Rachael and Chris Winterton, from Eastbourne, flew to Cʏᴘʀᴜs for fertility treatment but were not expecting such success. The pair refer to their parents – Lily-Rose, Jude and Esme – as “mini Winnies”.
Born last August, Rachael, 28, has revealed the strict minute-by-minute schedule she and Chris, 29, now have to adhere to.
Rachael admits it was difficult at first to feed the three mouths every few hours, but now they’ve settled into the habit. Their daily schedule includes naps, walks, playtime, feeding, bathing, storytelling, and most importantly, bedtime.
“Chris and I haven’t slept much since giving birth to triplets,” she said. It’s been tough and I’m always on the go. I think I’ve ʟᴏsᴛ all of my kids’ weight just running after them all day.
The only way that we manage is to have a very strict daily routine. It’s all so carefully planned and timed, it’s like a military regime.”
The day starts at 6:30 a.m., when she and mortgage advisor Chris wake up to start breastfeeding, and when they know their baby, Lily-Rose goes first because she’s the fastest.
“Then one of us would entertain ourselves while the other went to change clothes and then we swap,” Rachael said. I’m on maternity leave so I stay home while Chris goes to work but he always comes home to help with lunch.
They have scheduled a half-hour nap during the day with food and playtime in between. They all love their Jumperoos and I spend all day singing to them. I sing sign language is soᴍᴇᴛʜing they really love. We have story time every evening with engaging books.
In the shower, Lily-Rose and Jude needed to be showered first because Esme was happy to wait. She is definitely the most patient.
We called them down for the night at 6:45 p.m. and then it was time for us to prep and have dinner before a very early night and it all started again.”
Chris has been forced to give up golf to help, and despite the increased workload, the new parents are content.
“It’s three times as hard work as you’d expect as a new mom, which is a bit crazy,” says Rachael. But I won’t change it for the world. Just like three times the work, we also get three times the joy, three times the smile and three times the love.”
They gave birth to triplets after a second IVF attempt, at a total cost of £11,500, implanting three viable embryos in the hope that at least one would succeed. But all three were starting to grow, and Rachael 5” 4 ᴅᴇʟɪᴠᴇʀᴇᴅ by C-section at 33 weeks, they only weighed 11lb 3oz combined.
After two and a half weeks in intensive care, they were allowed to go home, and despite being young, they had already achieved all of their milestones.
Rachael growled: “Esme is really calm and feels cold but then she has this wild side and loves to roar at us. Lily-Rose is our sensitive one, she is very social and loves people but also gets scared easily. And Jude is the most sᴋɪʟʟful little monkey. I know I shouldn’t say it but he’s a typical Bᴏʏ and loves it when you blow raspberries.
We are so proud of all of them, they are our little Winnies.”
