FOUR little FULTONS: let them have tea...

Sunday, May 2, 2010

let them have tea...

What a FUN time was had by many a multiple mama this afternoon! Being a mommy of multiples gives you a different perspective & makes you want to seek out those who happen to be in the same boat as you! There is a bond we share that is unlike any other. What insight we get & the interesting tales you get to share with your sisters from another mother! Heck anyone associated with a set of multiples can relate, it is a different but FUN world!I am part of a wonderful support group geared towards parents of multiples in the county we live in. In fact we just held our very first Mother's Day Tea for our newly formed support group, The Palm Beach County Parents of Multiples. Planning the Mother's Day Tea has always been my thing. It can be stressfull but once the day arrives I get SO excited! This year our Tea was held at the lovely Chesterfield Hotel. What a quaint place to hold the Tea at! It sort of reminded me of the hotel from Zack & Cody's The Suite Life. For those who have NO idea what I'm talking about, it's a show on the Disney Channel centered around these twin boys who live in a hotel with their single mom. Very cute show & if you have a child under the age of 15 you have probably seen it once, twice or maybe a MILLION times!I just cannot get over how much this hotel reminded me of that show! VERY quaint & VERY British! We gathered in what they call their "Leopard Room" for an afternoon tea. What a name! The decor was amazing! When I say amazing I mean AMAZING! There is many things to see in that room! LOL! We joked that maybe they should rename it the Cougar room! LOL! Many laughs occured over taking in some of their interesting decor. If you ever get to Palm Beach you should stop in at The Chesterfield for a cup of tea, they will not leave you disappointed!I do not think there is any other way I'd like to celebrate Mother's Day than at a tea with some levely ladies! Such a beautiful place, yummy food & wonderful company! Once we settled in, had some yummy munchies & chatted for what seemed like forever we...

let them have tea...

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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