The Dangers of Three Babies in the Same Crib

After feeding the girls one afternoon, Annie kept crying. I went down to check on her and when I reached in to pick her up and try burping her again she let out a huge spit up all over Gracie. Gracie was sound asleep, but by the time I got the picture she was really crying. Annie had soaked Gracie's face, ear, onesie, blanket, and burp cloth we put under her head for any spit ups. A little of the spit up reached past Gracie and on to Ruthie.

Annie feeling much better after letting the spit up fly! Poor Gracie got soaked.

Here you can see where a little got on Ruthie and Ruthie's burp cloth under her head.

Telling the Identical Triplets Apart

We've found a couple of ways to tell the girls apart. We've learned to look at their right eyes and their right ears to tell them apart. Below are some pictures demonstrating the slight differences.

Ruthie on the left doesn't have any "stork bites" or the little red marks that came at birth above her right eye. Gracie has some stork bites above her left eye. Annie has some stork bites just below her right eye brow and when her eyes are closed, her right eye lid is red with stork bites.

Annie's fold of skin in her right ear just above the ear drum looks like it was pressed down with a finger in the middle.

Gracie's fold of skin in her right ear just above the ear drum doesn't look like it's been pressed down at all.

Ruthie's fold of skin in her right ear just above the ear drum looks like it's all been pressed down and is smooth against the back of her ear.

Their left ears all look the same.

This picture doesn't show this very well, but we attempted to show another way that we tell the girls apart. We have Gracie's toe nails painted purple, Ruthie's toe nails painted pink, and Annie's toe nails painted yellow.

Fun Pictures!

The past month has been so much fun!! Annie, Gracie, and Ruthie are growing well. Today we learned from our nurse that Annie and Ruthie measure in the 95th percentile of their gestational age of two months and Gracie is at 80% of her gestational age (gestational age is measured from their due date which was Dec. 8th). The girls are over four months old now from their actual birth date of Sep 24th and measure about in the 35th percentile from that date. Gracie weighs just over 12 lbs now and Annie and Ruthie are over 13 lbs.

The past week Gracie came down with a little cold and Annie and Ruthie sound a little stuffy as well, but we have the humidifier going in their room and the congestion has slowed and they all appear to be getting better.

The girls are eating so much now! They each eat about five ounces every four hours, but at the 8p feeding they eat about 10 ounces and then sometimes skip the 12a and 4a feeding. However, with triplets their is usually at least one that is hungry at the 4a (which really varies from 2a to 6a), so the girls sleeping through the night doesn't always happen. Thanks to Grandma and Papa who usually take the 4a feeding, Mom and Dad are getting some sleep to handle the day.

Ruthie, Annie, and Gracie. When Gracie has her oxygen off and they are in the same clothes, it's very difficult to tell them apart.

The swings (and vibrator on the right) are getting lots of use!

Annie, Gracie, and Ruthie during nap time

Ruthie and Annie getting ready to eat

Ruthie, Gracie, and Annie

Ruthie, Gracie, and Annie. So happy together!!

Ruthie, Gracie, and Annie

Ann-Marie's cousin Jeni came to help one morning with the feedings. We are so grateful for her and others' help, we just hope the girls don't wear them out!! Also, Colleen Skaines helped us a lot while she was here. Thanks, Colleen!

Sweet Baby Gracie

Annie, Ruthie, and Gracie in purple

How could a Daddy be happier?!

A familiar sight. Sometimes it feels like Ground hog day since we keep the girls on a pretty structured routine.