Family’s life with triplets ‘tough but really rewarding’

Raising five children aged 5 and under, including newborn triplets, is ‘‘a little terrifying’’ for parents Sarah and Fionn O’leary.

Six-week-old Macy, Toby and Sadie arrived home a fortnight ago after spending a month in Christchurch’s neonatal unit.

The young family already had two sons, 5-year-old Olly, and Archy, 20 months, when they tried for a third baby.

The triplets were conceived naturally, coming as a total surprise for the couple.

‘‘I was in shock, I remember telling the scan technician she was joking because I was only having one. Neither twins or triplets run in our families,’’ Sarah said.

They were born on July 10, via caesarean section. Now, home life is consumed by nappy changes and feeds.

‘‘We change 24 nappies a day and do 24 bottle feeds.’’

The hardest time of the day is bedtime. ‘‘Getting all five children into bed and asleep by 7pm can be a mission,’’ Fionn said.

‘‘Luckily the older boys now sleep through the night, but that doesn’t mean the night shifts are any easier.

‘‘The triplets wake every three hours for feeds and we’re up for at least an hour and a half at a time to feed all three.‘‘

Now with Fionn back at work part-time, the trick to surviving with three babies and a toddler at home is organisation - ‘‘every detail is planned’’, Sarah said. Help from her mother and motherin-law was invaluable.

Sarah’s early stages of pregnancy ‘‘were really good’’ but by 30 weeks life became hard. She was admitted to hospital at 31 weeks for bed rest and the triplets were born a fortnight later.

Preparing for the triplets and buying three of everything ‘‘was a little terrifying’’, Fionn said and ‘‘it still will be for quite some time’’.

‘‘Our first thought was how are we going to transport them?

‘‘And where are they going to live? We live in quite a small house, it would have been OK for three children but five is going to be tight.

‘‘A bigger car was the first thing we bought. I traded in my first car for a people mover.

‘‘It’s tough, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t, but it’s also really rewarding.’’