I didn't have one, not two, but three children at once! Triplets!

My name is Nicole Gardenier, 34 years old and I live in Lisse

For three years now, I have been together with my dear boyfriend Kevin. We met online and eventually discovered that we even came from the same village. During our dating period, Kevin went to Curaçao (where he was also born) for a month and convinced me to come over for a few days. This went so well that he soon moved in with me.

We share a common passion for sports

He pulled me into the world of crossfit and I pulled him into the world of kickboxing. Soon we were exercising five times a week. Exercising is still a great passion and something we will always make time for.

On July 22, 2019, our lives changed completely and we became a proud family with the birth of our three beautiful girls: Mae, Ivy, and Nova. We have received many questions through Instagram. I will try to answer all these questions in various blogs.

As you can see, they look nothing alike, and the same goes for their personalities. Each lady has her own set of instructions.

Our great adventure began on January 4, 2019 with a positive pregnancy test

We had been undergoing hormone stimulation for half a year. Some time before that, I had stopped taking the pill, but unfortunately, my period did not start. As a result, we were quickly referred by our general practitioner to the Spaarne hospital in Haarlem. Fortunately, it turned out that we were both perfectly healthy, it's just that my body needed a little help in the form of hormone stimulation. We started with hormone pills (Clomid). Unfortunately, the first attempt yielded no results. With the second and third attempts, there was overstimulation* and we had to stop the attempt. After three attempts with the pills, we switched to hormone injections. The first attempt with the injections was long and quite exhausting. Especially because I felt this first attempt would not succeed and I kept saying that. I felt that it would only be successful on the next attempt. There was no basis for it, but it was just a feeling. And that feeling turned out to be justified in the end. With New Year's Eve, we shot a firework into the air and made a wish that we really wanted to be a family of three in 2019. On January 4th, I was allowed to take a test and it quickly turned out positive. Still somewhat doubtful, we immediately tested two more times. All three were (of course) positive. We called the hospital right away and the first ultrasound was scheduled for January 22nd. We went to the hospital that day full of anticipation. Soon, the sonographer called someone in during the ultrasound. Of course, we were immediately alarmed, but she assured us that there was a beating heart to be seen. The gynecologist confirmed what the sonographer had also seen: three beating hearts! What goes through your mind at that moment is almost indescribable. My partner managed to stay quite sober, I could not! Tears quickly streamed down my cheeks and I said several times: 'This can't be, I don't want this.'

An appointment with the gynecologist was immediately scheduled, and the topic of selective reduction was also brought up

We were also advised to at least tell our parents so that we could talk about it. There went our plan to announce it to everyone at 12 weeks. From that moment on, everything went differently than normal. After several discussions with each other and our parents, we decided to just go for it. The doctors indicated that I had a strong body and of course there were risks, but we were willing to take them. Every few weeks, an appointment at the AMC was scheduled for an ultrasound. All four of us were closely monitored. Every time it was nerve-wracking. I must honestly admit that at this moment I can really be jealous of anyone who is pregnant with a singleton (without problems) and can enjoy the pregnancy. Because I dare now admit that I completely missed that. Due to the various appointments in the hospital and additional examinations, but also because of everything that had to be arranged quickly (I had to take into account bed rest from 26 weeks), I didn't have that chance. But who knows, maybe that opportunity will come someday, never say never.

Another issue: the names!

How do you come up with three cute girl names that also go well together? It quickly became apparent that this was very difficult. Eventually, we had a list of 10 names, but they didn't all match each other. Oh, and we also wanted to give the girls a middle name and name them after someone, which made it even more challenging. My partner started to get very nervous in the last few weeks. I kept saying: 'It will be alright, we'll know it suddenly'. We had to provide names for the proof of the card. We were still unsure, but we gave some names anyway. When I saw the names written down, I immediately thought: 'No, this isn't right'. So we changed the names and immediately ordered little hats with the names on them. Now we couldn't go back! To this day, we are very happy with the names. And we feel that the names also fit the girls well. Baby 1 had to be Mae, the biggest of the bunch. Baby 2, the little rascal who was always in my ribs and hard to see on the ultrasound, became Ivy. And baby 3, the calmest, was named Nova.

On July 22, the girls were born at the LUMC in Leiden (32+3 weeks) with birth weights of 1530, 1291, and 1270 grams

Fortunately, without too many problems. Mae didn't need any support with her breathing at all, and Ivy and Nova only for less than two days. They mainly needed to grow and gain strength. On Thursday, August 22, Mae was allowed to go home. Ivy and Nova (who had been transferred to Spaarne Gasthuis in Haarlem) had to stay a few more days. So every day, the three of us would go to see Ivy and Nova. Fortunately, they were also allowed to go home about a week later. From Wednesday, August 28, we were finally together and our new adventure could begin. A big advantage was that the girls already had a sort of routine from the hospital. Although it was convenient there that they were fed one after the other. We changed that right away to feeding all three at the same time. At that point, we were still at 8 bottles per day (of 45 ml). So every three hours (including at night), the girls had to be fed. It was an intense period, but we found it manageable ourselves. I was starting to regain my strength and we were getting more and more skilled at it. The girls all drink in a nursing pillow (see photo 3). We noticed quite quickly that this gave them peace and that they drank best this way. It was just always a puzzle to figure out who was finished first, because feeding three babies at once is one thing, but getting three to burp at the same time, we didn't manage. Fortunately, they all had a different pace and with some fitting and measuring, we made it work. We scheduled all the visitors for when the girls were being fed, convenient for us and fun for the visitors.

Meanwhile, our relationship was at an all-time low

After spending a month in the hospital, my friend mostly felt like a caregiver, and we were no longer equals. Of course, there was also hardly any time for each other. Fortunately, we realized this very quickly and called on our parents to babysit. The first time we went out together to the cinema in the evening, and two weeks later we went out for dinner together. Just being partners again instead of just being dad and mom. Of course, that wasn't the end of it, and it remains difficult to find time for each other. Once a week, grandpa and grandma babysit in the evening, so we can do sports together. Just getting away from home and being active together. It's a puzzle every week because the girls always take priority. Soon we'll go away together for a night. Just really having time for each other, without having to care. A day of shopping and probably coming home with new clothes for the girls.

NICOLE (if you want to have a peek at her Instagram, click here)