FOUR little FULTONS: Houston we have a problem...

Friday, October 22, 2010

Houston we have a problem...

Just the other night we went out for a School Fundraiser at Hurricane Grill, a local wing joint. A portion of the sales from the night would go back to the school what a FUN event! We LOVE fundraisers that help the tribes school so of course we were there! I have to say that I noticed quite a few things about this "tribe" of ours that night.

The first thing being that all quads want to be treated equally. Really, if two get something the other two better get it too! So when almost every restaurant we go to these days does NOT have enough booster chairs we tend to have a problem! This particular night they only had TWO boosters! Not two available boosters but two boosters for the entire place! NOT GOOD! Those of you that have more than two kids know that when you have only TWO of something the other two are left out. In this case the two in the boosters wanted to be left out! LOL! They are at that stage where they want to be considered as "BIG" but they are not there yet! sigh...

The second thing that I noticed was how "girly" Avery & Lindsey are becoming! Not that Camryn is not "girly" because she is, it's just that they are OVER THE TOP "girly". They LOVE lipstick, skirts that twirl, purses, cell phones & of course baby dolls! As they walked into the restaurant that night they each had a purse on their arm, yes I said purse! What's even funnier is that when they needed to use the restroom they carried them into the bathroom! It was CRAZY! This "girly" behavior did not just happen over night, it has evolved over the past year or so but strangely I just took "notice" of it! They even came up with items like diaper bags, purses, cell phones, car keys, baby dolls, etc... for their "Dear Santa" list. We will catch them wearing "high heels", holding their "baby" along with a purse over their shoulder, keys in their hand all while talking into their play cell phone. They are not even four yet!! I tell you we are doomed! LOL! An interesting tidbit is that Camryn does not do this nearly as much as Aave & Linz do! TOO TOO funny! =]

The third thing I noticed was how funny Brendan can be! He really does like to be the little comedian. If he says something that he thinks anyone finds funny he will say it over & over again! Well that night he made us burst out in laughter right there in the middle of our dinner! Camryn started counting one {Avery}, two {Lindsey}, three {Herself}girls at the table. {FYI apparently Mommy is not considered a girl, she is just a Mommy! LOL!} Brendan pipes up with there are FOUR girls, and then says "I'm a girl!". Daddy looks at him & says "Brendan do you have a Cootchie?" he replies "No". Brendan then says "I'm a girl with a penis!". I about died! If I was drinking something I think it would have shot out of my nose! You see this is what he wanted, he wanted that laugh & as we all laughed he repeated it over & over again! This is one of those moments when I should have stayed straight faced but I lost it! Now before you all start wondering about the little BOY of ours you need to know this is just him being the comedian that he is. So what if he likes dolls & the color pink?! =] Remember he does have THREE sisters so we can safely say that he is in touch with his feminine side! LOL! You see he knew that would draw a laugh so he went with it! However one might say...

Houston we have a problem...

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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