FOUR little FULTONS: quad talk...

Monday, October 19, 2009

quad talk...

"Hold you...", This has been a favorite saying of the tribe for quite some time. I remember how my now six year old niece would say the same exact thing when she was little. At first it was SO cute to hear them express how they wanted you to hold them. Awhhh! It is not "Hold ME" it is "Hold YOU", TOO cute! They say this day in & day out. Having four toddlers makes it even tougher. They usually all want Mommy to "Hold you...". VERY hard to hold four kids at one time! SO you can see how it gets old pretty quick! Then there's the words that don't make any sense! That's when I am at a total loss! Miss Linz is the best at this. She will go on jibber jabbering FOREVER! She tells stories in her own lingo expecting me to understand. I just say "Really?" and she will usually say "Yes". Ha Ha little does she know her momma just pulled one over on her! When they are trying to tell me something they will just repeat it over & over until I "get" what they said. It's like a record that skips OVER & OVER & OVER! You want to grab that needle & stop it from skipping! hahah! I love our children more than life itself but just do not appreciate them when they repeat stuff ALL the time. Like last week when Dustyn got his haircut. Mr B, our best speaker, went around saying, "Dustyn... haircut... Dustyn... haircut...". We were like we know that he got a haircut Mr B! But he kept saying it! (= Oh was I gonna pull what hair I have left OUT! I think Dustyn was going to also! LOL! {BTW, D needed that haircut BAD!} Another part of hearing their "cute" statements of love & affection is how my hubby never "gets" what they say! He will repeat back something other than what they just said until I yell from the other room what they have been trying to tell him! CRAZY! Is this because I am around them all the time that I know their lingo? hmm... Trust me there are quite a few occasions that I actually make them repeat themselves SEVERAL times just so I can "get" what they are saying! I must admit there are still times that I do not "get" it & I just let them rattle on. I nod my head in acceptance in the hope I did not just agree to give them candy or something else they should not have! I figure at least I tried! LOL! I think my hubby just chooses not to "understand"...

quad talk...

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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