She was willing to have it the tough way for the sake of her children. As a mother, it was indeed very hard on her.
As an outsider, Zhai Hua had no right to lecture Qiao Nan for not doing enough for the babies.
“Nan Nan, the soup is getting cold. It will turn fishy when it is cold.” The three of them were engrossed in their conversation and the auntie felt that it was unsuitable for her to interrupt. Now that they had reached a conclusion, the auntie then reminded them of the soup.
“She is right. You should have the soup.” Miao Jing agreed.
Hua Hua had truly grown up.
When Hua Hua was discussing with Nan Nan whether to take leave from school or not, she felt that Hua Hua had a similar expression as Zhai Sheng’s. She dared not interrupt them at all.
Luckily, Nan Nan knew what she was doing and she made Hua Hua listen to her.
Qiao Nan took the bowl of crucian carp soup from the auntie. Although it had not turned cold, Qiao Nan could smell the fishy smell.
She had one mouthful of soup and felt disgusted by the awful taste!
She knew that the soup was to increase her breast milk.
As a mother who had to provide milk for her babies, Qiao Nan had no other choice but to take a deep breath and downed the soup all at once!
Zhai Hua’s face twisted in disgust. “Is the taste that awful?” Even when she was taking medicine, Qiao Nan had never behaved as such.
Qiao Nan hurried to drink some water to rinse off the awful taste in her mouth. “Sister Zhai Hua, there must be more of the soup downstairs. Perhaps you want to have a bowl of soup?” It was good that someone wanted to share her soup.
Zhai Hua gave a disdainful smile. “I am not a fool. The three babies are waiting for you to feed them. Even if they are sumptuous food, I will not fight with you. I would rather give everything to you. Furthermore, the soup is to increase breast milk. Nan Nan, let me remind you. You must not shortchange my nephews and niece. If not, I will bring them away!”
“She is right. Hua Hua has become more sensible after becoming an auntie.” Miao Jing was amused. After spending more time with her daughter-in-law, her daughter was better with her words.
A lady should behave in such a manner.
“Wawawa…!”
Perhaps the babies were envious that the adults were having an animated conversation and they felt left out. Da Bao began crying out loud.
His voice was loud and clear. No one would believe that he was less than two thousand five hundred grams when he was born. He sounded like a plump baby who weighed three thousand five hundred grams to four thousand grams.
“What’s wrong with Da Bao?” Zhai Hua panicked, not knowing what to do. She stood by the side as Miao Jing touched Da Bao’s bottom deftly to check. “Don’t worry. It is just that he has pooped.”
They were indeed triplets. When one started crying, the other two babies would make noises as well.
Miao Jing had yet to change the diaper for Da Bao and wash him when Er Bao and San Bao began crying.
Luckily, there were many adults at home. Miao Jing was in charge of Da Bao, the auntie was in charge of Er Bao, and Qiao Nan, though clumsy and new to the task, attended to San Bao patiently.
As for Zhai Hua, who knew nothing about taking care of babies and was worried that she would hurt the babies with her clumsy, strong hands, she ran around, passing them whatever they needed.
She would pass them diapers, clothes, warm water, as well as baby powder.
The four adults busied themselves as they took care of the three babies who were only two days old. They broke out in a sweat after they changed and cleaned them.
Four of them looked at each other and smiled at their first success. “We have three babies at one go. We will be very busy in the future.”
Qiao Nan was a first-time mother. She was still learning to be a mother and to take care of the babies. Although she had her mother-in-law and auntie to help her, she would still overwork herself and slump on the bed due to exhaustion.
Qiao Nan used to think that she would be bored during the one month of confinement.
She knew that even if she had time, her mother-in-law and her family would not allow her to do any reading for fear that it would not be good for her eyes.
She had given birth to triplets and the doctor suggested that she went through two months of confinement, saying that it would be better for her health.
She had herself to blame as she was drained of all energy after giving birth to two of the babies, and the third child almost died in her womb.
Qiao Nan was not a willful lady, but at times, she would be willful as well.
She felt that she could hardly stand one month of confinement, let alone two months of confinement.
If she went through two months of confinement, she might be healthy, but she would be mentally unsound.
Therefore, Qiao Nan had made up her mind not to go through two months of confinement. The doctor only suggested that she went through two months of confinement to be on the safe side, but she did not insist on it. Furthermore, she did not say that it would be detrimental to her health to go through one month of confinement.
However, when she finally started to take care of her three babies, she realized that she was far from being bored.
She fed the triplets and they grew to be more and more adorable each day. Their reddish and wrinkled skin became fair and tender. They looked chubby and they had changed so much in less than a month.
The adults at the Zhai family marveled in joy just from looking at the babies. The fair and tender babies looked adorable as they opened their tiny mouths and uttered small sounds.
Old Master Zhai and Zhai Yaohui were not immune to their charms either. They enjoyed carrying them in their arms, but they would be sleeping most of the time and they would cry when awake. They even gifted their grandpa and great-grandpa with their poops and urine from time to time.
There might be a lot of adults in the Zhai family, but Qiao Nan spent the most time taking care of them.
During the daytime, she had her mother-in-law and auntie to help her out.
When nighttime came, it was when the trouble started.
Miao Jing was already advanced in years and she would feel unwell once in a while. The three babies would often wake up in the middle of the night, feeling hungry or soiling their diapers.
Mothers would usually lose their weight from taking care of their children.
Qiao Nan had to take care of three babies, and thus, it was thrice the torture. Whenever they woke up in the middle of the night, Qiao Nan had to take care of three of them and suffer thrice the hardships of usual mothers…
Qiao Nan’s weight had increased by more than fifteen kilograms after she was pregnant. After she gave birth to three babies, her weight had reduced by around five kilograms, including the weight of the water bag and placenta. When she was discharged from the hospital and went back home to rest, she was still five kilograms heavier than her usual weight.
However, Qiao Nan’s weight dropped dramatically as she had to take care of her three babies. She had not completed her confinement, but she was already back to her normal weight.
Moreover, the three babies would need to have more milk as they developed. This meant that it would be harder on Qiao Nan.
Her weight had returned to normal in less than a few months and she might even weigh lighter than her usual weight.
“This won’t do.” The Zhai family could tell that Qiao Nan was losing weight and they were anxious.
