Editor's note: The following my twitter friend's account of her first time babysitting for brother's triplets:
Five hours, three babies. It can’t be that hard, can it? That’s what I told myself the week before babysitting my six week old triplet niece and nephews. But, as the time grew near, the more frightened I was to care for that many newborns at the same time.
I’m a seasoned babysitter. My first job, at the age of thirteen, was babysitting a newborn and a four year old five days a week. I briefly worked in a daycare during high school, and I have 18 and 16 year old daughters that I have somehow raised without scaring for life. All my previous experience is exactly why I enlisted the help of three others for this epic babysitting adventure!
I learned that the key to caring for multiple babies is a well-kept schedule. Feedings and diaper changes can only be kept up with when written down. My sister-in-law neatly presented the newborn schedule of events in notebook form that insured we stayed on track. It worked well as one hour into the night I already couldn’t remember which baby had a fresh diaper and which baby needed to eat. Even with three others at my side, it seemed there was hardly a moments rest. Diapers. Feeding. Burping. Wiping. Soothing. Walking. Bouncing. Diapers. Feeding. Burping. Wiping. Soothing. Walking. Bouncing. It was a never-ending cycle, a baby ‘Groundhog Day’ without Bill Murray.
In the five hours I was there, all three babies all slept at the same time for maybe 20 minutes. In a 24 hour day it’s safe to say my sister-in-law may get about three hours of sleep. How she does it is beyond me other than the fact that when you’re caring for something you love that much it seems to be a natural thing to have the energy to overcome a little sleep deprivation. Either that or she is living off adrenaline. Maybe a little of both.
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