FOUR little FULTONS: playgrounds

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Read my lips, "NO MORE SAND!"...

I will be the first one to admit that I DISLIKE sand! I dislike it so much that if I can help it the tribe would never go to a park with sand. One might say that's wrong of a mother to feel that way but when you have four sets of feet tracking the dirt into YOUR car you might feel differently. When we hit the beach we rinse off competely to help limit what mama needs to cean up. Seriously a bottle of hand sanitizer & a mini vac are this mama's best friends! =) I have on SEVERAL occasions arrived to a park only to see sand & promptly pull away in search of a "sand-free park". Not only is it GROSS because who knows what animals & even children have done their business in it. DISGUSTING!! I know, I know I'm a bad mommy for not embracing it but seriously I really really do NOT like sand!...

Read my lips, "NO MORE SAND!"...

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

the BIG one & playgrounds...

These children of ours have become VERY obsessive lately. They obsess over how and what they get like having to have things whole & complete. Each morning I try to give them fruit of some sort. If it's fresh I have to wash & cut it up. Well, that's when all hell breaks loose! They throw the BIGGEST fit when I am about to cut up the strawberries or darn to cut the string cheese in half! They want it BIG or better yet whole! Not that they even eat it "all gone" when it's whole they just want it that way. Please tell me this is just a phase & with age this too shall pass! I mean it all goes down the same way & since they never even eat the BIG strawberry why do it?! They like to take a bite out of one & then go on to bite the next one. They do this with apples too! sigh... Hello!? That is SO wasteful! So I try to sneak in cut up fruit & string cheese whenever I can. You should see me trying to reason with them. Like I even need to reason with a three year old! UGH!

Me - "Come get your fruit!"

Tribe after seeing the fruit - "No don't cut them up Mommy!"

Me - "I cut all of them up, just eat it!"

Tribe - "But we want BIG one's Mommy!"

Me - They are all the same size! Just eat it!"

Tribe with tears in their eyes - "We want BIG one's!"

Me after I give in & give them some "BIG" one's - "HERE!" but what I REALLY want to say is "You are lucky you even have fresh fruit to eat!" LOL!

If it's not the size of their food it is spotting things from the 'burb as I'm driving. They have the BEST eye sight! They can spot motorcycles 10 cars in front of us on the opposite side of the street {well just about} & playgrounds! They can find a playground ANYWHERE! It can be hidden amongst the trees & trust me they will spot one! It is so funny when I am driving down the road and they will yell out PLAYGROUND! I look around & do not see it! Finally as I look in my rear view mirror I see a swing set in the back yard of someone's house. Like how did they ever see that?! CRAZY! I have to remember that lately it it seems that it's all about...

the BIG one & playgrounds...

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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