The reality is real

A year ago today I was emerging through the haze of my first year as a parent to newborns. There was nothing that could have prepared me for the pressures and stress I experienced.

In those early months of adjustment there were tears of joy, and tears brought on by temporary insanity. My mind buckled by sleep deprivation while I fought to stay consistent and keep a shred of emotional stability around my family.

As my wife’s sole focus was rightly on the triplets and breastfeeding, I found myself feeling ever more detached from my family and life.

To look back now at the madness of an unavoidable and relentless situation we were thrown into. Held together at times only by the purpose I felt as a new father. Through the stress my family experienced with a high risk pregnancy, I was convinced that the principles of love and tolerance would be enough to get us to the due date. I had to believe we could make it through.

The love I had for my family and our newborn triplets became the only anchor that kept me stable in the times I wavered.

And my wife went through a hell of a lot more than me. And as a stay at home parent she is faced with going it alone each day until I finish work. She deserves a medal.

It’s always interesting to read comments from people who say they would love to have multiples, and how much fun it would be to raise three babies. And to look at the cuteness overload of the photo’s I post of my girls I can get the sentiment.

Instagram is full of photo’s depicting the prefect multiple family life. I’ve yet to see a family photo taken at home in the middle of a norovirus, or after a week without sleep still wearing the same clothes, ferrel and wild eyed. But who needs to be made aware of that side of multiple life.

But to go through the realty of what we faced with a high risk pregnancy. The sad truth of the babies that don’t make it. The pressure it put on us as a family and the intensity of caring for three dependant babies, would anyone intentionally place that sort of mental and physical responsibility on themselves?

I’m not sure that having triplets is something would wish on anyone. But for those of us who have been entrusted with this unique task. Who know the gravity of the situation we have been given and are rising above the challenges, I bet non of us would change a single thing.