FOUR little FULTONS: I think you should go...

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

I think you should go...

This past weekend we had the pleasure of having my oldest brother, their Uncle Jim, visit us. He had some business to tend to in Orlando for a few days & decided to make the trek further South to visit us for the weekend. He did not just visit us but he visited Grandma, Uncle Bob & LuLu too. Family has always been BIG with us so this was a wonderful treat to have him here. He hitched a ride with a fellow employee to our neck of the woods so then we drove him down to Grandma's. It was an adventure. We hung out at the mall for a few hours because his 3 1/2 hour trip took longer than expected. He arrived rather late so the tribe got to stay up WAY past their bed time. They did not have a care in the world & not having a nap did NOT phase them one bit! When it finally was time to go to bed they asked Uncle Jim to lay down with them. What a sight, four kids & one adult man on 2 beds. TOO TOO funny! Well he obliged them. It was just him & them in the room suppose to be going to sleep. Needless to say they did NOT want to sleep so they began to quiz him. It is in moments like these that we get to know more about our children than we really wanted to. You see they will say just about ANYTHING & do not hold back their opinion in the least. From what I was told it started out with "What is your name? Are you Jim or Uncle Jim?". He proceeded to tell them that his name is really James. Well Camryn did not believe that & said "NOooo... You are Uncle Jim!". He told her that she could ask Grandma in the morning & she would tell her that his name was really James. She giggled in disbelief. Then the topic quickly switched from his name to what she smelled, HIM! She told him that he stunk!. {Yes she really went there!! Gotta LOVE children!} Heck if I had been traveling the better part of the day in a car I think I'd be stinky too! LOL! So then he asked her if he should stay or should he go?. She said...

I think you should go...

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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