Celebrating Triplets on Mother’s Day

Around the world, mothers will be celebrated on the second Sunday of May. If you ask a mom, “What was the hardest part of the journey through motherhood?” the answers may vary. Some might say the initial stage, adjusting to the idea of having a newborn under your care. Others might say the terrible twos when babies find their legs and curiosity spikes, but there are very few mothers that have extraordinary experiences of giving birth to multiple babies at once. What’s the experience like before and after? Sabreena Daly found out in this week’s look on the bright side.

Jennifer Alberto

Jennifer Alberto, Mother of triplets
“It was so crazy. The radiologist was like, oh my God, it’s three. And then the dad wanted to faint. It was so hectic.”

Enmil Murillo

Enmil Murillo, Dad of triplets
“You would think that in an AC room, you don’t sweat, but my gosh, it was like i was in a sauna.”

You’re looking at a wall of empty Enfamil containers that fed the new additions to the Alberto/ Murillo family. But wait, that’s also with breast milk, because three months ago, Jennifer Alberto became a new mom to not one, not two, but three babies.

Jennifer Alberto
“At the beginning, um, the morning sickness was horrible, but after that came the cravings, which was, I was like, yay, I can eat whatever I want. And then, um, time went by and my belly got super huge. I remember sometimes I would sit down and my belly would reach almost to my knees, but it was really big. Um, if I wore a dress before pregnancy, during the pregnancy, it would fit me almost like a crop top. Yeah. So the belly was really big.”

The belly is now gone and is replaced with three infants to take care of. So, what does a day in the life of a mom with newborn triplets look like?

Jennifer Alberto

“Well, every day is different. Um, every day is a different baby having a tantrum, but usually in the mornings, I would feed them, breastfeed them. Well, two of them, and then the one that’s less fussy and still sleeping, then I would give them a bottle. But then after that, when they eat, then they usually go back to sleep.”

The less fussy one is Rahian. In fact, while mom and dad were busy feeding his impatient brothers, he casually lay on the side waiting for his turn and even smiled proudly at his parents working as a team to attend to their new found jobs.

Jennifer Alberto

“In the beginning when one would cry, then one would wake up the other two. So, then three of them would be crying. But um, as the days went by, we learned how to like, deal with them. Like for example, we would put them on a pillow and then just have the three bottles ready so that when they’re ready to cry, just give them, and then they eat and then they just go to sleep after or change their diaper and what not.”

These days, the ring leader for crying is usually Davian. His brother Nathian provides moral support with some added fussing too.  But their grandmother, Mirna, lends a helping hand to lighten the load.

Mirna

Mirna, Grandmother of triplets

“I come every Sunday and Tuesday on my day off. Sometimes at night and on Sunday I’m happy.”

Raising triplets requires the premium package, if there was a manual for motherhood. It requires energy and a whole lot of patience; Brenda Kidd knows this feeling. Her first Kidd was one-year-old when she learnt that three more Kidds were on the way.

Brenda Kidd

Brenda Kidd, Mother of triplets

“It was devastating, if I can say that. I mean, because this was in Jamaica. I had the ultrasound and BJ had just turned one year old, and when I went to the doctor and the doctor examined me, he said, one and then two and I held his hand and said, Doc, please don’t find any more. But he called the nurse and he said, nurse, come here. Isn’t this another one? And I was like, no, no, but that was it.”

Suddenly a family of three turned into a family of six. But the set of triplets, two girls and a boy changed Kidd’s outlook.

Brenda Kidd
“At first it was, all I could see was the work. Oh, this is so much work. I’m so tired. And, one day I remember going out and when I came home, all three ran to me, mommy, mommy, mommy. And one brought my slippers and one brought some water and so on. And it was like the Lord said to me, ah-huh. You only think of the work. What about the love? It’s three times the love too, huh? And so after that I was able to accept it. And this was one day they had mommy on the floor. We had to be playing. So this was one of the times that you really felt the love. Mm-hmm. You know? And could appreciate that.”

Sabreena Daly

“Three times the love.”

Brenda Kidd

“Three times the love.”

And like Kidd, Jennifer also experiences this multiplied love.

Jennifer Alberto
“I just, I want to be able to, um, raise them humbly, um, to the best of my ability, ensure that they have proper education, um, everything that they possibly need, but obviously try to spoil them then and their, but just basically raise them. Happy boys. Um, respectful, humble.”

Brenda Kidd

“I always take the, um, the verse of scripture that says, children are a gift from the Lord. And if you take your children as a gift and cherish them, like how you would cherish any gift mm-hmm. You know, then that is doing something that is pleasing to, to God and you should see them come up growing, loving. You loving people, loving God, most of all.”

Looking on the Bright Side, I’m Sabreena Daly.