FOUR little FULTONS: quiet

Sunday, December 21, 2008

one PERFECT day...

Today used to be ALL about me but times have changed. I do not care as much about my birthday as I used to. I guess that is what happens when you have children, they become your life & you take a back seat to everything. What I do care about is having some time to myself & having some PEACE & QUIET. These are a few hard commodities that I find hard to achieve. We have WONDERFUL children but lately all they seem to do is whine & I cannot take it. Heck, Michael cannot take it either. He says that he wants to give them away. I am sure that he is only kidding! I think that is something you say when times get tough and you are at your wits end! ha! It's just that there are very few days that I can take for myself, to just "be". I was hoping today could be that day. It did not start out good and continued to get worse. I worked till 3am, yes I have a part-time job with some late night hours. I should never have scheduled myself so late but I did & I had to deal with it. Now if I could just get 7 hours of rest, not even REM sleep, just rest. This did not happen, I was awoken by four SCREAMING babies before 8am. I never was able to get back to sleep so now I was one cranky woman. Being a mommy to four 23 month olds is tough work & I need all the rest I can get! My hubby even made me breakfast, I love him for that but it was not what I would have wanted for breakfast. Note to self: Share what you'd like to eat a few days before your day so hubby knows & does not have to read my mind! He made the babies Banana Nut French Toast & also made some for me. I wanted steak & eggs. So with my first bite it tasted weird & it did not get any better. I knew if I shared this with him he would be upset & if I did not say anything he would make it for me again saying you loved it on your birthday. What was I to do? I have always been one that holds the truth very dear so I decided to just spill it. That continued the downward spiral of my day. Couldn't he see that I just wanted a day to myself!? That I did not want anything. I do not need any gifts. I think the best "gift" would have been a babysitter for the weekend. To be able to do anything without having to worry about four little people. I will have to remember this for next year. I hope one year soon to FINALLY get...

one PERFECT day...

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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