FOUR little FULTONS: teaching

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

"his" BIG green tractor...

The other day I decided to go on a little "field trip" with Brendan before his Doctor's appointment. Lucky for us right next to the Doctor's office is "Everglades Farm Equipment" which also happens to sell John Deere Tractors. Brendan LOVES tractors! So off we went to take a quick "tour" of the place. I can remember when D was just a little older than this & he too LOVED all this "boy stuff". Sadly I would not be able to name any of the equipment they sell there if my life depended on it! LOL! As soon as we turned into the parking lot I could tell he was EXCITED! He started pointed at all the tractors. TOO cute! Once we walked inside it was a different story. He was sort of shy about it, he hid behind my leg & did not venture out too much. But trust me that did not last very long! Before we got to the second piece of machinery he was halfway up wanting his picture taken! He is my boy after all! =] I took MANY picture's of him on...

"his" BIG green tractor...

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Wanna see my Woody?...

Oh what I would give to have a picture or better yet a video of what happened the other night in our living room! You see we were all sitting down before bed to watch their "show", each of them drinking their sippies full of chocolate milk when I hear Brendan say "Lindsey wanna see my Woody?". I just about died! You see we have continually had the discussion about how boys are different than girls.I mean they do take a bath together and see their differences up front & in the flesh! SO I started talking about body parts. My hubby does not necessarily enjoy this topic of discussion however I would much rather teach them about their body parts than to have them check them out on someone else! So ever since we had that first talk they would read off a sort of "list" of who had a penis & who had a "coochie". Again I know "coochie" is not the right terminology but it works for us! [= They will even say boys have penises & girls have coochies. Then they start naming all the people they know who are boys & then who are girls. Usually it's everyone in our families and then they are done. We have NEVER, EVER even mentioned the word "Woody". SO you can almost imagine how shocked I was to hear Brendan say that to his sister! After my shock wore off I deceided I better not jump to conclusions so I looked at both of them to see what was really going on. That's when Brendan proceeds to pull down his pajama pants, point to the picture of Woody on his "Toy Story" Pull Ups & says Lindsey...

Wanna see my Woody?...

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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