CEDAR FALLS - A small cry reverberates from the baby monitor sitting next to the living room couch.

Allison Pohlman glances briefly at her husband, Kirk, but then continues her conversation. For a moment the monitor falls silent as the baby decides if she is ready to wake. Within moments the lights on the monitor flash again and the baby's cries grow stronger. This time Kirk is the one talking and Allison quietly slips away to the bedroom to comfort her young daughter.

She rejoins the conversation with her nearly 1-month-old daughter, Sidny, cuddling in her arms. Kirk has barely finished his sentence when the monitor lights begin flashing again and more cries come from the same bedroom. Sidny's sister, Quinn, has realized her younger sister, by only two minutes, is no longer sleeping in the same bed. She wants up now, too. Kirk slips into the bedroom to rescue Quinn from the crib.

And once Sidny and Quinn are up, middle sister Rubie decides she doesn't want to sleep in bed alone and lets out a cry of her own. This is where the juggling act of parenthood gets a little sticky for the Pohlmans. Allison rearranges Sidny into her right arm and Kirk places Quinn in the left before heading to the bedroom for Rubie.

"We've got a pretty good routine going," Kirk said. "You have to."

Quinn, Rubie and Sidny Pohlman were born July 30 at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo. The triplets, who each weighed more than 4 pounds at birth, spent only nine days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit before coming home. Kirk said the time spent at the hospital was like training wheels.

"Any question we had, they answered," Allison added. "They were amazing, helping with changings, nursing. We left there with a routine. They were eating every three hours, and we try to use that same routine at home, just on a little different schedule. They really shot us out of the blocks."

In fact, the triplets were so well-adjusted by the time they left the hospital, Kirk and Allison were able to run through a drive-through before heading home that first day. They already knew how difficult such tasks had become in just nine short days.

Now, they are lucky to leave the house for more than an hour at a time. With three little girls nursing, Allison has only about an hour between each feeding. Add in diaper changes and naps, and travel quickly can become more hassle than it's worth. Just ask any parent of one - and then multiply their comments by three.

The Pohlmans have ventured out to the Panther Fan Fest - Allison is an assistant UNI women's basketball coach - and even taken the girls for a walk in the neighborhood.

"We are getting brave," Kirk said.

Building their family

It took some time for the young couple to feel comfortable enough in their new parenting roles to say they are "brave."

The Pohlmans used intrauterine insemination, a less invasive fertility procedure, to get pregnant. They knew they had more than a 90 percent chance of having twins using this procedure, but the thought of having more than two was a pretty long shot. Doctors told them triplets were possible in only about 3 percent of all IUI pregnancies.

"We were just hoping for somebody. We had no idea we would end up with three," Allison said.

Allison was eight weeks pregnant when she went in for her first ultrasound. Kirk remembers the technician asked them if they could hear the heartbeats. They instantly picked up on the plural and excitedly thought they were having twins.

"She told us it was twins, plus one," Allison said.

"We were shocked," Kirk added.

Allison's mother, Deb Starr of Wellsburg, felt similar emotions when she learned the news. The family had gone out for dinner and Allison ordered a larger than normal meal. When asked if she was eating for two, Allison calmly replied, "no." She was eating for four.

"I don't know if I really comprehended the whole situation right away," Starr said. "I think it took a few days for it to sink in."

At home they immediately began planning for Allison's pregnancy - they were warned early there could be complications - and for their new life with three children. In addition to their Cedar Valley doctor, Allison also began seeing a specialist in Iowa City. Kirk said that doctor gave them the worst-case scenario options from the start.

But, every time they went back to the doctor, Allison had passed another benchmark. When carrying triplets, doctors are usually happy if the mother can make it to 32 weeks. Allison - whose belly measured what a woman carrying one baby would have measured at 48 weeks - delivered the triplets at 34 weeks.

Though small, the triplets were born healthy. They were never placed on oxygen and only stayed in the hospital nine days before coming home.

"We were very pleased," Kirk said.

"That day was just so nice because we were finally coming home," Allison added.

Life changes

Even before the triplets were born, the Pohlmans were readying themselves and their home for the little additions. They bought a new car that would safely hold three car seats. They readied the nursery for three little girls, though the triplets share one crib - one of the doctor's recommendations - for now.

Allison said they could continue to co-sleep for several months, though these tall little girls may outgrow a single bed before most.

Kirk took three weeks off work to help his wife with the new babies. Even now, they have the girls' schedule set so he can help with a feeding before leaving in the morning, during lunch and as soon as he gets home from work. With Kirk back at work, Allison said she has lots of help from grandparents, other relatives and friends.

"If you stop to visit, you will be put to work," she said, gently bouncing Sidny, who was letting her mom know she was hungry the only way she could - by fussing.

Grandma Ilene Pohlman knows that all too well. She lives with her son and daughter-in-law during the week, offering that extra burping shoulder or cradling arm. Her husband, Roger, stays over often, too.

"It takes all day to care for these babies," she said. "You are involved all day long in a task … but I really did think it would be more hectic. As long as we follow the schedule everything goes great. It's been a blessing just to be involved."

Starr is still working during the week, but has used much of her vacation to spend extended weekends with the girls.

"I love getting my time in with them," she said.

In a routine

Life is beginning to settle in for the Pohlmans.

While they once tried to dress the girls in matching outfits each day, now they grab whatever is clean. Some nights Allison and Kirk can get six hours of sleep; others, they may only get two or three. Still, they power through the day and hope for a better night tomorrow.

"They've been pretty kind to us, really," Kirk said.

It isn't uncommon for the girls to go through a pack of disposable diapers daily.

Though not identical, they definitely look like siblings. The Pohlmans now can tell their baby girls apart by the way they cry, but that wasn't always the case.

"When we were getting ready to leave the hospital, we would switch them up in the NICU just to make sure we could tell them apart when they weren't lying in the same order," Kirk said.

Each little girl is starting to develop her own personalities and features. Quinn, the oldest, is patient. Sidny is a little more demanding. Rubie is easy to identify, even to those who are less acquainted with the girls, because of her full head of hair.

Kirk is getting used to carrying two infant car seats on his arms when they brave a family trip. It's not too bad now, he said, considering the girls only weigh about 5 pounds each. Though he is looking forward to the girls growing, he isn't too excited about carrying around two 15-pound babies in their car seats.

The next milestone for the three little girls is to make the leap onto their doctor's growth chart. Allison said they were just a little too small last time, but they are doing well.

"To me, they don't seem that small," she said, cradling a girl in each arm.

The Pohlmans are unsure about how their family may grow in the future. For now, Allison said they are happy with the family they have.

"To be fair to the girls, we won't have any more for quite awhile," she said. "That will give us the time we need to be good parents for them."

Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1520 or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.