Just shy of week 29 and a prayer request

I can't believe another week has almost gone by. The time is flying and it will be quad time in no time!! This week has been much better as far as bed rest goes. I have kept busy shopping on the Internet, well actually browsing because I am trying so hard not to purchase much because we still have some big expenses to buy such as a 12 passenger van! I also have been reading the Fifty Shades of Grey books and all I can say is boy oh boy. My mother in law bought them and gave them to me to read first and I told her last night as I handed her the first book that I was kind of having a hard time knowing what she was going to be reading. It's almost as bad as knowing your parents still have sex! I wouldn't be surprised if there is a baby boom in about 9 months. And how in the world are they going to make a movie out of those books and not have it rated higher than "R"? 

I was having a hard time sleeping last week and talked to my doctor about it because I knew so many of my emotional days were due to lack of good sleep. I am now taking a medication in the same category as Benedryl before bed and it is helping so much. I actually slept through my alarm the other night by 2 1/2 hours (I have to take my contraction medication every four hours so the alarm is always going off around here). The sleep is helping me so much and my attitude has increased ten fold from last week. I continue to feel great and told the doctor today that I have not reached the end point like I have in my other pregnancies when I am just plain done. I know I have a couple weeks in me yet. The doctor said she can tell that just by how I look. 

So today we had our growth scan that I have anxiously been waiting for like a child waits for Christmas morning. It is reassuring when you can see that your babies are growing. So below are the weights and percentages (based on a singleton baby) of each kiddo: 

Baby A: 2lbs 4oz (5%) 

Baby B: 3lbs 2oz (77%) 

Baby C: 2lbs 14oz (50%) 

Baby D: 3lbs 0oz (63%) 

As soon as the ultrasound tech said the weights I was concerned for Baby A and shocked with the other three. Two of the three of my fellow quad mommies had to deliver last week at 28 and 29 weeks due to one of their babies not getting adequate blood flow from the placenta and I told my mom and sister that I had a feeling we would be delivering within the week for the same issue. I couldn't believe it was happening but once the doctor came in she explained what was going on and I immediately calmed down. 

She explained that yes Baby A is starting to show slower growth than the others and his/her's placenta was starting to fatigue but it was just starting and at this point Baby A would still do better on the inside than the outside. Such a relief. She said the percentile on Baby A makes it seem worse than it is and the the other three kiddos are huge. We will monitor Baby A closely but it doesn't warrant a hospital admission. They will check the blood flow again next week and then a growth scan in two weeks. Until then I am suppose to halt all activity except bathroom expeditions, meals at the table and a shower each day. I was told absolutely no side task when I am up. No laundry, no dishes, no picking up....up then back in bed only. All energy needs to go towards these babies. I also asked if there was anything I could do diet wise to help with weight gain for the babies and I was told to increase protein but stay away from adding a lot of extra fat and sugar. I have gained no weight in the last three weeks which makes my total weight gain 38lbs. So I will be adding protein shakes and egg whites to my diet daily to help as much as I can. 

The doctor said there is always a reason to deliver with quads. It's never that the mom just gets to 37 weeks and it's time. She said we are starting to pin point what will cause me to deliver. I asked if she thought I would make it to 30 weeks and she said "yes, that's only a week and a half away." I then explained that our 10 year anniversary is August 10th and I still was really hoping to be pregnant. She said she thought I would still be pregnant then too. She said the next big growth spurt for the babies was 32-34 weeks and she just doesn't think Baby A's placenta will handle that growth spurt so we are probably looking at delivery between those two weeks. I can totally handle that!! Of all the doctors in the group the doctor I had today is the most cautious and so I feel confident that I am in good hands and if anyone would say its delivery time it would be her.

So I am asking everyone to please lift Baby A up in prayers and ask the Lord to watch over her (just my motherly instinct...I have always thought that A was a girl and C is a boy...no clue if I'm right!!). I know God has this all planned out but I pray that Baby A can hold out a couple more weeks to allow them all more time to grow. If we bombard the heavens with prayers for for our peanut I know God will hear all of us and He can work wonders.

Baby Shower for 4!

In my last post I had mentioned that I hoped to not have to update the blog until Wednesday but our baby shower needs a post all of its own! Our wonderful friends Ronnie and Dana threw us the most beautiful shower on Saturday. Dana spent numerous hours preparing for this shower. Every time I would talk to her she was doing something to make the day extra special. And I'm not talking for the last week, like every conversation for the last four weeks. She has shown these babies such love and we couldn't thank her enough. And her poor husband had to put up with a wife that maybe should have been committed for baby shower craziness. Ronnie enjoy your wife now that she has resurfaced from the many sheets of tissue paper and her cricut.

The shower took place in the morning so we had a wonderful brunch complete with mimosas (for those that weren't pregnant with four). Everything was so yummy and as I promised I included the recipes for the egg dishes so those can be found after the 101 pictures. I sat on my "throne" and it was so wonderful to see so many of our friends and family that came to celebrate our "littles". They also showered us with so many gifts and Paul and I amazed how generous everyone was. It was a little bit of an eye opener when we got a couple onsies in packs of four and knowing that that is only one outfit per baby for one round of clothing changes. I see a lot of laundry in our future! 

Thank you everyone for coming to celebrate our miracles with us. It meant so much to Paul and I and we can not wait to have you all love on the babies once they are here.

Our first set of "quad" shirts

My oh my...and still hoping for a couple more weeks

The Grandmas'

Mom and Daughter

Me and my throne. So hard to not get up and go talk to people. I actually felt rude!

Who doesn't love a good candy bar!!

My true feelings for all seven of my kiddos...mommy loves you all.

Candy Bar

Daddy and Sofia

Ronnie and I

Daddy and Mommy

Sisters

"Worth the Weight"

Everything had an "L" for the Littles

Baby A, B, C, & D

The most awesome host, Dana

Each table included a diaper cake that had a different ultrasound picture on it.

Grandma Pat before Champagne!

Green Chile Egg Bake
12 eggs
3 cups cottage cheese
6 cups cheddar chesse
1/2 cup butter- melted
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup green chiles diced (I usually used canned but for the shower it was fresh Serrano peppers diced)
1 lb Italian sausage (browned)


Mix all ingredients together in large bowl. Pour into greased 9x13 pan and bake at 375 degrees for approx 45 minutes.


This recipe is also very yummy without the sausage to be vegetarian. It also freezes great. I will cut into single serving pieces after it has cooked and freeze. Then just heat up a single serving for breakfast in the microwave.


Make Ahead Brunch
12 slices bread                                   
2 2/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp paprika
3 cups chopped ham
1/2 cup butter
5 well beaten eggs
3/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1/2 lb grated cheese (cheddar or colby)


Butter 6 slices of bread and place butter side down in 9x13 pan. Mix remaining ingredients together (except bread and butter). Pour mixture on top of bread slices. Break up 6 slices of bread and spread over top. Melt 1/2 cup butter and drizzle over top. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Serve hot with sauce.


Sauce:
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup chicken broth
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup slivered blanched almonds
salt and pepper to taste


Stir butter and flour over medium heat. Add broth and spices. Cook until thick and bubbly, add almonds. Place over top of each serving of egg bake.


Sausage and Mushroom Strata
Click on the above link and you will be taken directly to the recipe. 

Week 28: First BIG goal & bed rest

We have made it to our first big goal...28 weeks. By allowing the babies to stay inside until this week has helped their long term outcomes tremendously. We are not ready for them to come by any means but we are a little less stressed if that would occur. Now for the next two weeks to pass quickly so we can hit week 30. Boy oh boy these babies are coming soon. I still can't believe it and am just a tad bit giddy with excitement when I think about it. 

So my  last blog post was last Friday and everything was going great. I got so much done and was looking forward to getting all the bedrooms rearranged. Saturday morning I met a girlfriend for coffee without kids and had an enjoyable two hours spent outside sitting in the shade having ice tea. I even had a nice man stop me and tell me I was all belly. He was shocked when he learned there were four babes inside it! I felt great and when I got home I decided to pack a to-go bag for the hospital with some toiletries, a change of clothes, eye mask and a couple other things that I would need until Paul could bring me more stuff if I had to go in to the hospital. I never know which appointment I may not come home from and little did I know I would be using the bag in less than three hours! I had lunch and then it was nap time for the kids and I. As I laid down I noticed that my tummy was really uncomfortable. I didn't feel I was having contractions but more like a side ache cramp across my entire stomach. After about thirty minutes of not being able to get comfortable I told Paul I was going to call the doctor. He wasn't too happy with this because he was in the middle of setting up the girls new beds. Luckily at the same time my mom stopped by and was more than willing to take me in. 

We get to the hospital and the tummy pain had lessened so I thought for sure I was going to be heading home. But when they put me on the monitor I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. What??? I was not feeling most of them and this was not part of my plan. Instead of giving me medication right away the doctor wanted to try iv fluids to hydrate me but that had no affect. This is when it was decided to admit me so I could receive a steroid shot that will help mature the babies lungs if they were to be born early. I was really happy to be getting this and had already planned on asking for it at this weeks appointment. I was also ordered a 12 hour course of magnesium sulfate which would hopefully stop the contractions but also give neuro protection to the babies. I got really nervous when I found out I was getting the mag because it is not always the most tolerated drug. Many get flu like and menopause symptoms all at the same time and can make you feel like total crap. I called Paul to have him head to the hospital and could tell he was not doing well. I had one stressed out daddy. Since my mom was with me and I was tolerating the meds fine I told him to stay at his buddies and play a little poker before he came. Sometimes a wife just knows when the breaking point is coming. 

My mom left to get dinner for her and I and came back with awesome gyros and a bottle of red wine in a brown bag! Her and my soon to be brother in law, who scored major bonus points for spending his Saturday night on the high risk ob floor, enjoyed their wine in Styrofoam coffee cups and we had some good laughs that we're not helping my contractions! They stayed until 11 when I was exhausted and kicked them out. The husband was much less stressed and actually in good spirits when he got to my room at 1am! He said he had planned on leaving earlier but then he started winning. We spent he next hour chatting and he had dinner and I had dessert which I had saved. It kind of felt like we were back in college instead of in a hospital room pregnant with quads! 

Four beautiful heartbeats

 By the next morning my contractions had slowed to the normal one to two an hour. The doctor came and I had an ultrasound to check my cervix. I was super nervous because I knew this would be telling us what the next plans were for hospital bed rest and potential delivery. I have never been so happy when I could still see my cervix on ultrasound. It was still measuring 3.9cm and had no funneling. The contractions were not causing any changes to my cervix. The doctor explained I just had one unhappy uterus due to making it stretch. I would receive my second dose of steriods Sunday night and then be sent home Monday on bed rest. I had great care in the hospital but I am hoping to carry these kiddos a couple more weeks and I would much rather be in my own bed and be able to have home cooked food because the hospital food was far from appetizing. I don't think people even taste it before sending it to the patients! 

Attempting to monitor four babies. We were using everything from wash clothes to paper towels to get all four on the monitor at the same time for 20 minutes.

 I got home around 3 on Monday and by 7 I was having a complete meltdown. I was emotionally and physically exhausted from the previous two days and it caught up to me when I got home. My kids were also showing a side to them that said we need our mommy and to show this we are going to act out any way possible. My first night home I did not do so well following my new bed rest orders. I was in denial that things had changed and just plain frustrated. The following is a text I sent to my best friend (putting this in because it's my journal!) "I've been home four hours and I'm a mess. I don't know how I'm suppose to do this. How am I suppose to be a mom and wife from bed? I would be better in the hospital where I can forget that a life is going on around me. I don't know if I will be able to do this. I haven't cried this hard since I found out there were four. I feel lost and no part of my family." I would like to think exhaustion and hormones played a part in this melt down because now a couple days later I have accepted the need for bed rest. These couple weeks are such a short time in our families life but can benefit my unborn children so much. 

Things are different at our home right now; I have to let things go, Paul has had to step up and take new roles that he is not always had to play and my mother in law is a Godsend. We are so thankful she is here with us. I know she would rather be at home enjoying her summer but she has given that up for us. She has stepped into the role of chauffeur, playmate, maid, and chef but at the same time still allows me to be mom and her grandma. 

Bed rest is exhausting. Just like eating 4000 calories a day sounds so easy when you aren't faced with the task, bed rest sounds great until you have to spend the day in bed or on the couch. I have no attention for anything! I have started going though recipes and organizing them, shopping online for baby things, and have started the Army Wives series which I am enjoying. Also keeping up with all my quad mom friends via Facebook helps past the time. This week in our quad group three sets of quads were born in three days. A huge congratulations to Becky, Gina, and Amber on the birth of their 12 children. I am the next furthest along in our group and that fact scares me...that's how soon we could be meeting our kiddos!!

Our weekly appointment was yesterday and my cervix was a tad shorter than earlier in the week. It was down to 3.4cm but Baby A was lying directly on it. Hoping that next week we go up a little just for reassurance. The doctor reminded me not to dismiss anything because we are now at the point when everything could be something with quads. I was discouraged at my appointment because I am so not ready for this to be the end. I am uncomfortable because of the weight of the babies but I know I can keep doing this. I am not ready for this pregnancy to be over and I just need my body to cooperate and work with me. Next weeks appointment will also include a growth scan and I can not wait to see how big they each are.

 This weekend our wonderful friends are hosting a baby shower/open house to celebrate our littles. I will be enjoying a lounge chair and feeling like royalty for the day because I am sure if I put two feet on the ground I will be in big trouble. I can not wait to see everyone and celebrate these munchkins. So hoping to see many of you this weekend otherwise hoping not to have to update the blog until next Wednesday because no news is good news in quad land!!

Week 28

Week 28 bare belly- stretch marks and all

27 weeks, only seven days til week 28!!

Oh my how far away this seemed at the beginning of this pregnancy. It feels amazing to be able to say I am almost seven months pregnant with quads. I can't wait to keep counting done the weeks.

Week 27 (& the weeding rings still fit. I made it to delivery day with the other kiddos still wearing my rings and I am hoping to do it again! It's the small things in life.)

It has been hot here. Above 100 degrees all week so last Saturday we headed to Lake Tahoe for a day of cooler weather. It was so much fun just relaxing and watching the kids play. The water was chilly so they didn't swim much but the rocks on the beach entertained them all afternoon. When we got home it was still 100 degrees but it felt great to escape for a little while. Little did we know we still had six more days of hot weather but today I am thankful that it started cooling. This preggo mommy couldn't take it much longer and I am so ready to turn the air off and open the windows.

Miss Attitude!

The fish

Give him rocks and he's happy for a long time

During the week we got so much accomplished. I actually feel like I could be nesting if I had the energy to do it myself. Good thing I have wonderful people in my life that are helping me with all my nesting projects! The nursery remodel is now completed except for a closet organizer and all the furniture. I have to say a HUGE thank you to my step-dad who helped do all the tedious painting in the nursery. From cut-in to molding you saved me from a very crabby husband and we appreciate the time you dedicated to being the nursery "designer" (what he said he is going to tell people when they ask what he has done for the babies!). We will be spending the weekend rearranging furniture around here. The girls bed will get converted back to a crib, two sets of bunk beds will get set up, dressers rearranged, and curtains hung in the nursery. I can't wait to see it all be changed around. The nursery won't be compete until after the babies are born because it is currently being used as Paul's mom's room and we need to transition Drew out of his crib over the next couple of weeks. Below are the before and after of the nursery. Our nursery colors are teal, orange, cherry red, and lime green. I will post completed nursery pictures after the "littles" are here.

Before

Don't mistake them for city workers, they actually hardly took breaks!

Daddy put in many late nights on this project so that it was just perfect for his "littles"

After (the wall was extended out about three feet to add a closet to the room)

Can't wait to see it full of cribs!!

 Another great doctor appointment this week to report. All babies are doing good and had adequate fluid levels. They are sure getting cramped in there and baby B kept trying to get into every ones pictures. We will get another growth scan in two weeks to see what they are measuring. My cervix is still holding at 3.9cm and not showing any signs of shortening. So unbelievable to me. I haven't always been best friends with my body but boy do I love my cervix!! I am now up 38lbs for the pregnancy which is exactly what I gained with the girls. It is all new territory from here but I don't think I will be gaining the goal weight of 75-80lbs. I also had a little bit of protein in my urine but my blood pressure still remained low. Just to be on the safe side I had blood work done and a 24 hour urine collection. Have yet to hear the results but hoping no news is good news. The doctor was going to have me skip a week between appointments because she said nothing is changing with me but I quickly talked her out of it. My weekly doctor appointments reassures me that I can continue doing this for another week. 

A couple comments that I have gotten the past few weeks that I find quite hilarious are:

1) After telling someone we are expecting quadruplets she said "oh my gosh, I can't imagine three babies at one time." Me neither but I will try four!

2) "So I have never had kids so I am not sure how this all works but how did you get pregnant with four?" Apparently she had never taken a basic anatomy class either.

3) Again after telling someone we were expecting quads, "Is this your first time doing quadruplets?" No we have done it three other times. Come on people this is not a cruise we are taking!! 

I just love these comments but sometimes I can not hide my looks and laughter when people are just plain stupid. I am sure we have only begun the crazy comments and will continue to share them as we get them.

Today to celebrate week 27 I had a very successful day. The pantry was reorganized to allow a place for all the gazillion bottles, sterilizers and everything else required to feed these munchkins. It felt so good to go through the pantry and throw things that had 2006 expiration's! Amazing how much food gets hidden in a pantry. We then reorganized the laundry room, made binders for all the babies to record feeding amounts/diaper contents/medications once they come home, laminated a sign to greet visitors when they come to our home and then it was time for a break for a pedicure. Got to keep those toes looking good because I have no idea when I will get another one once I get put on bed rest. Tomorrow my to do list includes getting a to-go bag ready for the hospital in case we have to make a dash some night. And I can't wait for next weekend because we are having a baby shower for the "littles" with our friends, family and my co-workers. I am just so excited to see everyone since outside contact has been a little more limited the last couple of months. 

We will see you all in 7 days for our first goal of 28 weeks. Only 7 more weeks to my personal goal before meeting these babies. Please keep those prayers coming because they are working wonders. Also I've had people asking if I would do a Q&A post and I am more than happy to answer any questions out there. Please just leave them in the comment section or Facebook and I will answer them in the next post. We also still have the poll going for gender and birth day if anyone wants to add their guesses. 

A very happy weekend to all.

Week 26- The quadlings are getting bigger!

In less than 8 weeks we will have four additions to our family and I can not wait to meet them. I told Paul this morning I can't wait to find out if we have boys or girls and then to look at their faces and see who they look like. That day is going to be so full of excitement! And then we have the hard job of naming these kiddos which is going to be more difficult than we think. 

The end of the week has been much better than the beginning and I am so happy because it is makes being 26 weeks pregnant with quads so much easier. The one thing I do know is that these kids are getting bigger. My tummy is starting to fill out more on the sides and is full from top to bottom. There are times I just need to lie horizontal because my tummy feels like it weighs a ton. Even the girls have realized that it is hard for mom to bend over because the other day I dropped ice cubes on the floor and both girls quickly got off their chairs and ran over saying, "you can't bend over mom, we will get it." They are such sweet girls and have been so good when I tell them I have to go lay down. They would like the babies to come soon though and it is hard to explain to them that they still have growing to do. Aubrey asked the other day if they will be here in 18 days...hopefully not baby girl.

In my last post I mentioned how there are not many people that have quads but I do have to mention that I have "met" the most awesome group of ladies through a quad group on facebook. Two of the women have already had their quads and are waiting anxiously for their nicu stay to be over. One of them actually brought their first baby home on Wednesday! Then there are four of us who are all one week apart in our pregnancies. I have never personally  met these woman but the support they give is unbelievable. We are all spread out across the country except four of them are lucky enough to be Texans but through facebook we can chat each day. Sometimes modern social networks are great though time consuming which is okay with me when I have to rest throughout the day! Just think between the six of us we have 24 babies not counting the couple of us that have older children. That's a lot of babies but hopefully someday we can all meet up for a play date!!

And now for some July 4th pictures..

Happy Birthday America!

Daddy and his firecrackers

The most awesome Grandma Lynn that has given up her summer to live with us. We couldn't thank her enough.

Week 26

Emotions

Tired, Scared, Minority, Solely Responsible.....the feelings this quad momma is going through today. But not all days are like this, well actually very few, so let's first mention the non-emotional days! On Friday my most awesome husband surprised me with a wonderful date night. We left the kids with our wonderful babysitter, aka Grandma, and headed for an early dinner. I got to choose were we went and I have been dying to have sushi. It tasted fabulous even with it having to be fully cooked fish. That tells you how long it has been since I have gotten to go out for sushi!! After a couple of pieces I felt stuffed because the four babies in my tummy do not allow for much food intake these days but I just kept eating because I am not sure when I will get to go and have it again. It doesn't make it anywhere high on Paul's favorite food to go out for which is such a sad thing! After dinner we then got to go to a Trace Adkins concert and boy is he tall, coming from someone who is married to a man that is 6'6'', and his voice is soooo deep. It was a great concert and, this part is so sad, but it was mine and Paul's first concert ever. As Paul said, at least we went to our first one at age 31 not 32. We have always chosen to go to plays and musicals if given the option but we may have to go see a couple more concerts in our future but I will wait until after I am done being pregnant because bleacher type seats are so not comfortable with a rather large belly. I think the people behind us must have thought I had the worse ADD ever because I literally was changing positions every couple of minutes. 

Friday was a wonderful day/night and then Saturday came and I was in bed most of the day from just being plain tired.And this is were the emotions started. You may wonder why I am even writing "publicly" about the not so good days and there are two reasons; 1) this is my journal for this pregnancy. I have kept journals for all my pregnancies but just not in a blog format. My journals for the girls and Drew are filled with the wonderful and the not so wonderful aspects of their pregnancies. 2) I rely so much on the blogs that other quad moms have. The ones that I look at the most for reassurance, comfort, the ins & outs of being a quad mom are those that are honest. The good and the bad is what I look for in their blogs. No one better understands that sometimes a quad pregnancy is the hardest thing ever and sometimes it just plain old sucks. I hope that someday someone who finds themselves blessed with quads will find my blog so that they can see that most days during their pregnancy will be awesome, amazing and the best journey ever but that some days its okay to have a bad day; we all have them.

Tired....My body is becoming more and more physically exhausted. Not all the time and I know I can do this much longer but sometimes my energy level is at ground zero. I love being a mom and I am having days when all I want is to have my kids leave me alone. Sunday was one of those days. I woke up tired and just having the kids ask me questions on the way to church was too much. And the one thing about my two beautiful daughters is that they love to talk and ask questions. They are NOT satisfied with one word answers. I know from many other quad moms that starting around week 26 things get hard because of the energy it takes to continue to grow four babies. It wouldn't be bad if I could lie down at night and fall fast asleep and sleep for 12 hours but the insomnia is awful. I actually dread going to bed because within the first 15 minutes of laying down I have to get up to go to the bathroom even though I just went before crawling into bed. It is no easy task getting out of bed anymore! I then repeat this about every 1.5 hours with a reposition from one side to the other with each trip. I often then find myself wide awake during the middle of the night which is frustrating because my husband is sound asleep next to me and I am so jealous. And just so you know people do not update their facebook often enough during the night to keep me occupied! I know we have many sleepless nights in our future so I will just continue to take it one day at a time.

Scared...Monday night I started having some contractions that were lasting longer than I liked and after taking my visteril, drinking lots of water and resting they weren't going away. Paul and I headed to the hospital to make sure everything was okay. The monitor was not picking up the contractions very well but the nurse could visibly see the contractions due to the fact that my tummy gets very contorted during them with trying to tighten around four babies. I got a dose of terbutaline to stop the contractions and the side effect of this med is that your heart rate elevates and one gets jittery. I felt like I had drank nothing but coffee all day!! It was an awful feeling and the kids felt it too because they were moving all over. So now I was on a caffeine high and had four party animals dancing in my belly. But the good thing was it did stop the contractions. I also had a test done called an fFN which helps predict if you will go into labor in the next 7-14 days. Mine came back negative which I was so happy about. The statistics say that with a negative there is <1% of one going into labor in the next 7-14 days. If this is accurate we will be almost at the 28 week mark when the 14 days are up. I was just so happy not to see a positive. We arrived home at 2:30am only to have to be back at the hospital by 9:30 for my weekly appointment. I felt like a truck ran me over when I woke! 

All babies are looking good and again fluid levels were great. My cervix did go down this week to 3.3cm which made me very sad. I felt like things were going down hill and I was being defeated. My doctor was great though and reassured me that I was still getting an A+ from her. My cervix is still fully closed which she said she looks at more than the length because length is not very precise depending on what position it is being measured from. Baby A's bottom was also pressing right against my cervix which could have had some affect on the length. Because of the irritability of my uterus I am being started on a medication called Procardia that I will take every 6 hours while awake to hopefully keep contractions to a minimum. I also was told I needed to rest more. I asked if we were at strict bed rest time and she quickly said no bed rest yet but I do need to have two 2-hour rest periods each day where I am either in bed or sitting on the couch. This I can totally do and may even get a thing or two accomplished that I have had on my bed rest to do list. I will also be getting a handicap placard for my car in the mail early next week. I never thought I would be happy to not have to walk the extra 25ft in a parking lot! I get scared when thinking about these kiddos coming now and just want my body to continue taking care of my babies.

Baby D

Baby D

 Minority...It is not normal to be pregnant with four babies at one time and there are not many of us out there compared to those that have singletons or even twins. I had a good friend the other day text me saying how happy she was for me. It brought many emotions to the surface for me. I only wanted one more baby but instead got four. Yes I know we put four embryos back in but it took 8 embryos to get the girls and two of the four we put back in were supposedly not viable per one of the fertility doctors. We never in a million years imagined all four would take. I know I will love each of these babies and couldn't imagine my life without them but some days I struggle to see where our life will be in one, two and three years from now. Will the craziness have passed? Will we be able to go out as a family and not be asked a million and one questions and hear remarks from people when we walk down the street? Will other families invite us over for dinner knowing that they are inviting nine extra people? Will my kids remember me as a mom that was there for them individually and liked to have a good time or will they remember a mom that was stressed out with seven little kids and all she did was yell, nag for them to pick up, tell them to chew with their mouth closed, and remember their manners? There are days when I wish I could move to a neighborhood that only consisted of quad families because we would be "normal". No one would look twice when pushing a quad stroller, driving a 12 passenger van would be no big deal, & calling your kid the wrong name because they all look the same from the back would be understood.

A picture I never added to the blog. These are our babies on the day of transfer after being frozen for over five years. For those that have never done IVF this is what your children looked like five days after conception! Paul and I left the clinic on the day of transfer trying to guess which two were the good embryos...little did we know they were all awesome!!!

 Sole Responsibility...It is my job to get these kids here safely. It is a big job, something harder than I could have ever imagined possible. I would give anything to be reassured that these kiddos will come after week 32. I feel like their future rest in my hands. If they have trouble at birth or a lifetime disablity would they have had those issues if I could have kept them in for another week or two. These are the things that run through my head at night when I can't sleep. I get jealous of my husband that can carry on his day and not worry that running into a store might bring on preterm labor. I miss the days of just running into the mall to get sheets for cribs or baskets for bottles. I need to clean out my pantry to make a "feeding" shelf for the babies but will that be too much? I question everything I do now because my decisions could affect the "littles". I love my children beyond words but being solely responsible for them is hard.

Today is over and hopefully tomorrow I will wake up and some of the pregnancy emotions will be gone and I can go back to the joy of being pregnant with four little miracles. Tomorrow will be a day of parades (for daddy and the kids), way to much food and beautiful lights in the sky with hopefully big booms. I hope everyone has a wonderful day but please be safe. And to all my Knapek family...have a wonderful time at the lake. Wish we could be there too and we miss you all. 


                                  Popsicles=Summer