FOUR little FULTONS: Isn't life amazing....

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Isn't life amazing....

Each and EVERY day these little buggers of mine AMAZE me! They are SO smart & continually show me that. It all started with one little step at a time. Now it has turned into a race!! They are full speed ahead & I am just along for the ride! I must say that it is the ride of my life! When I was younger the phrase was "You are a trip with no luggage". That is a good description of my life; full of laughs, laughs and more laughs! Too many occur & definitely not enough time to write about them! I will however include a recent one from a recent visit with Aunt Jodi (AJ) & Uncle Philip. Cam Cam did another "funny". (that is what I call most of my blog entries, funnies). They, just like any "newbie" that comes into contact with our four amazing little people always say the same thing... They are SO good! Do they think we raise ANIMALS! ha! They really are good & GOD has blessed us immensely in that dept. He gave us the pick of the litter!! (= It may take them 20 minutes to get to know you but once they are warmed up there is no telling what they might do. They LOVE people! I wonder where they get that from!? ha! (= Well, Miss Cam Cam loves to amuse & did not let them down last night! After dinner Cam snuggled with Aunt Jodi as she danced around the room. AJ assumed she was going to sleep because she was so still. Don't ever assume! ha! She was so proud of herself getting her to "sleep" when all of the sudden Cam bounce's up, smiles & shakes her head "no" as in I am not sleeping you silly woman! "AJ" just laughed! She really did fool her! Too bad they live so far away.. if not, they could experience this daily! The babe's learn SO much from all of us. I have noticed that the more I "blog" the more they want to "blog" too! They now think this keyboard is a toy. Uh oh! My only hope is that they grow up to be writers! I can wish can't I??

Hopefully 20 years from now when they read my post's they will know how much their mommy loves them! Remember 20 years down the road is the light at the end of my tunnel!! (=

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....

Blog Archive

These words & pictures are MINE & MINE alone