Hayley Arsenault, 25, returned home four days after giving birth to her triplet sons Hogan, Rylan, and Finn, and a month after she first arrived at the hospital. As a single mother, she was grateful that her mother was able to take a few weeks off work to assist her in the beginning. When it came time for Arsenault to return to work, she realized she could use “a few extra hands,” as she told Babble.
Hayley Arsenault’s connection with these three local women almost sounds like a fairy tale. The moral of the story is that it truly does take a village to raise a child!
That’s when she decided to turn to Facebook for assistance. Even in her “small, everyone knows everyone community” of C’s Prince Edward Island (where Anne of Green Gables takes place! ), Arsenault thought social media would be the best way to get her message out. “I was expecting some kind of response,” she told Babble, “but the reply I got was incredible.” “I began a week-by-week plan, and when volunteers leave, they automatically sign up for the next week.”
Three of the volunteers were Jenny MacDougall, Alice Mokler, and Anita Arsenault (yep, the same last name as Haley). Anita Arsenault has also worked as a licensed practical nurse in the past (LPN). They’re sisters and kind grandparents who happily volunteered to help every Wednesday morning at 9 a.m.
In a February interview with the Canadian news organization CBC, Mokler explained, “Anita began feeding Rylan at 10 a.m., and he just burped his last burp at 11 a.m., so it does take an hour to feed them. We can give them that time.” And, as MacDougall put it, “I don’t see this as a chore in the least. Coming here is a gift for me. We talk and compare the babies. I’m loving every second of it.”
The “fairy grandmothers” are still very much a part of Arsenault’s life a few months later. “The grandmas still come every Wednesday morning,” Arsenault tells Parents.com. “It allows me to get to appointments, catch up with friends, or sleep.”
Her decision to make her tale public has encouraged her to encourage other moms to get treatment as well. “I’ve talked to other women who said they needed a little more encouragement to call out for support, and I’ve had a lot of people asking to follow my triplets journey,” she adds. “I believe it is critical to not be afraid of feeling guilty for seeking/accepting help from others, since as mothers, we must take care of ourselves in order to care for our children.”
