55. Hardest thing about having multiples, so far.

Every parent of multiples will give you different things that they find difficult, and obviously, different ages bring their own challenges and struggles. But today I found my worst so far. 

Robin is feeling a bit poorly and wants lots of cuddles and comforting. We are 3 nights into the new bedroom and new bed routine, and we are working our way through teething issues. They seem to love to be close, but in the same breath, Robin and Sam have disturbed each other every night, many times, resulting in 2 crying babies that I have to somehow calm down and get back to sleep. William has slept through the lot! So today, I am going to separate them again and try that. It's been so cute seeing them all snuggled up together, but we all need our sleep please boys!

Another little nugget of joy happened last night, just after I had managed to settle Robin and Sam down after the first wake up of the night. I heard the splat of a puke. It was midnight, it was dark, and they were all asleep, but I wanted to find it and mop it up before they rolled in it. I went from one to the other feeling the mattress by their faces and around their heads, but found nothing. I then went and touched their faces to see if they had any on their faces. Still no evidence. They were sleeping in a double cot, the size of a double bed, with Robin closest to the wall, Sam in the middle and William closest to me, next to the bars of the bed. He had wriggled his way up a little so his bum was about Sam's head level. While I was searching for the puke I thought I had heard, I realised my foot felt wet. Surely that can't be puke, on the floor, out of the cot. The cat must've got in soggy from the rain.... through the closed door? I then put my hand on Williams sleeping bag, down by his legs and there was a pool of puke, it was also all over the corner of the mattress. Sam had projectile vomited all over William, the bed, and hit the floor, a good 2 feet away! Well that was fun trying to clean up and change Will in the dark, while he was asleep and trying desperately to keep him asleep! 

It's not these disturbed nights and lack of sleep that I have found difficult. It's obviously not ideal, but we still do the shifts if we need to, so we can at least both get a block of sleep. If one of us is exceptionally tired, the other does the leg work for a night. It works very well still. 

The difficult thing for me happened today. Robin hasn't wanted to be put down all night and all morning. He will go down for a little while, but then cries to be picked up. They were all due a nap and Will had fallen asleep in the bouncer chair, so I put Rob down so I could transfer Will to his bed. Rob started to winge but it would only take a minute to take Will upstairs. But when I picked him up, I realised he had done a poo!! Noooooooooooo!!! I rushed him to the kitchen to try and change him before he woke up, but it didn't work. This is the bad bit. Robin became absolutely hysterical! It was beyond crying, screaming even, but I was elbow deep in poo, so couldn't run to him. It was absolutely horrible hearing him so distressed, but not being able to help him. It was only a couple of minutes, but still. There are so many cries which can be left for a minute or two, and some cries are fine, when they are bored, tired, hungry, you know you can fix it, but that poorly, desperate cry can only be fixed with cuddles, and it's horrible to hear. Seeing to one baby, while the other one desperately needs you hurts. 

The best bit, is watching them interact with each other. It's just wonderful. Laughing and chattering to each other is a joy to see.