Maternity nurse for triplets

[angelpie2012]

Hello

I'm 20 weeks' pregnant with triplets and I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a maternity nurse, particularly one with multiples experience?

We're based in North London in a fairly small flat so we would be looking for assistance during the day as we wouldn't have space for a live-in maternity nurse (the plan is for my mother to come stay and help as well).

Also, any tips on affordable types of care/assistance would be much appreciated as having three in one go is going to stretch our finances!

Thanks!

Hi Angel - huge congratulations!

No experience really I am afraid but I do know of a triplet family who are getting help from Norland Nannies - and I know they have experience of triplets (and more). I expect they are not the cheapest though......

TAMBA may also be able to point you in the right direction - have you joined? You can join from as little as £1 a month I think - the discount in Clarks is worth it alone!

Also, there is another triplets mummy to be on the twins ante-natal thread - I think she is a little further along but about the same stage of pregnancy I think. Let me know if you can't find her and I will PM her to contact you directly if you would like?

Good luck and hope to see you on the ante-natal thread x

Hi Angel, I'm a mum to 3YO (3 this week!) triplet girls so hope I can give you some tips.
Definitely agree that Norland nannies are brilliant, and I really do think it is worth spending the money.
At first we had a Norland nanny from when I was 28 weeks so that my older 2 girls would get to know her, and she could familiarise herself with us etc. She really was absolutely amazing, they are so well 'trained' (can't think of a better word) and their care is faultless. Unfortunately when our triplets were 18 months our nanny had to leave because of family commitments - we were absolutely gutted! We were going to look for another Nanny through the Norland college again, but our first nanny put us in touch with a nanny friend that had had to drop out of the Norland college a few weeks before her graduation (?) because, again, of family commitments and had no choice but to quit. Again, we could and cannot fault her. Since our triplets are older now, our relationship with our nanny is much less formal and we basically work as a team - i.e 1 of us will do the school run whilst the other does the food shopping.

Anyway, getting off topic here!

One big tip would be to accept everything that everyone offers - people will offer to cook you some dinners, but we always find ourselves too polite to accept the offer. With newborn trips you don't have the time to not accept the offer! If someone offers to do some washing/ironing for you, then take them up on it! If a neighbour offers to run some errands, then don't feel ashamed to ask them to do them - they wouldn't ask if they weren't prepared to help out.

I expect you've been inundated with clothes and baby equipment - accept it all! If you don't really want second hand clothes, then buy some beautiful blankets and wrap your babies' up - no one will know that they are wearing random outfits

Stock up on things in the sales - I've got some basic clothes in ages up to 8 for my triplets. If they are ridiculously cheap then it seems crazy not to buy things. Try not to buy things for the sake of it though.

We've done a bit of a capsule wardrobe this summer (if you can call it that!) with our girls - I seem to buy loads and loads of cheap crap every year, this year I've got them some lovely basics and we are trying to stick to that!

Hope some of this helps - feel free to message me any time! Kate

Hi there, congratulations. I had a maternity nurse when my twins were born. She doesn't do live out jobs but was lovely. I found her by googling agencies, then choosing the CVs that looked relevant. I met two or three possibles and I found it easy to choose who I wanted to have in my house. Think about how you want your relationship to go; some nurses are very into establishing a strict routine, others happy to go with you. Also think about whether you want to breast feed or not, and choose someone who can support you in this.
You need to get on with this bit, nurses get booked up early, and triplets come early. I imagine your babies will need to stay in hospital for a while though, so it is difficult to give an exact date when you need her to start.
Money wise, it is really expensive, but I imagine cheaper live-out than live-in. Could you alternate weeks of her and your mum being there to extend it?
Good luck

Live out is more on a per hour basis - you could be paying £20/hour for someone really top notch but have a live in for under £1000/week of 24/6 care. It's a lot.

What kind of help do you want? Some nannies would kill for triplet experience and may have time during the day or be willing to do a couple of overnights for a very reduced rate in return for a reference. I've done it but not for triplets - I'd probably have done it for free!

I had a night nanny for my twins who was a nanny to triplets for a few months. I can pm you her details if you look

Congratulations! Three times the fun!

Wow - thanks for all the responses!

We've joined TAMBA and are signed up for some talks/courses over the next two months which will give us some insight into it all.

Kate - thanks v much for the tips. I've been given a few contacts for maternity nurses so think I'll contact them and Norland during the next week or so to try work out options. Difficult with not knowing exactly when we'll be out of hospital.

Think it will be expensive but I'd just like to get some help for the first 2 weeks or so (full days) and then cut back if my mum and I are able to cope. First babies for us after an early miscarriage last year so not experienced at all and my mum's a bit daunted at the prospect of 3 in one go!

Also, my husband and I are both from overseas and my mum will be flying over so we don't have a support network with many friends/family who have already had babies over here. And only moved to our area a year ago so not terribly close to the neighbours yet. Plan is actually to go home for most of my maternity leave once the babies are big enough as will be cheaper and we'll have more space (and some Southern hemisphere sun). So would just be looking for the maternity nurse to help us survive the first two months or so. But dependent on health of babies as may have to stay here for medical care depending on how things go.

Frakiosaurus - would be ideal if there was anyone looking for triplet experience so please let me know if you can think of anyone.

ceeveebee - if you could pm me the details of your nanny that would be much appreciated.

Thanks again!

Hello! Congrats on your triplets! I have 6 month old ID boys Harry, Lucas and Oscar.

Agree with all of the above :-) have you thought about contacting your local college? I have a student with me 2 days a week as she needed a placement for her childcare course and it's totally free! Also contact home start www.homestart.co.uk as they may be able to offer you some help for a couple of hours a week.

Feel free to pm me any time! My blog is www.tripletsuk.blogspot.com

Kim x

Will keep my ears open. There are various options for help out there so if you can really pin down what you want that will help you find it so depending on the expertise you want - whether you want someone with experience of breastfeeding (not many nanny nannies will be up on this), general babycare, literally an extra pair of hands (a college student would be ideal) or extra help around the house and shoulder to cry on (probably a doula but you have your mother so no point doubling up there) - will help you actually find it.

Just a point about flying - for 3 babies you'll need 3 adults!

Usual MNHQ disclaimers apply but if you're north london you should talk to legendary MNer MarsLady, doula, multiple specialist and all round hero.
HTH and masses of luck with the impending arrivals

oh my how cute are them 3 lil boys.

Hi angelpie

Congratulations on your pregnancy. How very very exciting!

I'm in North London and happy to talk to you about all sorts when it comes to multiples.

Hi angelpie just seen this thread. I am the other triplet mum bigboobs mentioned . I am 28 weeks tomorrow. I am hoping to get a maternity nurse for the first couple of weeks when they are out of hospital. I am then hoping to get a mothers help during the day - not as expensive as a nanny but hopefully with childcare experience. I agree that whatever we do it will be expensive, but can't see how I am going to do it solo when DH at work. Am also getting a homestart volunteer once a week for a few hours.
Don't think there are any other triplet mums to be on this forum, but getting lots of support from the twins club thread on the pregnancy board, you are very welcome to join us

marslady is wonderful contact her for help and support with 3 babies
galaxy
are you london based baileys?

galaxy I am in Wiltshire. Just heard from local nursing college that I am likely to get a student nurse placement as well to help out, obviously cannot be left alone but will be an invaluable extra pair of hands

Thanks again for the responses.

Baileyslover - Congratulations! Must be so exciting to be at 28 weeks with the big day in sight. Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely have a look at the twins club thread. My plans are the same as yours - maternity nurse at the beginning I think and then maybe doula help and then perhaps a local college student depending on availability etc.