When Amy Jo Hasselquist learned that her brother and his wife were expecting a child, she had no idea it would be three children, not one.
Crystal, her sister-in-law, was expecting triplets, bringing the family’s total to six people (the couple also had an older son).
The boys were born at 29 weeks and spent three months in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Crystal began to wonder how she would be able to identify her babies apart after spending numerous hours in the NICU trying to comfort them and give them strength to fight for their lives.
The babies were identical triplets, which meant they were identical in look.
So, after consulting with the nurses and analyzing what other parents did, she decided that color-coding would be an excellent way to differentiate her kids.
‘When (Crystal) was in the NICU with the infants for those three months, she talked to the doctors a lot, and they talked a lot of the different ways other multiple parents have color-coded their children to make sure they know who is who,’ Hasselquist told Good Morning America.
She began by choosing a color for each baby at that moment. Henrik would choose blue, James would choose green, and Thomas would choose red.
Since the triplets were brought home, everything has been color-coded, according to the proud aunt. Everything from bottles to cribs, clothing, and blankets.
But what if there’s an emergency and the babies don’t have anything in their favorite color with them?
They’ve also come up with a solution for that.
The family has decided to paint each of the babies’ big toes in the color they have picked. Even if the newborns remove their clothing, their family will be able to distinguish them.
Amy, the pleased aunt who frequently posts videos of her nephews on TikTok, recently posted a video in which she demonstrated how to tell the newborns apart to TikTok users.
‘I joined TikTok during the flu, like most others,” she continued, ‘so I thought it’d be fun to make humorous small movies with music, stuff like that, especially to share with other friends and family.’
The video quickly went viral, with over 16 million views to date, and people adored it.
‘I’m not even passing judgment!” “Tell me [you’re] a genius without telling me [you’re] a genius!’ remarked one person, while another added, ‘Tell me [you’re] a genius without telling me [you’re] a genius!’ 10000000000 degree of parenting.
Amy is glad that people appreciate her video of the triplets, and she intends to make more.
‘I believe they’ve given everyone a good laugh. And we’ve persuaded the triplets’ grandparents to join TikTok so they can follow along with the videos, so we’re hoping to keep making them,’ she said.