School, The Whole Shebang »

Five years ago Kim Tanner went in for a routine ultrasound and found out she wasn’t having a baby- she was having three! In May of 2005, she and her husband, Bill, became the first parents of triplets born at Madison Memorial Hospital.

The babies, two girls and a boy, were delivered at 33 ½ weeks and were all between four- and five-pounders. Kim said the pregnancy and delivery was free of major complications. The complicated part came after the pregnancy!

Kim and Bill already had three children, ages nine, seven, and two. Kim’s parents still had a few months left to serve in an LDS mission to Africa and were unavailable to help. These factors could have made the first few months very stressful, but everyone stepped in to lend a hand, even the babys’ big sisters. Kim describes what having three newborns was like:

“Several of Bill’s aunts and uncles and his parents would come every night around nine or ten p.m. and stay the night with the babies to let us sleep. They’d each take a different night. Then my sister, sister-in-law, nieces and nephews, and a couple of my aunts would take turns coming during the day to just sit and hold babies. We also had lots of help from our ward, too. So I had a schedule of who was coming when, and we also had “The Baby Schedule” to keep track of everything. We wrote down who ate when and how much, who had a bath, who had a diaper change, etc. which was the only way to keep a little sanity. It was fun having three babies to hold and snuggle, and doing pretty much nothing but that all day (besides the regular keeping things running in the house), but I’m not going to lie, that was the longest summer EVER! I’ve never seen my girls so excited to go back to school as they were that year – no more baby tending. My girls were a HUGE help and were always there to lend a hand.”

Now the triplets, Chloe, Maddie, and Jon, are approaching their fifth birthday in May. I asked Kim some questions about what life has been like for their family since the addition of three babies:

What has been the hardest age (so far)?

The hardest age had to be when they were newborns to about 4 or 5 months. Just trying to adjust to having three babies; trying to keep our youngest from feeling neglected and overwhelmed when there was so much focus from everyone on the babies; one of them constantly needing something, it was hard. Trying to take them all anywhere was quite an undertaking, so we didn’t go out much.

They also really tested my patience when they were about 1 ½ to 2 years old. It wasn’t the normal “terrible two’s” like my other kids had had. We never really did have the tantrums and all that, they would just get into EVERYTHING! I’d turn my back for a second and someone would dig the dirt out of a plant; they’d dump out the garbage; pull all the clothes out of a drawer; and more. They were quite sneaky about it though as they’d work together, it makes me a little fearful of what they might come up with when they get older. The worst was when all three of them reached the can of Bag Balm and smeared it all over the carpet and quite a bit on themselves. That was a mess!

What kinds of comments do you get when you are out and about the community with the triplets, or with all 6? (Are you able to go anywhere with all six?)

When they were first born, the biggest question was “Were you on fertility?” I always thought that was kind of funny, uh, no, we already had 3. “Wow, you have your hands full,” was one we heard a lot, (still do actually). People would always tell me how they’d always wanted twins and ask if twins run in the family, (we actually found two sets of triplets a few generations back). When they were a little older the biggest comment was “Have you seen that show Jon and Kate Plus 8?” Now, people ask all the time if the girls are twins (Jon’s a little smaller than the other two) and I tell them, “Actually they’re triplets.” Then everyone stops and does a double take. It’s kind of funny to watch people’s expressions and reactions.

Are there any resources available in Rexburg or online that you used or continue to use in parenting triplets?

I don’t know if there are any resources in Rexburg now, there wasn’t then, or at least I didn’t know about any. My cousin got me in touch with her sister-in-law who had triplets and I had a few other people who got me in touch with other parents with triplets and I drilled them with questions all by email. There is also a website www.tripletconnection.com that I got tons of help and advice from, too.

Are they involved in activities/sports in Rexburg?

They haven’t been involved in much yet, they’re just happy to play with each other. We’re trying to prolong that time before we have to start paying for three at a time to do activities. We did have a neighborhood preschool this fall, though, and my kids were half the class.