in the air that must be caught (mainly getting Jaden to and from the bus stop).  If one thing is behind, it’s a snowball effect.  For example, if I don’t start pumping no later than 11:10 am, I am in serious trouble of being late in getting Jaden from the bus stop.  It’s really hard to understand unless you do it every day.  I know I had a hard time understanding the first few weeks I was actually living it.

I hope summer will bring some new and fun activities to add to our schedule.  The one nice weather day last week we took a walk outside was absolutely amazing!  Not feeling cluttered and feeling a little free outside was great.  I’m going to have Jaden outside as much as possible.  We are talking sprinklers, kiddie pools, sand box, swings, sidewalk chalk and bike rides.

Mom has off of school on Thursday and Friday of this week.  Looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble we can get into!

Love, Mel

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Filed under Breastfeeding, Posted by Melissa

Thanksgiving 2010

We had A LOT to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!  Jake & Rachael are in NY for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  We watched the Northstar Band on TV yesterday morning.  Weston is on the mend and should be back to feeding today!  Logan and Owen made their trip home yesterday (Thanksgiving Day).

The pick up was probably the most stressful pick up in the history of Waukesha Memorial Hospital!  Doug and I were nervous about hearing all of the discharge paperwork and Jaden didn’t have a nap.  Jaden was climbing on stools to see in the bassists and grabbing stethoscopes.  Clearly this didn’t go over well with Doug.  We all went out to the car to install the car seat bases and Jaden was goofing off again and gave Doug a blood blister.  Oh man … that was NOT pretty!  We all took really big deep breaths and re-set.  Things went a little better after that.  The minivan is really packed with just two car seats.  This is going to be NUTS with all three car seats in there!  I could barely get into the back bench I’m not sure how I’m going to snap them in.

Mom and Dad brought over a wonderful steak dinner.  We all spent the night together, celebrating two of the triplets being home!

The babes eat every four hours so that gives us “a lot” of down time.  We gave them a feeding at 9pm so that meant the next one was at 1am.  Doug said he would take that feeding on his own and I said I would take the one after that so we both could get a chunk of sleep.  At 2:30am Logan was up screaming again.  I got up to give him his nook  and pump.  Well, apparently when it was time for their 4am feeding, I told Doug in my sleep that it was his turn since I just pumped.  Whoops!  I felt bad when I heard that this morning.  Looks like I need to switch to baby night time mode.

Thank you to everyone who helped keep our babies safe and helped get Owen and Logan home safe!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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Filed under Holidays, NICU Stay, Posted by Melissa

2 Boys Become Men!

First off, Weston is doing much better today!  The antibiotics seem to be working as his scan didn’t show any signs of infection today.  They are going to keep him on the IV for another 4-5 days to give his tummy a rest.  They’ll start him on what’s called TPN – basically it’s a meal in a bag.  Gives him the nutrients he needs and helps him to continue to gain weight.  He seemed a whole lot happier today when I was visiting.

My other two boys became little men today.  Their wieners were whacked.  They were circumcised.  Just another step closer to coming home!  They are still on track to come home soon … yikes!  They didn’t circumcise Weston since he’s already having a hard enough time.  They’ll give him a break and do his when he’s feeling better.

Owen has gone over 36 hours without a gavage feeding!  He doesn’t have the tube in his nose anymore.  Ok – he ripped it out.  But the nurses didn’t put it back in since he’s doing so well.  Logan has gone about 24 hours without a gavage feeding.  Should he be a little rascal and rip his out too, they most likely wouldn’t put it back in either.  Little stinkers are getting so big and so smart.  I’m so happy they are doing so well!

Milk Update:  I’ve now got 5 trays of frozen bottles!!  The picture below shows what one of them looks like.  And it’s only been just under two weeks.  Aye karumba!  Can you imagine what it would be like if I was only feeding ONE baby?

Love, Mel

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Filed under NICU Stay, Posted by Melissa

Moo!

I’m a milk making – breast pumping machine these days!  Having to pump every two hours for 15 mins only gives me an hour and 45 mins between each pumping.  The amazing part is that I’m able to feed all three boys on my milk alone!  No formula at all!  In fact, we are freezing milk!  Who on earth thought it would ever be possible to feed three babies at once?

I had a few issues in the beginning.  I got this special cream from a compound pharmacy.  Other new mom’s raved about it.  I’m hoping it does the trick.

We counted today … I made 30 bottles in the last 24 hours.  The nurses in the NICU are impressed with my milk making capabilities.  They said that in the last 10 years they haven’t seen a mom of triplets be able to produce enough milk like I have been able to be.  Looks like I might have found my calling!

I hope I’m able to continue this when the babes come home.  I’ve heard it’ll just be another mouth to feed and a lot of mom’s give up quickly.  I can already picture it now … hooked up to the pump with one of those handless bra things, feeding a baby a bottle with each hand.  Oh man…talk about multi tasking!

We’ll see how it goes when they come home.  For now, just call me Bessy!
Love, Mel

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Filed under NICU Stay, Posted by Melissa