Thursday, August 2, 2012

Finally a full house!

All of our babies are finally HOME! Carson came home last Monday, and the girls' came home last Friday!

Carson unhooking from all the monitors at the NICU!
Ready to rock and roll!
Sweet Abby gettin' ready to hit the road!
Allie girl looks less than impressed!
Ella and Mommy playing around, about to get the girls' ready to go!
Let's go!
Ella playing with Jan, our fabulous social worker!
One baby at home was an absolute breeze, two babies got a little trickier because Carson cried pretty much all day long, but it was still not bad at all. Four babies has been easier than expected, but still pretty exhausting. The other night Allie puked all over Carson, and in Larry's sleep deprived state, he dressed Carson in one of the girls' onesies, ha. And I may or may not have fallen asleep on the toilet after peeing the night before last.
Carson in his sisters onesie

Corbin enjoying being the only baby at home!
All together again!
But so far so good, it is going better than we had expected. Thankfully, we have amazing family, and someone has been here almost every day for about 8 hours during the day to help us out. Everyone has also been bringing a lot of meals, so that is helping us out a TON, I'm not sure we would eat otherwise! And most of all, it is so great to have a husband who is supportive and doesn't mind jumping in and taking care of whatever needs to be taken care of. He does just as much as I do while he is off of work for the next few weeks, and that has been more help than anything else! Another HUGE help has been the other quad moms before me and the quad moms who are going through this with me. Throughout my pregnancy I got to read about things that worked and things that didn't, the best way to do certain things, etc. While every family is different and what works for one might not work for another, I still received tons of amazing advice. Without it, we would probably be drowning right about now. Sometimes it does get quite overwhelming, particularly when there are 4 screaming babies at one time, or when they are being a pain in the butt to feed, but thankfully that doesn't happen all the time!

Individual updates-

Ella is doing amazing! She does have an occasional moment of jealously (what 3 year old wouldn't?!), but for the most part she does great! She is such a sweet big sister and is Mommy's little helper! We also celebrated her 3rd birthday on the 9th of July, I can't believe my baby is 3! She also decided she wanted to potty train the day of her birthday party which has been completely awesome to say the least! 

Birthday girl!
Minnie Mouse party at the park!
Zoe, Ella , and Mia. Two of her BFF"s!
Mommy's big helper!
Abby is doing great! We thought she would come home on oxygen and a feeding tube, but she surprised us all and caught up to her sister and brother super quick! We are so thankful she is healthy, and she doesn't have to deal with the yucky oxygen anymore. Plus it makes it a lot easier at home not to have to worry about that!

Allie is doing great as well. She developed high blood pressure there towards the end of her NICU stay, so it was a blessing in disguise that she was not a quick learner eating, because she may have been discharged before it was caught. We aren't exactly sure the cause, but they believe it is her kidneys. Her kidney ultrasound was normal, but they sent off labs to see if we could figure out what is going on. We now monitor her blood pressure 3 times a day, and she also gets blood pressure medication after her blood pressure is checked.

Corbin is doing great as well. We have a follow up head ultrasound on the 9th of this month. Although his brain bleed resolved, there was a small concerning spot on his brain, and we are not sure if it is anything or not. I'm a little worried about it, but I'm praying that the ultrasound comes back normal!

Carson is doing good, too. He has awful reflux, but thankfully at his first pediatrician appointment we were able to get him on reflux medication which has helped a TON! He's still a fussy baby but it's so much better now. He has started his true social smiling, and it's so dang cute!

We are so happy to finally have our family under one roof, and in some ways it's much easier than being torn between home and the NICU. Sometimes I just stare at them and I still can not believe they are all home, and that they are all mine. I can't believe we got pregnant with quads, made it through a quad pregnancy, and made it through the NICU stage. And most of all, I can not believe that we defied the odds and came out at the end with 4 seemingly healthy babies! God truly is so good, and we are so thankful for all of our blessings! Having 5 children, 4 of them being quadruplets, is everything I never knew I wanted. Some people seem to pity me, but I will take full hands over empty ones ANY day!! We are so happy that He chose us to take this crazy, beautiful, insane, and wonderful ride... Let the fun begin!



10 comments:

  1. Great post and I am so happy for you!! I have prayed many a prayer for you and your little ones.....

    "Full hands over empty ones....."
    that is a wonderful statement!! Amen!

    I keep up with you through Amber.....so glad y'all have each other!

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    1. Thank you so much!! And yes, I'm so glad we have each other, too, it's so nice not to be alone in all of this!

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  2. Aww your babies are adorable, so glad all of them are safe at home, congrats momma may god bless you are your gorgeous family

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  3. So glad to hear things are going well and all are home! Way to go, Martin Family!!!

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  4. Great update! Hope the labs and ultrasounds come back normal.

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  5. I "only" have twins, but have said more than once that full hands are better than empty ones. (a great comment to those who say, "you've got your hands full")

    I am so happy everyone is home and I am believing that you will get good reports on all the follow up visits! Thank you for the update!

    Leigh Ann Steeber
    Plymouth, MN
    (first "met" you on BBC BF multiples board)

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  6. This post brought tears to my eyes! Yes it is a beautiful ride!! I'm looking forward to play dates!!

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  7. Congrats!!! Glad you now have them all home. Two of ours came home the same day and then it was like 2 weeks till the 3rd and the 4th came home a week after that. The week between having 3 at home and one still out was very difficult.

    The McCleary Quads

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  8. Oh I love that: "Everything I never knew I wanted." I feel the same way about our triplets. (Who, I will admit, have been mistakenly dressed in the wrong colours overnight. Nothing like waking up to a boy dressed in a pink jumpsuit!) Your babies are simply gorgeous. May you continue to celebrate the blessings, even through your sleep deprived state!

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