FOUR little FULTONS: IVF

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Happy Birthday to me!...

Well we made it! We made it through the "terrible two's" and have now entered what I have been told is even "better" than the two's... the three's! WOO HOO! Yes the tribe has turned three! We want to give a BIG thank you to all that have helped us get to where we are today! Today at church we were reminded of our HUGE church family. It was wonderful seeing a few of the volunteers that helped make those first few months bearable. If it was not for each of you we would not have been able to do it! SO again thanks! Today has been a day of reflection for me. It seems like yesterday that I was sitting in our fertility doctors office crying my eyes out thinking I would never have a child of my own. Little did I know then that our lives would be drastically different in such a few short years! WOW! SO much has gone on since that day! A miracle happened that day when against all odds we went for our last IVF cycle, implanting the last three embryos we had left. Never being pregnant I did not think they would take.You see I had about given up my faith in getting any of my prayers answered. Apparently God really did have a plan for us! Again, WOW! We had MANY people praying for & look where we are today, the proud parents of three year old quadruplets! I think back to when they all fit in the same crib. Now you can barely get them to stay still to pose for a picture! AMAZING how time flys when you are BUSY BUSY BUSY! Where do I begin to say what a gift it is to be their parents? Yes, it is HARD work! Yes I have bad days where I want to pull my hair out! Yes I wish we could afford to send them to preschool just so I could have a moment to breath! But through all of the hard stuff I am just happy to be called Mom. Motherhood is one of the best gifts I ever could have been given! Each year that we get to celebrate their miraculous birth is even more precious to me! I especially get excited when they chime in and sing...

Happy Birthday to me!...

Saturday, June 20, 2009

the BEST daddy ever...

Three years ago on Father's Day we created these little buggers of ours! So I only saw it fitting to share with you some of the snap shots of our journey! We have had MANY wild but fun times these past three years! Here's a little glance down memory lane! We hope that all of our Daddy friends out there have a HAPPY Father's Day!

Here we are on our way to the Fertility Doctor's office

The tribe when they were just three.. Can you tell who is who? LOL!

When three became four!!!!

Three days BEFORE I delivered!

Co-bedding started REALLY early...

Party in Camryn's crib 12 o'clock sharp! (=

Four little Fulton's on their 1st Birthday!

Daddy & his girls, Father's Day 2008 (Brendan is sitting with Grandma behind them)

The tribe & their leader, Father's day weekend 2009

Daddy you are the BEST tickler, game player and in our eyes you can fix EVERYTHING! Just remember this when we turn sixteen and ask you for the car keys! We'll be saying you are...

the BEST daddy ever!...

Our Story...

Ok I am now over 8 years into this "job" of mine, being a mommy to multiples, high order multiples to boot! They say that if you try to conceive without protection for one year with no success then you are infertile. Those words were a lot to take in. I sought answers from everyone. We started out with our 1st OB/GYN Dr William Casale doing the normal testing that they were equipped to do. We did it all, IUI's, spermwashing, etc. I then contacted RESOLVE, a wonderful organization for people like me (could not get pregnant). I started making mental notes of what I needed to achieve my dream, to be a mom! The next step was to go see a Fertility Doctor. We chose to see Dr Mark Denker. After checking me out he then referred Michael to see a Urologist who ended up putting him on clomid. Yes, men can take this RX too! It helps make more sperm just like it helps a woman create more follicles. It is AMAZING the things you learn when you are trying to conceive! After further testing we were both told we had fertility issues, I had fewer eggs than a woman my age & they were "tough", Michael had double vericasils so that in order for us to have the "best odds" we needed to go the IVF route. I had this feeling that it was not going to work right away, call it my intuition. So we bought a package, can you even believe that they sell "packages" like a travel agency? Our "package" included 3 rounds of IVF with ICSI, minus all the meds I would need. The drugs are an expense we did not even think of but had to purchase for this entire thing to work. Well, it ended up taking all 3 rounds of IVF & accupuncture courtesy of Dr Susan Schiff for me to get pregnant & boy did I get pregnant! (Trust your intuition!) We started out with very few follicles, only 3 fertilized into embryo's and all three took. I was finally pregnant! 8 weeks into my pregnancy one of the embryo's split & became identical. Can you believe that!? What are the odds? No one told me that could happen! AMAZING! We had a lot of decisions to make. No one thought that we should keep all four. In the medical world it is called a "selective reduction". Only a few doctors even do this procedure. We did not know what our future would hold just that we could not reduce anything! In the beginning we had a hard time finding a doctor that felt like we did & wanted our four babies to thrive! We finally found Dr Moises Virelles, a fellow Christian & my now OB/GYN. He then referred us to an AWESOME Perinatologist, Dr Gary Cohen. Having the two of them on our side we knew ANYTHING was possible! My pregnancy was really uneventful. I was put on "bed rest" at 22 weeks. I later found out my "bed rest" was unlike other women's bed rest. I was just not allowed to work. I continued to do things, just stayed off my feet as much as possible. If I went shopping I would ride a motorized scooter. If I went to a party I sat pretty much the entire time. I had no issues, my cervix was long & rock solid. I really feel that God wanted me to be a mommy! The babies were great! They kicked each other more than they kicked me! People would look at me & could not believe that I had four babies inside me, I tell you I was meant to carry quads! Now don't get me wrong, it was not a joy ride, I was miserable towards the end & felt it very difficult to breathe. I never even went into the hospital prior to January 15th. Even though I asked them to admit me MANY times!! On January 17, 2007 we welcomed our GBGG quads; Camryn, Brendan, Avery & Lindsey into this world. 1 set is fraternal & 1 set is identical. They weighed 4 lb 7 oz, 4 lb 4 oz, 3 lb 6 oz & 3 lb 3 oz. I made it 32 weeks 5 days when I delivered them at St Mary's Medical Center. They were all HEALTHY and they did not need to be intubated! WOO HOO! They were little miracles destined to be here! I had nurses come up to me & tell me how wonderful it was that I carried them so long, that it was a better gift holding onto them as long as I did than a Harvard education! WOW! We were SO happy, excited & most of all unprepared for how much our life was about to change. I will say it was a GOOD change! I cannot imagine my life without them! Everyone watches our little ones in amazement & they still do. This is their story....

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