Mum's The Word! The Parenting Podcast - Giving Birth to Triplets - with Nadia Thorburn

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

What it's like being the mum to unexpected triplets? How do you manage parenting them alongside other siblings? How do we make sure we don't burn-out as parents? ?Mother to triplets Nadia Thorburn joins us this week to tell her story from the pregnancy to looking after 4 young children from 1 suddenly, and why them starting school is as emotionally daunting for parents as it is for the children.Do you have a question for us? Get in touch on our Whatsapp, that's 07599927537.---A Create Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome back to Mum's The Word, the parenting podcast. I'm Kelsey Parker and I am your host for this week. So this week I am facing, even though Bodie has turned three, I feel like the terrible twos has hit us hard and it's really been a tough week because his demands are just outrageous. And like last night, he was we were having a roast at my mum's house and he had chicken on his plate. But he wanted everyone's chicken and he was crying his eyes out and he was like, I just want everyone's chicken. And I'm like, well, eat the chicken you've got on your plate and then we can maybe give you some of our chicken. And it's just stuff that I can't even pacify him with like what do I do in that situation it really has been a tough week on

in terrible two land but we're three today's guest is Nadia Thorburn she is a former makeup artist who found herself mum of four children under three when she unexpectedly conceived triplets naturally following the birth of her first son Mason. After documenting her extraordinary journey she now has a huge following of like-minded mums where she has over 175,000 followers on Instagram. She has openly spoken about her mental health struggles and what it's like parenting four young children. Welcome to the show, Nadia. Let's start at the very beginning.

So, tell me, how old were you when we had the first baby and then just tell me everything oh my goodness so Liam and I got together whirlwind nine months later I was pregnant so it happened really fast first baby I was 25 when I had Mason and yeah shock to the system that but amazing obviously well I do actually think like having your first is a massive shock anyway because you know how you think it's having your own child to actually having your own child is like two different realities yeah and I found it really shocking I think I was actually one of the first and like our friendship group to have a baby as well and at that point I couldn't

drive so at 25 I hadn't passed my test so that first year of like just now suddenly having this baby taking this pram and this baby everywhere jumping on and off buses and doing everything that I thought I was supposed to do it just kind of yeah my life completely changed and the sleep deprivation I think has always been the hardest part of parenthood for me and yeah that definitely changed me as a person but do you think now like what is sleep anyway like I know now you've got four you you really crave sleep I crave sleep and I'm torn between like let me sleep when I can slash life is for living. Was you that mum that did actually sleep like when the baby would go to sleep you'd then have a nap? If I could I'd

be like Liam I'm gonna go we're gonna go out for a nice walk and then he would fall asleep and then I'd be like oh I'm just gonna crash beside him like I really would because I'm just not me when I'm tired. Like I'm so grumpy. Liam doesn't even dare look at me when I'm tired. I'm just such a different human being when I need my sleep. And that's kind of all the time at the minute. The kids are still getting up all the time. But yeah, that was definitely a challenge. I feel like the sleep deprivation and, you know, it doesn't happen like that for everyone.

I've got, you know, friends that had babies that just let through yeah who are these people yeah I'm like do they really though do they really yeah tell me the truth do they actually what time do they wake up in the morning what time do you put them down yeah I'll be like Sarah blink if you need help yeah I don't know Mason come along and life just dramatically changed obviously for the better but just it's still so difficult and I had a really positive birth experience with Mason I was really lucky to have a natural birth and just really experienced that so I'm really grateful that I did birth was incredible I gave birth to him standing up in squat position holding on to Liam pushing Mason out yeah go girl that was it biggest squat I've

ever done in my life standing up and it was incredible the midwives just handed Mason to Liam and then Liam announced the sex of our baby and it was absolutely incredible so I feel very lucky to have had two completely different scenarios so we've got our little mason man then then what happens tell me so then we thought you know what he's going to be three let's start crying for baby number two baby number two being you know the plan and you know we tried for about eight months nothing was really happening I started to get a little bit worked up because I don't know if I just took it for granted that because I'd easily fallen pregnant with Nathan I kind of felt like it should have just happened the second we started to try so in your head you're thinking like where's my fertility at am I okay like am I

still fertile and I think because you know I was a couple of years into being a mum and by this point I've connected with a lot of other mums and realized that their journeys weren't so easy so you start to think okay maybe something's changed with me now and you're definitely more aware um because you know I was really naive first time around to absolutely anything and everything I just thought you try for the baby and it happens and for me it really did like I'm so blessed that it did but trying for baby number two and it just and actually feeling like I had to try was like a whole new experience and I do think that trying is so hard with like a partner because they obviously want the sex part to just be like romance all the time.

But it's like, no, no, I just want a baby. So please, can we just do it? Yeah, it just becomes a bit robotic and it almost just feels like the task at hand. How did Liam feel about that, though? What was Liam's thoughts on that? Was he just happy to just keep trying? Where was he at mentally? To be honest, I think he was just like, it'll happen when it happens. He's just a very much like, go with the flow. He doesn't worry. He doesn't understand anxiety or stress. He's just very much present as a person. He doesn't think about the past or too far ahead really. as a person he doesn't think you know about the past or too far ahead really so for him it was just like come on like we just go with the flow and to be honest our sex life dramatically went downhill after Mason after our first baby like my sex drive was gone so I think he was just kind of also happy as a man to be having that time it's like yes she wants to have sex again yes let's do it yeah so for him it was almost just a bit like well I'm getting close to you again like I'm quite happy I do think that

part is quite hard some men don't understand like I don't want to be a he-man hater on this but they don't understand how you actually feel like after you have had that baby like some people's sex drive it does just go and you're just so focused on having the baby and doing everything for the baby that you just couldn't think of anything worse than having sex that is true and i feel for me personally it's just never come back it's just never gone to what it was before so that intimacy part is it's really difficult because it's like i want to be that person and that partner that really cares about the aspect of the other's needs but then at the same time I feel so touched out by

the end of the day or there's too much going on in the day to be spontaneous in my mind and so yeah that's definitely something that's been difficult for us since becoming parents or me personally a lot of my friends that I speak to, they do struggle with that. Yeah. Some might even have it just in the diary. Yeah. We need to pencil it in like we did before. Planned, planned.

Planned sessions. We really do. I really need to up my game on that front, but I'll get there. So moving on from that. So you're then trying. It's not happening. you're panicking thinking am I okay yeah thinking oh my goodness is this going to happen and luckily for me I mean I'm talking a very small time frame compared to a lot of people like eight months and the grand

theme of things was really not much time at all but every month it felt like it was just getting further away. So it was actually random. My best friend lives in Dubai. She FaceTimed me. She said, you know, we've got this girls weekend to Ibiza planned and I've got something to tell you. I'm pregnant. I felt like a light bulb went off and I'd almost kind of stopped obsessing over having my second. But when she said I'm pregnant, I thought I actually feel like I am as well I should have been a bit more like you know let's make up about her and then I'll do my

check after but I said Gem I'm going to nip around to the shops get a test and I'll call you back and then yeah done the test and it shot up pregnant straight away like it wasn't like you know wait one or two minutes it was just boom, you are pregnant and you are really pregnant and you have no idea what's coming. You have no idea how pregnant you actually are right now. Exactly. So both of us are like, oh, my goodness, can't believe it. We're going to go through this together. So all excited. Oh, that's so nice though. And then I just sort of really analysed myself and I thought, I look different.

I actually look pregnant. Can I just say, poor old Gemma, you really rained on her parade, didn't you? Literally rained on her parade. Like, like you wouldn't believe. She was like, oh yeah, we're going to go through this together. Oh no, wait, it's going to be slightly different. Yeah. There was actually a few of my friends that were pregnant at that point.

And then it was almost like, you know, when they would call me to say I'm pregnant and then I'd be like me too so you looked different which did you get like quite big quickly I looked bloated at this point and I just I really hadn't acknowledged it until that test shot up positive and then it was like wow actually look at me like my boobs are getting bigger I actually have a little bit of a bump and I thought at this point I'd be really far along but I wasn't at all so I booked an early scan a private one because I thought I can't wait for the NHS one because I think I must be really far on because look at how much I'm showing so I go to the scan and on the scan, nothing's showing up at all, not even a dot. So I start to panic because I'm like, no, I've done the test. They've shot up pregnant. I really feel pregnant.

I'm in tune and I know. And they said, okay, we're actually going to have to refer you to the hospital to make sure it's not, you know, an ectopic pregnancy here. So then alarm bells are going and I'm saying, no, like I know I'm pregnant I can feel it and it feels like almost normal but I do feel really far on so why is there nothing there so obviously I get there and they do all the scans you know I get internal scans and everything they're really thorough and the lady says to me you know you're just really early I think you need to just wait a couple weeks and then come back again so I left a bit confused because I'm thinking how am I really early but I'm feeling everything so much and I am exhausted at this point so two weeks later I go back but this is

like the stuff that they don't actually teach us in school yeah who knew there was so many versions of being pregnant because I didn't know that yeah like I thought you it would just be there if you're showing up pregnant like surely it would just be be visible in one way or another yeah so when I went back they do the scan again and this time all that's there is the sack so there's one sack and again just the tiniest little faint dot like visible but nothing else so at this point I was saying now I'm really exhausted like I can't actually get out of bed like I am struggling I can't really parent my two-year-old I'm really struggling so I know I'm really pregnant everyone else is just sat there thinking oh she's being dramatic you know Liam Nadia bitch Liam actually

said to me at this point he said you know what you're not the first woman in the world to be pregnant and have to look after a toddler like you're just gonna have to get on with it like everybody else yeah so I'm dragging myself to the shower I mean after a shower I would then go on the bed with the towel on and just like fall back asleep again it just took everything the lady says to me look we're not really seeing an awful lot of progress for the amount of symptoms you're experiencing so we're going to sit on it again for another couple of weeks you come back and we'll scan again and we'll take it from there but there is a chance that you have miscarried like an early miscarriage

so just go with it and we'll see what happens you know if anything gives way in the next couple of weeks or if anything progresses we'll just we'll see then and surely you're thinking in your head if I miscarried like there would be I would have be miscarrying something yeah and I felt like if I'd miscarried like why are my symptoms worsening you know like I'm becoming more tired I feel like it's taking everything from my body to be doing what it's doing so I left I was upset for the evening thinking okay that must be it like why is there not really much happening in two weeks and I feel really far on the next morning I woke up and I just I said to Liam there is no way that there is nothing

happening my body is producing something this must be twins like my body is doing the most and I can feel it so there's no way that nothing's happening so of course he's rolling his eyes we don't have a history of twins or multiples in our families and this was natural you know conception so you know with IVF there is that blessing of having multiples and he said you know now you're really running with it like your mind's spiraling you're somewhere else because how can you be having twins like you're just tired you're just pregnant and you've got to run about after Mason so of course the whole family laughed we're joking you're like no a mum, I know I can feel it. There's something different.

You know, you absolutely just feel it. It's like mother nature, it's inside you. So that whole sort of two week period, I was constantly Googling twins, twin symptoms. Of course, I've seen what a twin scan would look like. I'd done my research on multiples and twins specifically. So randomly, when we were on the way to the scan that would tell us our fate,

I turned to Liam and I said, you know, this whole time I've been harping on about twins, but imagine it was triplets. And like, I just... Just imagine that. It was so strange because even looking at all the twin things I'd never thought to myself imagine it was triplets I'd never thought that or had a feeling and I said to him imagine so I said it as a joke and then he rolled his eyes and said oh it couldn't just be

two now we've got to add in another one and I got defensive you know that way where why was I defensive like obviously hormonal you knew you knew and so I said to him I said you know what people do have triplets you know like I just got really uptight but probably just hormonal but that sixth sense was in there and um yeah so we got into the scans she started scanning me and Liam's sitting there as soon as she put the equipment on me the jelly got the scan up on the screen I literally slapped Liam's leg I went I told you I was having more than one and I was like I knew it was twins and this was before the woman said a word and because I'd looked at all these scan pictures of twins for the last few weeks, I could see that there was two sacks.

I couldn't really see much happening in there. Like I wasn't really aware, but I just thought it was two babies. So I was like, I knew there was twins. The woman started laughing. So she let me have my moment of, I told you so. Oh no, honey. Oh no, honey.

She's like, little do you know. You thought it was twins twins she must have felt like the cat that got the cream like when I was so self-assured yeah I knew it was twins she's like what do you do this for a living she was just laughing like scanning me so I'm like Liam I knew it but at the same time obviously the realization of having twins I started to get this like heat over my body like this shock and the reality kind of started to come in I was like oh my god like twins anyway so Liam was sitting there and he said you know is it to the woman like looking really shocked and then she just turned to him she said so dad when you look for one heartbeat you look for two so I was thinking I knew it then she said but when

you look for two heartbeats and then she just stopped and Liam was like you look for three and then honestly I can't even describe I still remember the feeling it was like an out-of-body experience like the room went quiet and she just said yeah you've got three healthy heartbeats here you're having triplets and I get emotional actually thinking about it I bet you do just looking back on how well it's gone for us that moment because I still remember the fear so vividly and the shock and just thinking about Mason how is my body going to cope with this will they all survive like all these thoughts and feelings hit me at once and just you were incomplete and out of shock there's no way well obviously you had that on the way but they're telling you that are you even pregnant yeah at one point so you're like I'm very pregnant I've got three what does my life look like now what did Liam say I mean Liam could not

speak like in that room he could not speak he was blown away and lost for words for the first time in his life and do you know what I think it's a testament to kind of how he picked himself up from that moment he took a second to sort of process and And when we come out of the room, he was like, this is going to be incredible. This is going to be amazing. And one question I get often is, you know, did Liam run a mile? But he was very much the opposite. That's him as a person.

And I believe that that gave me more confidence and more positivity throughout such a difficult experience. And also Liam weren't running anywhere because, you know, without Liam, this situation wasn't happening. He was a key player in this. He was a key player, but also no wonder he was happy. He didn't have to do anything.

Right, so anyway, you're pregnant, you've got triplets. So how does it work with the triplets then? So were they all in their own sack or? So what happened was, so initially I would have fallen pregnant with twins boy girl twins and then the boys egg split to form identical twins in one sack and that was literally just a freak of nature though that that's happened that's people with

twins that have identical twins there's the sack parts and then they have identical twins and the boys shared a placenta and winter our girl had her own so i had two placentas and three babies and two sacks it is just magic though what your body can do is actually magical and that's what i love the most about this me too and i need to remind myself of that more often. I think we can all give ourselves such a hard time for our bodies, but it's quite literally the vessel that like, you know, holds us here and, you know, it's brought my baby. Loose Lips, the podcast where we give our expert, not so expert advice. Join us as we figure life out one episode at a time.

Yeah, you don't want them break dancing in the middle of Wetherspoons, do you really? A tanned ankle, no socks, boat shoes. So they have like a partially tanned foot. So you got through it? Yeah, well, I mean, well, we're not together now. Oh, well, yeah, there is that. Gotta say I'm furious. High five yourself.

Boom. Another life saved, you know. Find us wherever you got this podcast. Just search Loose Lips for weekly topics and some seriously juicy listener dilemmas now you carried three babies at once in your tummy and you are just like a walking bloody amazing woman look Look at you. Like, it's just actually incredible that your body's done that. Like, I know what you're saying, that we all put all this pressure on ourselves, whatever.

But you had four children and you carried them. Like, hats off to you. And triplets. Like, no wonder you were feeling absolutely exhausted. You know, them early stages are hard for anybody. Like, you think, oh, what is this? But to have three sucking the life out of you. Oh my goodness, quite literally.

And it was a rollercoaster. The pregnancy was so different compared to my first. And just so challenging. And it was the rate that my stomach was stretching so fast. So the medics just said like, this is just literally a freak that this has happened yes so it was just like this has happened but what i will say is so when the scan obviously happened i would like to say it was all rainbows and sunshine and for a small part of it was they did have sort of staff coming in to look at the scan. Now, you keep in mind, so many people in that field of work will never see triplets.

So for everyone in that field of work, it was so exciting. It was like, oh, my goodness, look at this. You know, we had students come in on my scans and things throughout the pregnancy to see. And that was really nice, feeling like you could give them a glimpse into something that isn't the norm. Yeah, I love that. It was. it was good and that was really nice but having like a lot of support and excitement but then on the other side of it was the high risk factors in my pregnancy were another level and obviously you

were very high risk and we were told you know this is a really high risk pregnancy and we need to just keep you aware that of all the things you know that can happen not for the you know the most positive part but actually you may not take you know all three babies home and so it's basically I take it week by week so while we were really excited and shocked and basically every emotion under the sun there was still that feeling of it being touch and go how did bason feel when you came home and told him that he was gonna have not one but three siblings i honestly don't think he understood that one it was so special i mean at that point or like so different and unique and shocking so for him at that age you know turning three he would walk up to pregnant women and say oh how many babies are

you having he just thought it was the known yeah for him he's just always thought and I think now as he's going to be eight he definitely realizes that you know he doesn't know anyone that has triplets and it's really special and he's taken to it so well I mean it's not always been easy and I would say through all the stages there's been difficulties but for the most part like he's made me so proud how he's handled it it's epic for him that he's obviously got triplets in his family but also it's like he's got like these siblings now and they look up to him so much so just it's just gonna be a really expensive time on their birthday when he gets older he's like oh why have I got triplets yeah exactly so he's gonna reach the pros and cons of

his own pretty soon but yeah he he handled it really well considering I mean he was the first grandchild in our family on both sides as well so to have that undivided attention and now all of a sudden it's like oh triplets and you've got to think as well you know everywhere we go since they've been born people ask about the triplets and you know he, he'll be standing there. So us as parents have had to make that extra conscious effort and family members to sort of say, and this is the big brother of triplets. You know, only special big brothers are chosen to be the brother of triplets. And, you know, this is this is the boss. And, you know, trying to really include him and make it about him as well can be hard because people are naturally curious and they mean no harm by it but the triplets are the fascination at times and that makes me sad for him well like

even the instagram following like obviously people are intrigued how do you live life and you know people think i'm struggling with one child and you've got three yeah so how was how was the actual delivery and the birth of the the babies so the babies were born eight weeks early but in this time frame so I was in hospital every single Monday being closely monitored and scanned so I was really well looked after by my team which was amazing as I got to the end I mean I was huge like I'm talking about like the bump itself. Like I do have like footage of it on my Instagram

and the bump itself was almost like a shelf and the bump was hanging on the end. So it grew so rapidly and it was huge on my tiny frame. Did you find you needed help with Mason then around the house and actually people to come in? Like it got to the point where like I couldn't drive I couldn't walk very far because the pressure on my pelvis was like crushing it wasn't even uncomfortable weight it was so painful to walk and so it quickly became

that my activities with him would be you know doing jigsaws at a table or reading in bed or, you know, it was very much, I felt like I was on sort of bed house rest for a lot of it as I got bigger because I just physically couldn't move. I bet you actually couldn't wait to get them out, really. You wanted to cook them for as long as possible, but also you wanted them out because you just wanted your body back, I guess. possible but also you wanted them out because you just wanted your body back I guess yeah like it definitely wasn't enjoyable at all and one thing I would say is there's so much that I have actually in my phone to share of like the reality of it because I think looking back my Instagram almost was glorifying it I think it was like a distraction for me to make it look like I felt really good and I was thriving in this and it was all positive and I was trying to make it as positive an experience as I could and now I had all these people that were like rooting for us look I remember when when I first met you and I was like how did you do it and you was like it was like I was at a factory and it was like, you know, I fed three.

I changed three. Three slept. Three then got fed again. Three had their nappies changed. Three slept. It was like you were on a conveyor belt. And I'm just like, hats off to you. Like, you've smashed it.

And I know what you mean by that Instagram world, because sometimes you put stuff out there because you want people to be like, you're smashing it. And you sort of want the positivity from everyone else to be like, Karen Adia, you're doing such a good job. And obviously you are doing an amazing job. Look, I don't know if I'd be able to do it. I think for me, it was that feeling of, I was also scared to show my vulnerable side as much because I was scared that if I made it look as difficult as what it really was. If someone come to me on Instagram and said I've just found out I'm expecting triplets and I'm so scared I didn't want to add to that I didn't want to tell them this is hell on earth this is like get me out like I am struggling

okay how are you now let's name and shame these triplets yes so we've got our identical twin boys are Carson and Carter oh they're just so beautiful chaos yeah and then we have our little girl Winter yeah and she's like a little boss and herself and then of course big brother Mason do the boys fight a lot oh my goodness like they're best of friends the three of them but it always ends in tears they fight and that's Mason included so Mason and the two boys included yeah yeah like I remember when I was younger wrestling with my brothers and I feel like now I'm like the one looking in on them constantly play fighting and I want to be that mom that's like oh have fun boys you're having the best time but it always ends in tears so my anxiety is through the roof one of them always gets hurt that is life and they're always going

to do it and I don't think you can stop the the sibling fighting mine I think I need to just shut the door on them and obviously I've got the boy and the girl and mine like fight see this is the thing you know I thought the 15 the 15 month age gap was tight but having triplets I mean but you know where you were doing things all at the same time I felt like with me 15, the 15 month age gap was tight, but having triplets, I mean, but you know where you were doing things all at the same time, I felt like with me, and a bit like now that Aurelia's just turned a corner. She started school and she is like flourishing. And Bodhi, who was my best boy,

is like a terrible twos and it's just, you can't reason with him but how do you reason with the triplets it is so difficult i would say that's one of the hardest things is managing all of their demands and their expectations their feelings like as they go up and down it's like riding four different roller coasters at the same time but you also want them to have impossible their own personalities too you don't want them to be known as the triplets and you put them into the triplet box so you want them each to have their own personality but then it's dealing with that personality and obviously they're not all going to have the same

personalities because no one in this life does how do you do it it's like trying to like tap into them all as individual and be there for them all as individuals and make sure that they feel like while you're special as a trio and the four of you are really special together it's like trying to let them just be individuals especially karsten and carter they are just so joint at the hip they're so it's like trying to let them just be individuals especially Carson and Carter they are just so joint at the hip they're so it's a different bond with those two in particular that trying to just they look so alike too don't they yeah and it's that way where like they just you know Carson's alpha male and Carter is a lot sort of more soft and emotional and I would say he tries to like keep up with Carson in ways when I'm kind of like that's not really you I can

tell so just trying to encourage him to be like his own person and you don't have to follow Carson around but he wants to so he loves him so much I can't wait to see when they're like 21 and see where they're at and like if they like hang out together are they all their friends gonna be joint so they're not at school yet are they not yet so they turn four in December so next year good time are you gonna put them all in the same class do you know that's something that I spoke to their nursery recently so they do nursery two days or preschool I think you guys call it yeah so they're all in the same nursery class they go two days a week and I've said the primary that they're going to only has two classes in primary one so I basically asked them to really start splitting them up for you know when they

go on their nursery days out and things like that and when they're doing different activities like split them all up and kind of see how the dynamic works best what are your thoughts the emotional side of me would love to see them all together because I just that's how they've been since the beginning so it does upset me just to think of them going their separate ways that's just emotionally as like a mum to like I longed so much in the pregnancy to have all three and so splitting them up for me is really difficult but I feel like for them individually and personally it probably would be best to have Carson and Carter split up so that Carter can kind of learn to thrive himself and then have Carson and maybe Winter together because Winter's not really affected being apart from them but then I'm like would it be better if Winter was

in with Carter so she could support him a little bit more I don't know is Winter like the actual boss of the three of them do you know what she is like in her own way it's almost like her style of play and everything's her demeanor everything's really different she's like the sweetest girl but then when she wants something the whole house knows about it and she wanted it you know last week she she knows what she wants when she wants it and she's a woman she's a woman she knows and it's kind of like part of me loves it because i'm like right you need to be like strong around like this you know we've got four men in the house like you need to know what you want

so part of me likes it but then part of it's like well like it's winter's world we're all just living in it yeah but you're all gonna know about it when she's a teenager because I need tips on growing a backbone before my kids are teenagers because I'm an emotional wreck like I need to learn some backbone before then before all the attitude really starts oh I'll give you some tips on that I need it but my mum says now we've been like talking about it like recently obviously with because he's going through this terrible twos but it's like she says you have to win the battles because then eventually you will win the war because if you give in to every little thing then ultimately they're gonna win the war but you you give in to every little thing then ultimately

they're gonna win the war but you're the parent and i feel like you need to win the war and it's so hard because we do want to give in to our children and love them so much but sometimes it's better for them i think it's so true like i do struggle with that like i always thought oh we'll all be but now do i just say you've got a bigger army than I have the army you're taking on is a little bit bigger than what I've got I've got one two year old you're oh no he's three now he's three you know you've got three of them to contend with so you might let some battles go I definitely do at times I mean oh you've just got to pick your battles we all do don't we to get through the day as quickly and as efficiently and as peacefully.

Maybe not as quickly, but yes, peacefully as we can. Peaceful does not exist in our home, I have to say. I didn't think it would. But, you know, my house is not. We're very energetic and lively and a lot. We were so busy. And, you know, even for you, it it's like how do you get into an activity how do you as they grow how are you gonna run them around you're just gonna be like you know like

the taxi service that's definitely what I'm finding difficult just now is this stage that we're at so we've got three three-year-olds and a seven-year-old for me it's like trying to find the joy and the daily like rigmarole like roundhog day trying to find the joy and just the practicalities of keeping everything moving keeping the kids like you know fed watered clean keeping the house running the washing the food the food shop, making dinners, making meals. The washing for you must be a touch of the task in itself. It really is. And that's with having a lot of family support. Like Liam and I are a team together in this, which we are so lucky to have.

Like with his work and things, you know, he's away a couple of nights a week and a Saturday all day. And apart from that, we're around to sort of tag team each other so even with that other person to support me and our families being involved it is still so hard to manage the task at hand and feel like I'm able to give the kids my undivided attention individually and be the mum that I kind of envisioned I would be because the practicalities of having four children just take over you know they're not so fun stuff and I suppose like now I'm trying to teach myself or reset my mind to think well the time I do get to be present and give them that one-on-one time is even more special amongst the chaos but it is hard because I just wish I had more time to give them yeah but I think you're just doing an amazing job and I wouldn't be

that hard on yourself like thank you hats off like you've got four kids you know you've got three under the age of four right now so you are like absolutely smashing it and don't be hard on yourself because I think even just to be sat on here with a bit of makeup on your face see me on the school run I'm a different mum they all know that and we all laugh about it I'm like two versions in fact I'm like three versions of myself the school run mum this mum and then like glam mum when I like go all out I'm like three different people and believe me in my house this is like a corner but there are like cupboards I'm afraid to open you know you just keep chucking stuff in and hoping for the best we've all got to

just do what we can do to like get through the day really absolutely like you wouldn't change it all for the world like the chaos and the madness but like sometimes you would when the chaos gets too overwhelming but at the end of the day like it's worth it I just I just constantly hope that I'm doing enough you are enough and that's it and it's what you can give your kids isn't it um I mean we could literally talk all day because I think it's just absolutely fascinating. The world of triplets and, you know, and having our Mason, let's not forget about him. But yeah, you and Liam are just absolutely owning it and doing amazing and keep doing what you're doing. And, you know, I love following your journey. Thank you so much.

And you as well honestly we're all in our own situations and circumstances and we're all just doing our best by our little people and yeah we'll get there they're doing amazing we're doing amazing and I'm just grateful like throughout you know all the difficulties every night as I fall asleep next to them holding their hands I'm just like you know what that was a rough day but we got through it and I just take the fact that there was a quota scene actually and it was not every day will be a good day but there is good in every day so it's about realizing that you know no day is going to be perfect but there are perfect moments to to sort of remember and reflect on it's finding

that positivity in each day and that's all we can do and we just got to try and get through this thing we called life. Exactly. Thank you, Nadia, and I love you so much. Do you have a question you want me and my guests to answer? Get in touch by emailing askmumsthewordpod at gmail.com or leave us a voicemail on whatsapp our number is 07599927537 or leave it as a review on apple podcast make sure you hit the subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode if you're listening on apple podcast then please leave us a review and a five-star rating it helps others find us and

talking of spreading the news please tell another person about the podcast and help us reach more people so I've been Kelsey Parker you can find me on being underscore Kelsey on Instagram where I'm just being me we'll be back with another episode, same time, same place, next week. Thanks for listening.