Taylor

Jonah

Jaden

Photos courtesy Newsday

On April 1, Michelle Clarke was initiated into motherhood with the birth of Taylor, Jonah and Jaden, the first triplets born at the Port of Spain General Hospital for 2005.

The babies – two boys and a girl – were born prematurely by Caesarean section. They were in fact expected this month.

After their birth there were a few complications. Jonah and Jaden had problems with their lungs and were kept on a ventilator for two weeks.

Their sister, Taylor though smallest of the three, was relatively healthy. The babies stayed at the neo-natal department of the hospital for almost the whole of April and were brought home for the first time on Friday, April 29.

Michelle admits to being worried about her newborn triplets while they were in hospital but she came to realise: “There was really nothing I could do. I had to trust the doctors.”

Now, a month and a week later all three babies are at home and Michelle, a Neal and Massy human resource manager, is pooling all her resources to manage motherhood.

She never took care of babies before and it is a big change for her. “I'm just taking it one day at a time. Taking it as it comes.”

Board member Michelle Clarke with her daughter Taylor, one of triplets born April 1.

As is common for new mothers, Michelle is getting a lot of help from her own mother.

“Thank God for my mother” she said. But even with her mother's assistance the triplets are keeping Mrs Clarke very busy.

“Sometimes they wake up at different times… Sometimes they all wake up at the same time.” She also has assistant trained in childcare come in from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. to help with the night-time feedings. “Feeding the three babies is like a cycle; one, then the other, then the third, then you have to feed the first one again.”

All the help she is getting is crucial to helping her make her first steps of motherhood… times three. She hopes that in a few weeks the babies will learn to sleep through the night.

Michelle is a member of the Board of Printing Services Ltd and her husband Terrence is general manager of Scotia's Merchant Bank.

We at Catholic News congratulate Terrence and Michelle Clarke on the birth of their triplets. We wish Michelle an extra special Mother's Day. In this her first taste of motherhood she has been thrice blessed.