FOUR little FULTONS: Road Trip 2011

Thursday, July 21, 2011

our special guest...

When it came time for us to go on "Road Trip 2011" I was trying to figure out if I should bring along a "special guest" or do it all by my lonesome. After mentioning this to a friend at work she mentioned that her ten year old daughter would love to come along. I really don't think she knew what she was truly in for, being in a car for over 9 hours with 4 four year old's and all. Anyhow before we could blink Miss Caitlynn joined us on our "adventure". She was a great help in trying to break up verbal disagreements amongst the tribe. They LOVE to argue! I will say that Miss Caitlynn was NOT a morning person so we did not see her till way after 10 am most mornings. Just having another body there was nice. Even though I've known her for years I really found out a lot about her on this trip, like how she has never driven out of the state of Florida before. She flew to NJ, PA & TX by plane but never left FL by car. Hmm... Isn't it usually the other way around?! We celebrated a lot of "firsts" with her on our "Road Trip". She even lost a tooth! I must say that we had fun & were glad that Miss Caitlynn was there to experience it with us! She was truly...

our special guest...

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Just where in the world are the FOUR little FULTON's?!...

It's adventure time! In just under an hour myself, the tribe & our special guest will be taking off on an adventure. Nothing like hitting the pavement in double digit weather. Now just what will we do? Where will we go? Who will we see? That is the 1000 dollar question. I am going to attempt to take the 6 of us on this adventure for 1,000 dollars or less. If you want to follow our journey just check in here to see exactly how I manage it. Trust me I think this is going to be more of an "adventure" for me than them! So...

Just where in the world are the FOUR little FULTON's?!...

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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