FOUR little FULTONS: June 2008

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

MY life as I know it....

I must say that my life is an amazing adventure. I get to wake up each day to a new bag of tricks. My four little ones keep me very entertained. I do not notice how grown up they are getting unless I look back at pictures & then can I see it. Someone comes by to see them and comments on their hair, skin, height, etc. then I pay closer attention. I guess you need to see things from a distance once in awhile to really appreciate it! My mom asked me the other day what it felt like being a mommy & I cannot remember not being one! I have only been at this job 17 months but it seems like forever! That is hard to believe but VERY true! These little buggers have taken over my mind & soul! I do not remember life without them! I used to do SO many things, not having to worry about anyone but myself & now all of that has changed. Every extra cent is spent on them! I order the kiddie meal whenever I can just to get the toy for them. It's bad! hahah! Most of my friends have children but to the ones that do not, Your day will come! You may laugh now at how silly I can be singing a "Barney" song out of the blue at work or because I am happy and I know it so I clap my hands! ha! I am telling you, you will be in this SILLY place one day too! Of course then I will laugh at YOUR silliness! Especially since Barney will be old school & my kids will be on to something goofier!

This is MY life as I know it....

Monday, June 2, 2008

our little runaway....

The other day as I was loading up to get out of "dodge" aka Grandma's we had an "incident". Miss Camryn made a "run for it". As I was tending to our Lizard lady, aka Avery, attempting to eat what I think was a snake egg. She had it all over her hands & on the side of her face! YUK! There Miss Camryn was making a run for it! Well, she did not run, she walked, but it was across Grandma's street. Luckily no cars were driving in the area & Grandma caught sight of her bright orange shirt. We ran over & captured her! Now to get back to Avery, I still do not know what kind of egg she found or even if she got any of it in her mouth! It was DISGUSTING! See what we have to deal with! They are CRAZY! LOL! Camryn must think she is older than her siblings. She is such a different child from the rest! She loves her ALONE time. I think she just likes to not have her sisters & brother take things away from her. If that is what she needs she can be an "only" child in her little world. It is going to be interesting once they start talking more. Instead of trying to figure them out they can tell me! It is just getting fun! The one thing that I will never forget is the day that she was our little runaway....

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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