FOUR little FULTONS: luck

Sunday, September 28, 2008

We won the lottery!....

This has been one LONG weekend. The things we will do for the almighty buck! Over the past three days I have worked 36 hours and I have 8 more hours to go tomorrow. My work at my
other PAYING job. My alter ego as the police/fire dispatcher. I have been doing this job for so long that I do not know any better. I always said that I would be a stay at home mom once I became one. BUT as soon as they told me we were having 4 babies that plan changed! I knew that I would need to get out & be around adults. Going to work is my outlet. Not only is it a paycheck BUT I get to be around adults. YAY! You can always use some EXTRA money when you have a big family like ours! Raising 4 babies & a soon to be teenager is EXPENSIVE! Yes it has been rough, Yes there are times when I only get to see them for a few moments here & there BUT it is worth it. I keep telling myself that this will all pay off in the end. This is a journey & we learn as we go. I revel in the moments I do have with them. PLUS I have a WONDERFUL husband that is an AWESOME dad. He let's me do this. He is my equal in more ways than one & I love him so! I have been SO lucky! Now if only that luck would rub off so we could say....

We won the lottery!...

Friday, August 8, 2008

oh, lucky day....

Today is suppose to be a lucky day, 8 8 08. I do not know if there is that much truth in that since I woke up EARLY to a screaming baby! Miss Linz decided to wake up an hour & a half before the rest, SCREAMING! This is the 3rd day that she has had a fever. I think it is teething but I just do not know. She just wanted to be held, by only ME! IT was rough. Her twin also woke up with a cough & some congestion so I decided I better take them in to the pediatrician just to make sure. Luckily Grandma had the morning free so we loaded up the babe's & off we went to the doctor's. Only having to take two babies in is a treat! Whenever they need shots I try to line up EXTRA reinforcements to help comfort them. You never think of those things when you have just one baby. Well there I was in the waiting room with them clinging on to me like glue. I guess that was better than letting them down to roam through the germ infested "sick kid" area. We waited about 20 minutes & YAY they called our name! They got weighed in & I am sad to announce that they are still under 20 lbs. No wonder we still call them "peanut"! We saw a NEW doctor to the practice which sometimes can be hard when you are so accustomed to seeing their regular one. She was great! She made sure they did not cry when she listened to their lungs & checked their throats. Let me tell you for all that we had to do to get them there you would think we woud leave with some sort of diagnosis. NOTHING! No ear infections, sore throats, congestions, etc. They were as healthy as can be. I guess I should have listened to my intuition & realized it was just them teething their molars...

oh, lucky day!....

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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