FOUR little FULTONS: irish eyes were smiling....

Sunday, August 31, 2008

irish eyes were smiling....

Yesterday we went "out" for the first time in quite a LONG time. It was my cousin Patty's 50th birthday & they had a blow out bash for her at an Irish pub. Patty's Dad, Uncle Nelson, is my mom's brother. Her mom, my Aunt Pat, might as well be a leprechaun because she is SO Irish. To have the party at an Irish pub was very fitting! We were VERY lucky to have "Auntie Debbie & Karen" come over to watch them so we could actually celebrate with her. THANK YOU GUYS!!! I worked till 6, rushed home & left with no time to spare. It was SO nice chatting with my relatives & some new found friends. Ever since we have had the babies we have been blessed with "new" friends who have watched our children's growth. They became sort of celebrities once their commercial for St Mary's NICU aired. It is so nice to see that they have "fans" out there. hehee! I spent the evening eating Irish fare, having my Black and Tan & chatting away. It was like a Reunion, aka a "cousins party" like we used to have. Most of my relatives live in S Florida so it was great seeing them all! My cousin Richard, a Realtor, is going to help us find a BIGGER house. I love when family helps family! YAY! & cosuins Monika and Don who have a four year old son & 2 1/2 year old daughter brought us TONS of hand me downs! It was like Christmas in August! I LOVE hand me downs!! (= AGAIN we are SO blessed! We left the party happy & excited about what the future may hold for us! I really do feel that all the bumps in our journey are leading us towards the path God has for us! There really is a reason for EVERYTHING! Well, we arrived to a quiet home, the babies were fast asleep. A good sound to come home to! I asked if the babies were good, Did they eat all their food, drink all of their bottles, etc. They told us they were very entertaining. Yes, that they are!! They said that they told them it was bed time around 8pm & they just followed one another into their room. Then they gave them their bottles, IN BED! Debbie said each one of them took their bottle & they laid right down to drink it. I laughed so hard when she told me this because they NEVER get their bottles in bed! Well after hearing this I decide I better go check on them to see if the bottles were strewn all over OR if there was puddles of milk on their floor. They were fast asleep & low & behold Camryn, Brendan & Lindsey drank EVERY ounce of their bottle & Avery had half left! Those little stinkers! I am sure they thought this was a cool thing to have their bottles in bed and probably hope Mommy & Daddy go out more often! hahah! After retrieving their bottles I go back to show Debbie & Karen who were now watching the end of a Sandra Bullock movie (I just love her!). They thought it was funny too! (We still love you guys! (= ) I decided to pull out all the bags of hand me downs so I could sort through them & we all watched the rest of the movie. Debbie's hubby was not too happy that she was late coming home. Sorry Jim! (= AGAIN I have to say how we are SO blessed to have such WONDERFUL people in our lives! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! Each and every day that people ask me how I do it I remember each of these "moments". It is because of great people that have "adopted" us that help me in this journey! After quite an evening I really do think that....

Irish eyes were smiling....

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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