Down In The Trenches

From left to right, Colin, Evelyn and Keith wearing their sweaters knit by a friend of the family... oh, and Puppy. Colin is no longer my strawberry-blonde baby! His hair is growing in ash blonde. (PS: you can click on the picture to make it bigger)

We had our second Home Visitor appointment this morning. This is a free service provided by the City of Ottawa Public Health to provide assistance to parents who have additional challenges such as um, drug addiction and/or triplets. We really like our Visitor, Gina. We are her tenth set of triplets - eight from her work in daycare, and her second since starting with the City.

Our Public Health nurse accompanied her. This is another free service provided to all new parents in Ottawa in the days following every baby's release from the hospital. If you think you need an extra visit all you have to do is ask, and they'll be more than happy to see you again. We saw our nurse on several occasions for help with pumping, baby weighing and just to check in to make sure we hadn't fled for the border. She is also amazing and very reassuring.

They confirmed that Colin has colic. This is a little amusing, because colic isn't a medical condition. It is just something that drives parents to the brink of insanity for several months until babies mysteriously grown out of it. There is no cure per se, other than time. The other day, Colin and Evelyn took turns caterwauling from 11am to 9pm. We think Evelyn wanted nothing more than to keep Colin company, because she isn't usually the instigator for all day screaming. Keith is oblivious to most things, including two howling siblings. He likes to stare at his unhappy nursery-mates with a mixture of wonder and disdain - he loves his naps waaay to much to give them up for the sake of solidarity. All in all, the colic should get better in the next few weeks. Should.

Happily, we have had a TON of help, from friends and neighbours, parents, sisters and cousins. Poor Sprocket (never the most social of animals) now has an over-developed sensitivity to any noise that resembles knocking (we have no doorbell) as a result of our Revolving Door reality. I was scraping a spoon against a bowl in the kitchen the other day, and that sent him careening to the front door ready to keep the latest round of invaders at bay. I honestly think the dog takes Edward and I to be more than a little slow. He finds room in his furry little heart to love us regardless, but he simply can't understand why we throw our door open to so many strangers and actually let them in. Surely a sign of stupidity that he has to work very hard to counteract.

Edward and I think the antacid medication is helping Evelyn, but we're not so sure about Colin. Keith is on an over-the-counter medication, too, and he seems to be happier. Happier is a bit relative, however, when babies are fussing for hours on end... but hey! We'll take it :) We are keeping our fingers crossed that things will improve over the next few weeks. But the new smiles and chuckles we are blessed with certainly go a long way to make life in the trenches a lot more tolerable! Pictures to follow.