29 Weeks!

Wow! I can’t believe that we’ve made it so far. We feel incredibly lucky to still be here at home rather than in the hospital battling pre-term labor. I love waking up on Tuesday mornings and hitting the next week’s mark. Looking forward to our goal and marking down the days, really helps when it gets hard to see the end of this bed rest.


This week, my Aunt Candy is staying with us and helping us out. Last weekend Kirk and Gray moved the office furniture out of our spare room, and brought in the cribs. Aunt Candy has been hard at work transforming it into our nursery. I’ve had the best time planning it out with her and she has been so great to take care of everything. We are still in the beginning stages and waiting on some bedding and furniture, but I thought I would post pictures of the nursery as it progresses over the next week or two.


This week’s appointment is on Thursday. We are anxious to hear about all of the babies, but especially how Baby B has done this week.

Baby News

Yesterday at our appointment the babies were measured and we got their approximate weights. I’m not assigning names to the babies anymore, because they have told us that they really have no idea in what order they will be born.


Baby A - 2 lbs. 11 oz.
Baby B – 1 lb. 14 oz.
Baby C – 2 lbs. 7 oz.
Baby D – 3 lbs. 8 oz.


As you can see, there is a big differentiation between the largest baby and the smallest. The doctors are a little concerned about Baby B’s weight because of that difference. They are reassured that she is still growing (she gained 10 oz. in three weeks), but they want to start monitoring the babies more closely through ultrasound each week. They will start doing heart tones, fluids, measurements, etc. every week at our appointments at the clinic. Baby B is currently in the 13th percentile which is still considered normal, but if she dips below 10% they may have to give me more steroids or admit me into the hospital in order to monitor her consistently and catch any problems with her that could lead us to an early birth. That is the worst that could happen. I feel like we will continue to see her grow and that she will be okay, just smaller than the rest. The doctor said that it was encouraging that all four babies had their own sacks and that it looked as if they all had their own placentas as well. Please say prayers for little Baby B.


Liz and I have had a great week together! Gray took this picture of us last night after our appointment. I have so enjoyed her company and she has once again kept me happy and our house in order. I don’t know what we would do without her. She is leaving today and Kirk and Gray, my brother and sister-in-law, are getting here this afternoon for the weekend. Also, my brother and one of my best friends Carrie (also his girlfriend) are coming to visit on Saturday afternoon. I’m looking forward to seeing all of my family and hearing news from the outside world.
The boys are going to start working on clearing out the office and bringing over our baby gear this weekend, in preparation for the nursery. I’m so excited!!! I can’t wait to see the babies’ little cribs in our house and start getting their things organized. I won’t actually get to help much, but my Mama and Aunt are coming next week and they will be great at it. Gray and I could not be doing this without all of the help we have been receiving from our friends and family. Thanks so much to all of you! Knowing you are there has helped us concentrate on getting these babies here safely and made this a joyful time, rather than a stressful situation. I love you all. We’re at 28 weeks and 3 Days!


Also, I wanted to tell you that we have officially received all of the sick days we need for the school year! Thank you for your donations. I am overwhelmed by your generosity, and so proud that I have been able to be part of a group of such compassionate individuals.

28 Weeks and Back to the Hospital

Last night at 5:30, I started having more intense contractions coming at about 6 an hour. I had cramping and back pain, which were symptoms that I had never had before with the contractions. I held out until about 7:00 when I decided to call the nurse at the hospital and see what she suggested. They paged the doctor on call and, when he called back, he told me that I needed to come in to be checked out and monitored.


We got to the hospital around 9:00 and they took me back to the Maternity Evaluation Unit. The (MEU) is a convenient drop-off and first-stop to evaluate pregnant patients. Patients who have pregnancy-related complications and those who may be in labor go here first. This is where I visit each time I am called in unless my primary doctor sends me directly to Labor and Delivery from the clinic on our appointment days. When I got to the room I was assigned a nurse and she started hooking me up to all of the monitors. Four monitors are for the babies’ hearts and two more are to track my contractions. The babies were looking good and the contractions didn’t appear to be affecting them at all. However, my contractions were coming about every two minutes and didn’t seem to be slowing down. The doctor checked me and said that while I was not dilated anymore, I was a little more effaced. They decided to give me an injection of terbutaline, which is a muscle relaxer, in hopes that it would stop the contractions. After an hour of watching the activity from the monitors and not seeing much of a change, the doctor concluded that we needed a second injection. This finally seemed to do the trick as the contractions became much more spread out and less intense.


At around 2:00 a.m. the doctors decided to keep me for the night. I was so glad to get the monitors off after about five hours on my back with a bunch of itchy straps around my middle. They wheeled me to my room and started asking the usual questions and checking the babies one more time. Finally, around 4:00 a.m. we were able to go to sleep.
Liz is here with us and we all decided that Gray should go home to sleep so that he could make it to work today. Liz stayed in the room with me and helped me with whatever I needed. We probably got about 3 hours or so of sleep before the doctors started arriving again. They informed me that I would be able to go home this morning and began to make arrangements for me to leave.


I’m so happy that they were able to curb the contractions and that we’ve finally made it to 28 weeks! The end is in sight, and more importantly, a healthy beginning for the babies.

27 Weeks and 3 Days!

Yesterday we attended our 27 week appointment. When we got there I was so pleased to find only two other people in the waiting room. Thursdays are a much lighter load than our typical Tuesday time. I went to the counter to sign in and laughed when I saw that they had our article taped to the counter. They called me back right away and took my blood pressure and weight. My blood pressure is still holding strong and I have now gained 38 pounds. I’m only 17 pounds away from my goal weight and I don’t think I’ll have much trouble getting there. My usual doctor is working at the hospital this week and next, so we met with another doctor from the clinic. We had him earlier in the pregnancy also. After my checkup, he told us that nothing had changed. He said that we were doing great and on the right track to make it past 30 weeks. As always, he said that something could change at any time, but that at this point most quad mamas are in the hospital. So, they sent me home for another week on bedrest! I am really happy to still be here.

My mother-in-law, Liz, was so sweet to come up and stay with us from Monday to Thursday this week. She was a huge help to us. I can tell it puts Gray at ease to have someone here with me so he can concentrate on work and a million other things he’s juggling right now. By the time she left, the groceries were bought, the laundry was washed and the house was clean! She also went picked up lunch of my choice each day, which was a welcome change from the sandwiches and chips. Speaking of food, we have had so many friends helping us out by bringing dinner to us during the week. I want to thank Lauren, Donielle, Katie and Marshall, Aunt Anne and Uncle Charlie, Shannon, Katie, Liz, Mama and Grandmama for keeping us full of delicious food this week. We have never eaten so well! We really appreciate the time that you all took to do that for us.

Mama and Grandmama came in yesterday afternoon to visit. I haven’t seen Grandmama since Christmas and knew I wouldn’t be back in Brewton until the babies are born and well. It’s amazing to think that the next time we go back “home” Gray and I will be parents of four. It puts a smile on my face every time I think about how close we are to meeting our babies. Mama and Grandmama came over last night and fixed dinner for us, and they are going to spend the day with me today. I love the company!

I don’t think we could have gotten better news this week. I feel like we have another 5 weeks in us! Thank you for all of the prayers and keep them coming. Next week, the babies will be measured again and we’ll see how big they are.

The Quads Make the News!

A few weeks ago a journalist from the Birmingham News contacted me. He wanted to write a story about the quadruplets and the sick leave days. He found my story through the AEA journal, where my mother had written about our situation and made a request for sick leave donations. We had a phone interview and a photographer came to the house to take a few shots. Because we are showing our house, all of the baby gear is in storage. He wanted to show 4 of something and luckily I had some cute little baby outfits from my mother that worked. Today we were excited to see the story in the paper. Jane, Virginia, Broox and Rainer are already making headlines! Click on the link below to read the article. I am working on getting a scan of the article on the blog so check back later.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/south.ssf?/base/community/1233767793324491.xml&coll=2

As for me, I am doing well. We didn't get to go to the doctor on Tuesday this week, but will be going tomorrow. It's soooo long to wait! All week I look forward to hearing those blessed words from the doctor, "the babies are doing great!" I will write an update as soon as I can after our visit.

The Things a Bored Woman Does on Bedrest

I couldn't help but post these, and share with you one of the many things I have found to pass the time in bed. I found this site called Daily Makeover where you can download a picture of yourself and add celebrity hair, makeup, etc. It's pretty entertaining! I'm looking for a new style after the babies come. What do you think? Should I go blonde, short, tussled...? Haha!

I'm definitely not doing the "whack your hair off after the baby" thing based on this pic.

Great News at 26 Weeks!

(26 Week pic coming soon)
Yesterday we went to our weekly appointment at the clinic. My blood pressure was nice and low and I had gained two pounds since last week. The doctor was happy to tell me that there had been no change in dilation or effacement since the last time she saw me. She mentioned Baby B's weight because it was a little lower than the other babies last week. She told us not to worry yet, but that she would be watching to make sure she didn't get too far behind the others. She said that it could have simply been the position that the baby was in that day or she may just naturally be a smaller child. We won't be able to see how much they weigh for another two weeks, because they cycle what they look at each time. Yesterday, they checked their cardiac activity and next week will be fluid. She told me to keep up the bedrest, I received my injection, we had our ultrasound and then we were done for the week.

I was so tired by the time we were done. It takes a lot out of me to get a shower, put on clothes, wait forever in the waiting room and get through the appointment now. I'm sure the inactivity of bedrest really zaps my energy and the babies are getting so heavy that sitting up or standing wears my back out. The upside is that I slept great last night.

Things at home are going well. Gray makes me breakfast before he leaves for work and sets up anything else I'll need like my laptop, magazines, books, water, and snacks. This week, he has been able to come home to fix me lunch and work from our home office, which has been so nice. On Monday, my friends Adriane and Emily came for a short visit and to drop off some delicious baked ziti! Gray and I were able to eat it two nights in a row. It was a huge help to us knowing we had something that was all ready to eat for dinner, and Gray could take a break from cooking. Thanks so much Adriane and it was great to see you girls!

Our next doctor's appointment won't be until next Thursday due to the clinic's schedule. Only two more weeks until our next milestone!