THEY say three’s a crowd, but for Rebecca Leeuw and her husband Jarrod three’s the perfect company.
When the couple was told four years ago they would be having triplets, their initial reaction was to laugh.
Ms Leeuw got pregnant through IVF conception, with two embryos implanted, so she knew she had a high chance of having fraternal twins – but one of the eggs split meaning the couple would have a combination of fraternal and identical triplets.
“We found out at our six-week scan,” Ms Leeuw said. “Before we went through with the IVF I had a feeling we would end up with triplets, so when they said that was what we were having, we just laughed. What else can you do?”
Ms Leeuw’s pregnant was relatively easy. She had no morning sickness but suffered from cholestasis and pre-eclampsia in the later stages, causing her to be itchy and swollen. She was wearing maternity clothes by 12 weeks, and looked full-tern by 20 weeks. At 31 weeks, she decided to go to the hospital on bed rest after suffering from a minor mishap with her couch.
“I got stuck in the couch!” she said. “We had a modular couch and when one part moved out, my backside fell between the two parts of the couch and I couldn’t pull myself out!”
A large contingency of family, friends and even strangers helped the couple prepare for the triplets before their arrival.
“We are very lucky and got a lot of help from people preparing for the triplets’ arrival. Family purchased cots, clothes, nappies, a change table, and other things. I also had quite a large baby shower, so you can only imagine the amount of things we received. We were incredibly overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity,” Ms Leeuw said.
“We also received donations of clothing from people we didn’t even know. People would hear about us having triplets and pass things along to us. We ended up with too many clothes, so have passed a lot of things on to other people over time.”
The Australian Multiple Birth Association (AMBA) also have agreements with a few companies to provide donations to all HOM (Higher Order Multiple – triplets, quads, quins) families. We were very fortunate and received donations from Huggies, Johnson&Johnson and Heinz. We also had support from Pfizer.”
At 33 weeks, Ms Leeuw had a caesarean and finally got to meet her babies, a beautiful baby boy Talwin Bastian, and identical girls Abigail Sage and Temperence Rose.
Multiples have a high risk of spending time in neo-natal intensive care (NICU) and special care nurseries, but luckily, the triplets only had to spend one week at Monash Hospital in NICU, before spending a couple more weeks at Dandeong Special Care.
“The nurses and doctors in NICU and SCN are incredible people and we can’t thank them enough for their help with our babies,” Ms Leeuw said.
Once at home, family and friends offered babysitting services, helped cook meals and helped out with housework. They also found great support from the Casey and District Multiple Birth Association.
“It’s wonderful being around people who understand what it is like to have multiples. They have an incredible playgroup that caters for families with multiples and I have made some fantastic friends there,” she said. “We all enjoy a night out kid-free from time to time!”
Ms Leeuw said the biggest obstacles when arriving back home was getting out of the house, navigating the large pram through shops and dealing with curious people who were keen to take photos. But the benefits far outweighed the challenges.
“I get so much love from my kids. I get lots and lots of cuddles and kisses. I get to watch them interact and learn from an early age to share and care for someone else,” she said.
“Life is crazy, busy, hectic, and loud – but very rewarding. They are gorgeous kids who look out for each other. They love company, and they have fantastic little personalities.”
