For six weeks now, all Rob Murphy has been thinking about is holding. It’s an odd thought, certainly, for a guy who makes his living as an offensive lineman in the Canadian Football League and who is well aware that holding is against the rules of the game. But the kind of holding that has consumed the burly B.C. Lion won’t draw any penalty flags.

Murphy, you see, has been strapping on his gear and butting heads with opponents while—a continent away, in central Florida—his newborn triplets tackle the many challenges that come with being born two months prematurely.

And with the Lions enjoying an off week in their schedule, Murphy was on the first flight to Jacksonville to see—and hold—his two boys and little girl for the first time since he cradled them on July 1, the day they were born.

“They’re doing great,” the proud papa told the Georgia Straight after a recent practice at the Lions’ training facility in Surrey. “I’ve got two of them that are just over five pounds, and the third is well on his way. They’re breathing on their own and they’re out of the incubators. Their feeds are going up every day, and that’s the key: just gaining weight now. They’re making a lot of progress.

"This is going to be a much-needed break for me. I’ll be at the hospital the entire time, which is fine with me. The last day before I came back here [after the birth], I was just allowed to hold them for a minute each. Now you can hold them for a lot longer. They were in the incubators, and you could really only touch them.”

It’s been an agonizing process for Murphy to be apart from his wife, Amy, baby boys Maddox and Grey, and daughter Rowan. But with the little ones still in hospital, and Amy having the support of family and friends in Florida, the 31-year-old Buffalo, New York, native made the decision to return to his other family, the B.C. Lions.

Murphy, twice named the CFL’s most outstanding lineman, insists that when he’s on the football field, he’s able to block out everything and focus solely on his job. But given the delicate nature of the situation back home, it’s easy to understand how his mind might wander.

“It’s been crazy,” he says. “I try to talk to my wife as much as possible, but even that is tough because she pulls six-hour shifts at the hospital every morning and then goes home and sleeps for a couple of hours and then goes back. There’s no cellphones [allowed in the hospital], so we have some long stretches during the day with no contact, but when we finally do catch up with one another it’s pretty meaningful.”

And in those moments when Murphy can’t reach his wife and he still needs to know what’s going on in his babies’ little lives, he’s still just a phone call—or often several phone calls—away.

“I call the nurses three times a day, any time of the day or night, and they give me updates and progress of each baby and their heart rates and how they’re breathing and how they’re feeding,” he says with a laugh. “So I’ve become a bit of a poor man’s expert on all the stuff concerning premature babies and triplets.”

The Murphys have been told by doctors that the chances of all three babies getting clearance to go home from the hospital at the same time are slim. So they just embrace each day as it comes.

Murphy says he has to remind himself that because of the premature births, the babies’ original due date remains weeks away. So he knows the situation will continue to be delicate for quite some time. Yet he marvels at how far his little ones have come in such a short period.

“I get pictures every day. It’s amazing. I got a new batch last night, and I was going over those pictures compared to when they were first born. It’s amazing how much progress they’ve made, going from just barely over three pounds and super-underdeveloped and now two of them are over five pounds.

"They’re gaining weight and getting chubbier cheeks and stuff like that. They’re doing great. For what they’ve been through and what my wife has been through—going through it on her own—we’re going along well.”

Things are even better now that Murphy has been able to rejoin the family and had the chance to spend the past week with them. Lions players aren’t required to be back in town until Saturday (August 16) to begin preparing for their next game, on August 22 against Calgary.

Prior to heading to Florida, Murphy said he planned to make the most of his time with his wife and children because there may be only one or two more opportunities to see them before the football season ends in November. He said that when the Lions head out east on their road trips, he may find a way to head south for a day or two.

In the meantime, though, he’ll have to get used to being away from those who matter most. With practice days wrapping up by early afternoon, Murphy admits, he has more time on his hands than he’d like, and he can only wish he had his family around. But he knows that’s not going to happen this year.

“It’s tough. Everyone jokes around, like, ‘Murph, what the hell are you doing when you get home at 3 in the afternoon?’ ” he says with a laugh. “I do a lot of reading and a lot of housework. I’m a neat freak, so I do a lot of cleaning—hey, anything that bides my time until I can get back playing football, it’s something I’ve got to do.”

Football is a job Murphy is good at, but at the end of the day it’s just a game. As this year has shown him—and this week in Florida will clearly have reconfirmed—the game of life is what matters most.