Welcome to the world, Abby, Allie, Corbin, and Carson!

This past week has been a huge whirlwind, and I am a little late updating (of course!), but we welcomed our sweet babies into this world last Friday, April 20th at 28 weeks and 5 days gestation.

Abby Reese, born first at 7:25am, weighing in at 2 pounds 6 ounces and 14.3 inches long

Allie Claire, born second at 7:26am, weighing in at 2 pounds 13 ounces and 15.2 inches long

Corbin Jacob, born third at 7:27am, weighing in at 2 pounds 13 ounces and 15.4 inches long (1 day old in photo)

Carson Eli, born last at 7:29am, weighing in at 2 pounds 11 ounces and 15.4 inches long

Thursday night was a normal night for me. I had been having increased contractions over the past week or so, but they were always able to stop them, and I don't believe I had many Thursday night at all. I went to sleep around 1am as usual, but I woke at 3am to a massively wet bed. I shot out of bed quicker than I had moved in months, and then sat there trying to figure out what the heck happened and why I would pee on myself that much. I went to the restroom and was trying to figure out if it was pee or amniotic fluid... and looking back on it, it is quite rediculous that I did not immediately know it was my water breaking. I was embarrassed to call the nurse because I wasn't 100 percent sure it was my water, I was in a bit of denial I think. I eventually called the nurse after about 15-20 minutes of contemplating, and quickly apologized and told her that either my water broke, or I peed on myself. I was a little frantic at that point, I remember just pacing in a daze and shaking like crazy. I didn't know how to react, was I supposed to be terrified that the babies were coming so early, or was I supposed to be excited that I may meet my babies? I didn't know how I should be feeling at all, there were so many emotions going on. They did a nitrizine test and of course determined it was my water that had broken. The craziness began, contraction monitoring, IV's started, rushed to L&D and started on magnesium sulfate to try and stop contractions and help with neuroprotection for the babies in case they couldn't;t stop contractions, and also a rescue dose of steroids for babies lung and other development. Even though my water had broken, they still wanted to stop contractions and try and keep me pregnant as long as possible. Unfortunately, my labor progressed really fast, and at 6:00am I was over 6cm dilated. The OR was called and the teams were gathered, it was a very overwhelming sight going into the OR. I had done okay up into that point, but as soon as I was wheeled into the OR I completely lost it, there were so many people in there, at least 4 people per baby and 2 people at my head, and over 6 people that would be behind the screen working on me. It finally became really real, and I was terrified out of my mind for my babies. We were SO thankful to be past 28 weeks, and that in itself was a big celebration, but 28 weeks is still so early, and there were so many unknowns (there still is).

The surgery went well. It took them a little bit to get into my uterus due to scar tissue from my previous Csection with Ella, but there were no issues. They were concerned that my uterus would not contract back down after the babies were out since my uterus was so large and "tired", and they had 4 units of blood ready for me. Luckily, my uterus behaved itself and did what it was supposed to do, and there were no complications. The babies didn't really cry when they came out, or move much for that matter (they had a big screen to where I could see one of the babies being worked on), and I majorly freaked out for a minute, but they told me it was completely normal, and I did get to hear a few tiny baby cries eventually. All the babies were put on CPAP machines (to deliver a little pressure and oxygen to their lungs) except for Abby who was put on the ventilator. They were all stable, and I even got to give the boys a little kiss before they were sent to the NICU. They were the tiniest babies, but were bigger than I thought they would be and looked better than I had expected. The NICU doctors and nurses were really impressed with their weights, and said that their larger weights would definitely help them out. I got to see them at 1am after my spinal had finally worn off. I was so exhausted and out of it by that time, and still felt like I was in the twilight zone from everything happening so fast. Larry wheeled me around from baby to baby, and I just stared at them, it was so surreal. As soon as I woke up the next morning the emotions hit, but I handled everything better than I expected myself to. They are all so perfect and beautiful, I can't believe they are here!

The babies really are doing great. Abby was extubated the next day, but the boys had to be put on the ventilator to get a dose of surfactant and to help them out a bit, but they were only on it a day. Carson ended up with a pneumothorax and had to have a chest tube for a few days, but that is out and all is well, all babies are on a CPAP now, and all are on room air except for Carson, he is lagging a tad behind in the breathing department. But the docs say it is completely normal and that it is great that he doesn't need the ventilator. They all spent a couple days under the billirubin lights for jaundice, but that is taken care of now. The girls got to start breastmilk through an OG tube Saturday, and the boys got to start on Monday. They are all tolerating it well, and their feeds have all been increased. They take so little, between 9ml and 5ml (depending on the baby) 8 times a day. It's nice right now to be able to feed them all with less than 10 ounces of milk a day, I am trying to get a huge stockpile going in the freezer. I was terrified I would have a bad milk supply this go round since I was so blessed with a great one with Ella, but it's looking like I am headed towards another good supply. I am pumping over 40 ounces a day at just 6 days postpartum, and each day I am seeing a few more ounces, woohoo!! So hopefully it stays that way and keeps increasing, at the 2 week mark we will evaluate everything with the lactation consultant, and I may start taking some medication to produce even more milk, I would love to get up to 100 ounces a day.

Ella has done so well through all of this, I am so proud of her! She is so excited for me to be home finally, yesterday she wrapped her little arms around my neck and said, "I am so glad you are home Mommy, you make me so happy". Talk about melting my heart! She LOVED seeing all of the babies, and of course Corbin is the one she always wants to see first. He is the one she talked about the most while I was pregnant. Larry will carry her from isolette to isolette and she will just get excited and say hi to them all, and then tell us something they are doing. Her first time meeting them Abby was screaming her head off (she has some lungs for a 28 weeker!), and Ella was really upset wanting to know why Abby was so sad. Every time a baby cries she will tell them that it is okay, she is so sweet. She has had one jealousy moment while I was holding Corbin, he started crying a bit and she starting crying and saying "but that's MY Mommy!".... :( But overall she is doing really great.... we will see how she does when they come home! This is our first time holding Abby!

I am recovering well, this C-section recovery is SO much easier than the one with Ella. You would think after being on bed rest for 3 months and losing all my strength, on top of having 4 babies taken out of me it would be worse, but thankfully it's not. Luckily I had the nurse take a quick pic of my belly after my water broke since I hadn't taken one in almost a month, so here is the last of my big pregnant belly. I gained 75 pounds total this pregnancy, which is just where they wanted me to gain.

This is a long post, but I wanted to have something to look back on and remember. This has just been a crazy week, but I am so thankful our babies are doing well, we are really thankful for every ones support and prayers. My faith has definitely been tested and has become so much stronger through all of this. I could not have made it through without the Lord, He is in control at all times, and it took me a bit to just give up the control to Him. It is still hard to do at times, but He has shown us so much through this all. The babies have their brain ultrasounds today to check for brain bleeds, and although they are doing so well, they are definitely not out of the woods yet, so we appreciate any continued prayers for our babies health and safety. They still have at least another 6 weeks or so in the NICU and a lot of things to overcome, so this is going to be a long ride! Once again we are so grateful for our friends and family, we would not have been able to make it through this pregnancy without all of the support and help!

26 weeks and still pregnant!

I can not even begin to say how thankful I am to still be pregnant! Every night I thank the Lord a bizillion times that my babies are still tucked away safely in my gigantic belly for another day. The statistics for babies born at 26 weeks are about a 75% chance of survival, and then about a 25% chance of a major lifelong disability for surviving babies. Those are not statistics that really make me breathe easy, but they are WAY better than the 23/24 week statistics of a 50% chance of survival and then 50% chance of major disability for surviving babies. 28 weeks brings a 90% chance of survival with a 10% chance of major disability, and THOSE are numbers I can feel pretty good about, especially given my situation! Sometimes I feel guilty for praying for more time pregnant because I have already been given so much, but to see 28 weeks would be so amazing!

I am the worlds worst person at keeping up with this blog. It's been almost a month since I have updated, and I really need to be better at it. It's not like I have a ton to do sitting in my hospital room! A lot has happened since I have last updated. Basically as of last Wednesday I only have about 2mm (0.2cm) of cervical length left, which the doctor is calling no length left. But thankfully I was not dilated at all when they did that ultrasound. That night I started having regular contractions and was given a dose of Procardia to stop them, and thankfully after a couple of hours it worked. I feel kind of like a ticking time bomb, just waiting for it to happen at any moment. I don't think anyone here really expects me to make it much longer (although one of my docs is optimistic!), but I am still determined to see 28 weeks. Unfortunately I don't think it really matters how determined I am, but it can't hurt, right?! I also found out today that I have carpal tunnel syndrome, but luckily it's only in my right wrist, and the doc said it should go away after I deliver the babies. I have also had to have (a few weeke ago) an EKG, heart ultrasound, and wear a holter monitor for a day because my pulse has been really high, and also from having palpitations. These things can definitely be normal in a multiple pregnancy because of the increased blood volume and the heart having to work so much harder, but they wanted to cover their bases and make sure there were no underlying issues, and luckily all my tests came back normal. Other than those minor things and my cervical issues, I haven't had much else going on!

I feel okay, it's getting a lot harder to get around because of the pelvic pain, but I'm not to the point to where it's unbearable yet. My skin feels like it will just rip at any moment, and I am constantly in amazement that I can keep growing and growing. I say it all the time but a woman's body is truly amazing! But I know I haven't seen anything yet if I am lucky enough to stay pregnant a few more weeks! I will post some pics when I post from my laptop next time.

Once again we are so thankful for everyone in our lives, and we really appreciate all the prayers and support! We definitely appreciate any continued prayers that I am able to stay pregnant for as long as possible! Hopefully I will get to update the blog another time or two before they make their arrival!

Finally some good news!

Today has been a good day! My spirit is up today, we got some good news this morning! Last night they did a test called a fetal fibronectin test. A negative result is much more accurate than a positive result, and if the result is negative, it's about a 99 percent chance that you will not go into labor in the next 2 weeks. Thankfully this morning they came in to tell me that the results were negative! If I wasn't so out of it and exhausted this morning I would have cried! Also, my doctor came in around 9 this morning and did an ultrasound to check my cervix, and my cervix has not gotten any shorter, woohoo! A couple measurements were less than 2cm, and a couple were a little over 2cm. I was so extremely relieved today, I feel much less anxious and I am starting to feel more positive again. Abby's head is right in the funnel in my cervix, I wish she would turn transverse or something because it freaks me out every time I see that on ultrasound! But the poor baby is probably there to stay, all the other babies are dog piled on top of her and she doesn't have much room!!

I am doing pretty good, everyone here is so great, and there have been a couple volunteers in and out that come just to chit chat, and that has been nice. I miss Ella so much, that is definitely the hardest part of all of this. She is adjusting pretty well, she talks about Mommy being in the hospital for the babies, and she knows she gets to come and see me everyday. I usually get to spend about 4 hours each day with her. To me it's really hard and doesn't seem near enough, but that is our new reality and hopefully I will get used to it! My mother in law is awesome and brought me up some real food and cheesecake today, and she also bought me
a cute comforter for my bed to make it more homey here! I am so thankful for her, my Dad, and Delia for helping out so much with Ella while Larry works, I do not know what I would do without them, or the rest of our awesome family and friends who have helped with other things and offered a lot of help. And of course Larry for taking on basically being a single dad without complaining a bit, I definitely picked the right husband for a quadruplet pregnancy! ;)

So for now we are just taking it one day at a time. My short term goal is to make it to March 26th, which is when the new Texas Children's Pavilion for Women opens, and I will be 25 weeks. I'm excited to stay in a brand new hospital where no one else has stayed in my room before! It will still be the same awesome staff that is here at St. Luke's, they are actually Texas Children's employees. Thanks again for all of the thoughts and prayers, they are working! The doctors do not think I will see 28 weeks, but God is good, and I have seen many things that made absolutely no sense medically, and could only be described as a miracle. Plus although doctors are amazingly smart, it is in Gods hands and only he knows. And it may help a little that I am about as stubborn and determined as they come, and proving people wrong when they tell me I can't/won't do something is kinda fun, too. ;) So let's hope that helps!

I spoke too soon...

I guess I shouldn't have said my cervix is a champ on a previous post! At our second anatomy scan last week (in which all babies were healthy, and no apparent heart defect for Allie!!!) my cervix measured 4.5 cm, and at a growth ultrasound yesterday it measured a little less than 2 cm, and it was funneling (opening at the top but not the bottom). So that equaled an automatic hospital admission for the rest of the pregnancy. I am terrified and so nervous, but I know I am in great hands here. All of the doctors, nurses, and staff have all been absolutely amazing. The plan is just hospital bed rest, progesterone, and a possible cerclage. The doctors are on the fence with the cerclage, some think it's beneficial and some do not. The decision will be up to me whether to get one or not, we will be going over all the facts and data soon. They will be checking my cervix by ultrasound every 2-3 days, or sooner if there appears to be an issue. Ella did not want to leave me last night and it was heartbreaking to say the least. She kept saying she wanted "mommy cuddles" and kept trying to get back in the bed with me. Larry just had to leave quick because I started bawling and I didn't want her to see me upset. I know I need to be here and I am glad I am here for the safety of these babies, but I am going to miss my big girl so much, it's going to be a huge adjustment for us all.

The babies were great yesterday on the ultrasound. Allie is 15 ounces and Abby, Carson, and Corbin all weigh a pound. They were all extremely active and looking great! We would appreciate any prayers, positive vibes, well wishes, or whatever it is that you believe in! I am so thankful that we are surrounded by wonderful, supportive people!

19 weeks and counting

And the fun part of the pregnancy begins!! I am pretty dang large as this point, I am as big as I was the day I delivered Ella at 38 weeks, yikes! It's getting hard to move around easily and I can hardly breathe. Corbin is laying straight across up in my ribs, so I am sure that is why! BUT everything is going good still at this point! At our 18 week anatomy scan, all the babies were around the 50th percentile or larger! Abby, Carson, and Corbin all checked out fine, but there may be an issue with Allie's heart. They are going to check again next week, and I am praying that everything is okay with her. It's really scary to think there could be something wrong with her on TOP of them being premature and having a hard time with that... I don't want any of them to have any other issues added to that! But I am trying to stay positive and just hope it was just a shadow/issue with one of the pictures they got, the doctor said that was a good possibility! My cervix is still holding out like a champ (even though that can change any minute), and was measuring at 5.5cm during our anatomy scan, which is twice as long as what they "need" it to be.

 Abby's profile

Carson's profile

Allie's profile

Corbin's profile

And his cute little feet!

Aren't they so cute?!  ;) And they were definitely correct on the genders, it was extremely obvious this go round. I have finally gotten over my "too scared to buy any baby things" phase, and have started stocking up on more cloth diapers. I have also bought the girls 12 bows each on a killer sale (you know they HAVE to have bows!!), and have bought the boys some onesies. I have TONS of girl clothes left from Ella and from my awesome friends with hand me downs, and have 2 other friends handing down some boy clothes soon, so hopefully I wont have to buy too many clothes for them! I am trying to find nursery furniture now, but having a hard time deciding what I want, and the girls room is a little small, so that is not helping. But it has the biggest closet so I know they will need that later on. 

My body is actually doing good so far this pregnancy. I have packed on almost 39 pounds (holy crap!), which is awfully close to the 45-50 pounds they wanted me to gain by 20 weeks, so I am doing pretty good with that! But then again I've never had a problem packing on pounds, ha! I also amazingly passed my gestational diabetes test, but my doctor will check again soon because I will more than likely get it this pregnancy. My thyroid is also hanging in strong and I have only needed one adjustment on my thyroid meds this pregnancy, and that was in the very beginning. I almost feel like things are going a little too well for a quad pregnancy, and that makes me a little nervous! But it's way better than something being wrong, so I don't know what I am complaining about! Here is a little visual of my big ole' belly, it's pretty crazy! I just can't imagine how I am going to be able to grow for another 10+ weeks, a womans body is truly amazing!!

Here is a cute pic of Ella "feeding" the babies milk!  :) I can't get it turned the right way, sorry, I am not a computer genius person. 

And another one of her after eating some "chocolate bread", which is just bread with Nutella, love that stuff!

Okay, I don't know why these are sideways, they are right side up when I go to put them on here, then they are sideways when I do.... who knows. I will fix them when I figure it out! ANYWAYS. It's hard to believe Ella is already two and a half! This is such a FUN age! She is so imaginative, creative, and smart. She is so silly and funny, and also very sweet. She minds her manners well, although we are still working on some of them!  ;) She is VERY affectionate, which we love!! We are so blessed and lucky to have her, she is an amazing little girl. She is also a HUGE drama queen and can't stand to hear "no"... although I don't either so I can't blame her! I feel like this blog is so much about the quads, I wanted to share a little bit about her! Being a Mom is everything I have ever dreamed it would be, but so much more. I never imagined you could love someone else so much, and I am so excited to add 4 more sweet babies to our family!

And the babies are.....

HEALTHY so far, which is of course the most important thing! I haven't yet shared this blog with people I know in real life (I need to do that asap), but if you knew me, you would know that I am insanely gender obsessed! It didn't really matter WHAT genders (although I did hope for at least one of each), but I just had to know! I was the same way with Ella, although I did want a girl very badly with her.  :) ANYWAY! We had our elective gender scan today! It was a blast and I was so thankful all babies were moving and kicking around everywhere, I always get SO nervous before an ultrasound worried that one may not be there anymore. Morbid, I know, but it's just a huge fear. After I saw that I could focus on finding out the genders! We didn't get any cute profile shots since it was just a gender scan... but here are the goods!

Introducing Abby Reese! Baby A is a GIRL!

Introducing Carson Eli! Baby B is a BOY!

 Here is Allie Claire- Baby C is a GIRL!

And last but not least, here is Corbin (Jacob?)- Baby D is a BOY!!

We are so excited to add 2 little boys and 2 more girls to our family! We took Ella to the ultrasound, she was not all that impressed, she just wanted to play with their toys. But I guess that is what you get from a 2 year old!  ;) When we came home and watched the video of the ultrasound again, and turned it off, she kept asking where her babies went. She loves my belly and loves the idea of babies being in there, but I don't think she really understands that they are real babies, and that they will be coming out to live with us!! The other day she brought some sprinkles and put them in my belly button, telling me she wanted to feed the babies sprinkles, it was so cute! She always sticks 2 fingers in my belly button and tries to rip my stomach open, and gets upset because she can't get the babies out. She is such a sweet girl and is very gentle and kind with babies (although jealous a lot of the time when Daddy or I hold them), so I am hoping she does well with them when they come home!

I am growing, growing, growing. Although I don't mind my stomach growing of course, it is a little hard for me to see the rest of me balloon up. But I know it has to happen in order for me to gain all the weight I need for the babies... so I just have to suck it up!!  Here is a pic of my 16 week belly!

I also wanted to share this awesome necklace a good friend of mine, Dottie, had made for me! It represents the quads, and my sweet Ella as well! She is always so thoughtful, and I will cherish this gift forever! I am very lucky to have her as a friend, along with a few other amazing friends as well!

 Well, I guess that is it for today, folks! We are on cloud 9 and just so blessed and happy! We will be approaching the difficult part of the pregnancy soon, I will go on bed rest in 2 weeks. So any prayers or positive thoughts would be greatly appreciated, I hope and pray daily that I can carry these babies for a LONG time!!

There are real babies in there!!

We had another ultrasound last week at 14 weeks, and all 4 babies are still going strong!! They were going crazy in there and it was so amazing to see them again! They grew quite a bit, and were all punching/kicking the others in their heads.  ;) Here are a few photos

Baby A's sweet little profile!

 Baby B face shot, and I think that is Baby A to the right.

Baby C's little profile. I love profile shots!

Last but not least, Baby D's profile.

I will post a photo of my ever growing belly with the next post! I have grown a ton in the last month, it is pretty crazy! We will not have another growth scan with the doctor until 18 weeks. We are going to The Inside Story elective ultrasound place on Monday (16 weeks) to see if we can determine all of the babies genders. Yes, some may call me crazy, but I go crazy not knowing the genders of the babies, and if I can know 2 weeks sooner I am going to! Haha I also went there when I was 16 weeks pregnant with Ella to find out her gender, and I also had two 3D/4D ultrasounds there with her as well. The place is awesome! Plus, its great to get another peek at your baby/babies!! Especially in this situation, I don't like going long between ultrasounds because I love the reassurance that they are all okay and growing well!

There is really not much to report! Things are going pretty good at this point, although we know it can change at any time. I will update again on Monday after our ultrasound!!