We've Made It To 20 Weeks!

Today is a very exciting day. Today officially marks the 20th week of Becca’s pregnancy. Honestly, I thought she would be on bed rest way before now. I have to stop and thank God for allowing her to make it this far and for keeping her and the babies safe. I thank all of you prayer warriors for praying for her and the babies. It is really amazing the power of prayer.

WOW!!

Becca and I still feel so speechless about the kind generosity of our friends over the weekend. Last week was Christmas, the time of year when people choose to gather together to celebrate the birth of Jesus. For some reason, we as a people have chosen to celebrate the birth of Christ by giving presents to our loved ones. People really blessed us with their gift giving this year. Words cannot express how grateful we are to all the friends of Jesus—both known and unknown to us. We are convinced that there are still angels who live among us. We really wish we knew who each of you are who have helped us so tremendously, but since we don’t, all we can say is Thank You.

Please keep up the prayers as we head into the new year. There are lots of changes ahead of us!

--Posted by Sean

20 Weeks

Today is a very exciting day. Today officially marks the 20th week of Becca’s pregnancy. Honestly, I thought she would be on bed rest way before now. I have to stop and thank God for allowing her to make it this far and for keeping her and the babies safe. I thank all of you prayer warriors for praying for her and the babies. It is really amazing the power of prayer.

WOW!!

Becca and I still feel so speechless about the kind generosity of our friends over the weekend. Last week was Christmas, the time of year when people choose to gather together to celebrate the birth of Jesus. For some reason, we as a people have chosen to celebrate the birth of Christ by giving presents to our loved ones. People really blessed us with their gift giving this year. Words cannot express how grateful we are to all the friends of Jesus—both known and unknown to us. We are convinced that there are still angels who live among us. We really wish we knew who each of you are who have helped us so tremendously, but since we don’t, all we can say is Thank You.

Please keep up the prayers as we head into the new year. There are lots of changes ahead of us!

--Posted by Sean

20 Weeks

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

Christmas came early for the Ishum household. We had our 19-week checkup this morning. Mom is doing great. Better than could be expected really. In fact, if you can believe it, her cervix is longer than it was two weeks ago. Now of course part of that has to do with where the babies are resting at the moment, but this is still a very good sign. 19 weeks and still not on bed rest. The doctors think that she might be able to go the full month of January without being placed on “official bedrest”. This would put her at 24 weeks when the babies are viable. Please let’s keep up the prayers that Becca makes it to at least 30 weeks. God has blessed us with such great health so far so let’s keep those prayers up. Speaking of prayers….

Two weeks ago those who were on Baby A’s team were blessed by finding out that Baby A is a boy and has received the name Caleb Sean. The rest of you now get to share in the blessings.

Baby B is a girl. We have chosen to name her Abigail Rose

Baby C is a boy. He shall be called Elijah James

Baby D is a very bashful girl. She shall be named Elizabeth Grace

Yes, the babies went boy, girl, boy, girl. It is a huge blessings to have a pair of each gender. When we found out we were having quads. We wanted to have a pair of each. This is a huge honor, privilege, and wonderful Christmas present. Quite possibly the best day of my life.

Now for the name origins:

Caleb means doglike. I’m sure some people might look down on this. But it means doglike as in tenacious and loyal. You see Caleb in the Bible was one of the Israelite spies who was sent into the promised land. Caleb along with Joshua trusted in God and wanted to go conquer the promised land. Because of this God blessed Caleb by allowing him to live while the Israelites wandered through the desert. Caleb then at an old age set forth and conquered much of the promised land. Caleb has always been an inspiration to us to holdfast to the promises of God. His middle name, Sean, is a tribute to his father. We strongly considered the name Jonathan for one of our kids because we like that Jonathan was a friend to King David and we wanted to invest the value of friendship in our children but opted out of that since Sean is the Irish form of John.


Abigail means Father’s Joy. The Abigail in the Bible was David’s third wife and was described as beautiful in form and quite intelligent. She was married to a rather unintelligent man whose name escapes me at the moment, but she showed discretion when her husband tried to insult King David. God found favor in her because of this and allowed her husband to die and she then became married to the King. We have always found this name beautiful but also wanted Abigail to know that we rejoice for her and believe that she will be intelligent, probably even smarter than her father. Her middle name of Rose is a tribute to her mother which is Becca’s middle name which is a tribute to her mother Rosemary.


Elijah means the Lord is my God. We wanted to give the kids names that honored God. Elijah is known as one of the greatest prophet in the Old Testament. (Ironically, his apprentice Elisha has twice as many miracles recorded) His middle name, James, comes from one of our favorite books of the Bible. I really wanted a boy named James but when we started going over all the different combinations of names we decided we really liked Elijah so James became a middle name.


Elizabeth means God’s promise. The other three babies have names from people in the Old Testament but Elizabeth has the honor of being from the New Testament. In fact, (and we really like this), Elizabeth is tied into the Christmas story. You see Mary, (the mother of Jesus), had an older cousin named Elizabeth who was feared to be barren, but God promised her that she would have a baby. That baby ended up being John the Baptist. Elizabeth combined with Grace equals God’s promise of Grace. A perfect Christmas present for all regardless of the time of year. Also, the fact that Elizabeth was barren relates to Becca in her desire to conceive. Sure, Elizabeth was older than Becca but still it is a character that we can relate to.


We pray that everyone can find Jesus in this holiday season. With all of the family get togethers and running around and Christmas shopping, it is easy to miss God’s promises and blessings. I know I have had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit. Please count your blessings where you can find them. Again, we appreciate all of the prayers. We hope you enjoy the stories behind the babies’ names.

Have a Merry Christmas!
--posted by Sean

Christmas came early for the Ishum household. We had our 19-week checkup this morning. Mom is doing great. Better than could be expected really. In fact, if you can believe it, her cervix is longer than it was two weeks ago. Now of course part of that has to do with where the babies are resting at the moment, but this is still a very good sign. 19 weeks and still not on bed rest. The doctors think that she might be able to go the full month of January without being placed on “official bedrest”. This would put her at 24 weeks when the babies are viable. Please let’s keep up the prayers that Becca makes it to at least 30 weeks. God has blessed us with such great health so far so let’s keep those prayers up. Speaking of prayers….

Two weeks ago those who were on Baby A’s team were blessed by finding out that Baby A is a boy and has received the name Caleb Sean. The rest of you now get to share in the blessings.

Baby B is a girl. We have chosen to name her Abigail Rose

Baby C is a boy. He shall be called Elijah James

Baby D is a very bashful girl. She shall be named Elizabeth Grace

Yes, the babies went boy, girl, boy, girl. It is a huge blessings to have a pair of each gender. When we found out we were having quads. We wanted to have a pair of each. This is a huge honor, privilege, and wonderful Christmas present. Quite possibly the best day of my life.

Now for the name origins:

Caleb means doglike. I’m sure some people might look down on this. But it means doglike as in tenacious and loyal. You see Caleb in the Bible was one of the Israelite spies who was sent into the promised land. Caleb along with Joshua trusted in God and wanted to go conquer the promised land. Because of this God blessed Caleb by allowing him to live while the Israelites wandered through the desert. Caleb then at an old age set forth and conquered much of the promised land. Caleb has always been an inspiration to us to holdfast to the promises of God. His middle name, Sean, is a tribute to his father. We strongly considered the name Jonathan for one of our kids because we like that Jonathan was a friend to King David and we wanted to invest the value of friendship in our children but opted out of that since Sean is the Irish form of John.


Abigail means Father’s Joy. The Abigail in the Bible was David’s third wife and was described as beautiful in form and quite intelligent. She was married to a rather unintelligent man whose name escapes me at the moment, but she showed discretion when her husband tried to insult King David. God found favor in her because of this and allowed her husband to die and she then became married to the King. We have always found this name beautiful but also wanted Abigail to know that we rejoice for her and believe that she will be intelligent, probably even smarter than her father. Her middle name of Rose is a tribute to her mother which is Becca’s middle name which is a tribute to her mother Rosemary.


Elijah means the Lord is my God. We wanted to give the kids names that honored God. Elijah is known as one of the greatest prophet in the Old Testament. (Ironically, his apprentice Elisha has twice as many miracles recorded) His middle name, James, comes from one of our favorite books of the Bible. I really wanted a boy named James but when we started going over all the different combinations of names we decided we really liked Elijah so James became a middle name.


Elizabeth means God’s promise. The other three babies have names from people in the Old Testament but Elizabeth has the honor of being from the New Testament. In fact, (and we really like this), Elizabeth is tied into the Christmas story. You see Mary, (the mother of Jesus), had an older cousin named Elizabeth who was feared to be barren, but God promised her that she would have a baby. That baby ended up being John the Baptist. Elizabeth combined with Grace equals God’s promise of Grace. A perfect Christmas present for all regardless of the time of year. Also, the fact that Elizabeth was barren relates to Becca in her desire to conceive. Sure, Elizabeth was older than Becca but still it is a character that we can relate to.


We pray that everyone can find Jesus in this holiday season. With all of the family get togethers and running around and Christmas shopping, it is easy to miss God’s promises and blessings. I know I have had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit. Please count your blessings where you can find them. Again, we appreciate all of the prayers. We hope you enjoy the stories behind the babies’ names.

Have a Merry Christmas!
--posted by Sean

A Low-Key December

This has been the most restful month of December that I've ever had. Normally, I'm going non-stop from Thanksgiving to Christmas every year. This year, Sean and I have slowed down and tried to enjoy as much time together as possible. We know that "couple time" will be scarce soon, and that bed rest is just about here, so we are definitely appreciating the moments that we have together with me still feeling relatively well.

In keeping with our slower approach to life, we pretty much decided to skip the Christmas decorations this year. However, Sean’s parents brought over a potted Christmas tree this week. I absolutely love it! It's the perfect size to sit on my hope chest and brings the perfect amount of Christmas to the house! It was so thoughtful and much appreciated!


The doctor told me at my last appointment a couple of weeks ago that I'm feeling what a woman normally feels at 30 weeks of pregnancy. This week it hit me just how tired I am. I'm normally ready for a nap by about 11am. I think some of the tiredness just comes from being unable to get comfortable. All of this is completely normal for pregnant women, so I'm happy to get to experience these side effects rather than the nausea or the other much more dramatic things that I could be faced with. Not complaining!

18 Weeks!

This week we are hoping to find out another gender or two. Our next appointment is not necessarily a baby appointment, but more of a mommy appointment. They will be checking my cervix to see if I can still wander around like I’ve been doing or whether I need to go on bed rest right away. We are hoping to talk the sonogram tech into taking another quick peek at the babies while she’s checking me to see if any of them want to reveal their genders. :)

This has been the most restful month of December that I've ever had. Normally, I'm going non-stop from Thanksgiving to Christmas every year. This year, Sean and I have slowed down and tried to enjoy as much time together as possible. We know that "couple time" will be scarce soon, and that bed rest is just about here, so we are definitely appreciating the moments that we have together with me still feeling relatively well.

In keeping with our slower approach to life, we pretty much decided to skip the Christmas decorations this year. However, Sean’s parents brought over a potted Christmas tree this week. I absolutely love it! It's the perfect size to sit on my hope chest and brings the perfect amount of Christmas to the house! It was so thoughtful and much appreciated!


The doctor told me at my last appointment a couple of weeks ago that I'm feeling what a woman normally feels at 30 weeks of pregnancy. This week it hit me just how tired I am. I'm normally ready for a nap by about 11am. I think some of the tiredness just comes from being unable to get comfortable. All of this is completely normal for pregnant women, so I'm happy to get to experience these side effects rather than the nausea or the other much more dramatic things that I could be faced with. Not complaining!

18 Weeks!

This week we are hoping to find out another gender or two. Our next appointment is not necessarily a baby appointment, but more of a mommy appointment. They will be checking my cervix to see if I can still wander around like I’ve been doing or whether I need to go on bed rest right away. We are hoping to talk the sonogram tech into taking another quick peek at the babies while she’s checking me to see if any of them want to reveal their genders. :)

What a Week!

Whoa! What a week! First we found out that Caleb is on his way, and then we were on the news!

On Tuesday evening, NBC Channel 41 called because they wanted to interview us for the news. One of Sean’s co-workers contacted them over the weekend about our unique way of starting a family. We had a really nice reporter, Al Miller, who came out on Wednesday and asked us questions about how we ended up expecting four babies and what we are doing to prepare for them. He was at our house for about an hour and 15 minutes just talking with us, checking out the babies’ room, and looking at sonogram pictures. They move fast in the news world! From the time they called us to the time it aired, it was only about 24 hours! If you missed it, the video link is below:

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/news/local_news/family-needs-necessities-that-are-required-to-raise-a-baby-times-four

Sean and I were really impressed with how Al edited our interview. We honestly were not expecting him to keep much of our faith or reliance on God in the clip, and were so happy to see that he kept it a central part of the story…because it is a central part of the story! Yeah, we’re stressed out and nervous, but I can’t imagine how much more so we would be right now without knowing that God has the safety net right under us. This is one mega exercise in faith!

The super fun part of having aired the clip is that we have had the opportunity to email back and forth with some new friends! People who have struggled with infertility, others who have been placed on bed rest, and still others with sets of multiples themselves. Sometimes it’s just good to know that we aren’t the first people going through this.

The 17 Week Bump!

--Posted by Rebecca

Whoa! What a week! First we found out that Caleb is on his way, and then we were on the news!

On Tuesday evening, NBC Channel 41 called because they wanted to interview us for the news. One of Sean’s co-workers contacted them over the weekend about our unique way of starting a family. We had a really nice reporter, Al Miller, who came out on Wednesday and asked us questions about how we ended up expecting four babies and what we are doing to prepare for them. He was at our house for about an hour and 15 minutes just talking with us, checking out the babies’ room, and looking at sonogram pictures. They move fast in the news world! From the time they called us to the time it aired, it was only about 24 hours! If you missed it, the video link is below:

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/news/local_news/family-needs-necessities-that-are-required-to-raise-a-baby-times-four

Sean and I were really impressed with how Al edited our interview. We honestly were not expecting him to keep much of our faith or reliance on God in the clip, and were so happy to see that he kept it a central part of the story…because it is a central part of the story! Yeah, we’re stressed out and nervous, but I can’t imagine how much more so we would be right now without knowing that God has the safety net right under us. This is one mega exercise in faith!

The super fun part of having aired the clip is that we have had the opportunity to email back and forth with some new friends! People who have struggled with infertility, others who have been placed on bed rest, and still others with sets of multiples themselves. Sometimes it’s just good to know that we aren’t the first people going through this.

The 17 Week Bump!

--Posted by Rebecca

And Baby A is....

So far, so good! Today's doctor's visit involved in-depth growth measurements of each of the quads. It took quite awhile since it's getting a little crowded in there! Everybody seems to be developing at about the same rate, have straight bones in their limbs, and have the necessary organs in their proper places. Heartbeats were all regular and between 140 and 155 beats per minute. Such a good thing for us to hear! I always get so nervous before these appointments. So much can change so quickly with these little ones!

I got cleared to stay on my feet just a little bit longer. My cervix seems to be cooperating so far, although they are now monitoring it on a regular basis. The longer I can put off bed rest, the happier I'll be! At one point, the doctor pushed down on my uterus just to see what my cervix might do if I had a contraction right now. Yikes! Not exactly the most fun part of our visit, but it didn't shorten at all with the pressure. The doctor did say that my days are winding down though, and that we are now at the point where I can be put on bed rest any day. I'm just praying to last through Christmas so that I can enjoy the day without being stuck in my bedroom.

And now for a little news that is a bit more exciting than my ramblings about baby growth and bed rest:

Baby A now has a name and a gender:

 

Caleb Sean!

We are very excited to have a little boy on the way! :) Not that me crying is anything new these days, but I was swallowing back tears when the sonogram technician told us. It makes this whole journey just a bit more real and exciting to get to name our first son. I'm already a proud mama, and he's only 7 oz right now! The tech wasn't entirely sure about babies B and D, and baby C refused to even let us have a glimpse of anything that would give his/her gender away. Our babies seem to really like curling their feet up to block all of the fun details! Give us a couple more weeks and hopefully we will have another couple of baby names and genders to announce!

Thank you for praying our babies and us through this pregnancy! We are heading into what has proven to be rough days for other quad pregnancies. As my college professor used to say, we're going to "keep on trucking!"

So far, so good! Today's doctor's visit involved in-depth growth measurements of each of the quads. It took quite awhile since it's getting a little crowded in there! Everybody seems to be developing at about the same rate, have straight bones in their limbs, and have the necessary organs in their proper places. Heartbeats were all regular and between 140 and 155 beats per minute. Such a good thing for us to hear! I always get so nervous before these appointments. So much can change so quickly with these little ones!

I got cleared to stay on my feet just a little bit longer. My cervix seems to be cooperating so far, although they are now monitoring it on a regular basis. The longer I can put off bed rest, the happier I'll be! At one point, the doctor pushed down on my uterus just to see what my cervix might do if I had a contraction right now. Yikes! Not exactly the most fun part of our visit, but it didn't shorten at all with the pressure. The doctor did say that my days are winding down though, and that we are now at the point where I can be put on bed rest any day. I'm just praying to last through Christmas so that I can enjoy the day without being stuck in my bedroom.

And now for a little news that is a bit more exciting than my ramblings about baby growth and bed rest:

Baby A now has a name and a gender:

 

Caleb Sean!

We are very excited to have a little boy on the way! :) Not that me crying is anything new these days, but I was swallowing back tears when the sonogram technician told us. It makes this whole journey just a bit more real and exciting to get to name our first son. I'm already a proud mama, and he's only 7 oz right now! The tech wasn't entirely sure about babies B and D, and baby C refused to even let us have a glimpse of anything that would give his/her gender away. Our babies seem to really like curling their feet up to block all of the fun details! Give us a couple more weeks and hopefully we will have another couple of baby names and genders to announce!

Thank you for praying our babies and us through this pregnancy! We are heading into what has proven to be rough days for other quad pregnancies. As my college professor used to say, we're going to "keep on trucking!"

Walgreen's Diaper Deal

hello folks,

we realize that we are not the only family out there with a need for diapers so thought we would share this diaper deal going on at Walgreen's. We stole this from our SIL's blog: www.samsecrets.com. If you are looking for bargains or want to learn the fine art of couponing, check out her blog.

Walgreens Diaper Deal!!!!
Walgreens brand diapers are on sale this week, buy one, get one free. They also count towards the Jingle Cash rebates (Buy $25, get $5 all the way up to buy $100 get $20!)

Here's the deal:

6 packages of diapers or training pants = $53.94
-BOGO sale = $26.97
Get back $5 for your next trip (a jumbo pack of wipes, maybe, or 2 more packs of diapers!)

posted by Sean

hello folks,

we realize that we are not the only family out there with a need for diapers so thought we would share this diaper deal going on at Walgreen's. We stole this from our SIL's blog: www.samsecrets.com. If you are looking for bargains or want to learn the fine art of couponing, check out her blog.

Walgreens Diaper Deal!!!!
Walgreens brand diapers are on sale this week, buy one, get one free. They also count towards the Jingle Cash rebates (Buy $25, get $5 all the way up to buy $100 get $20!)

Here's the deal:

6 packages of diapers or training pants = $53.94
-BOGO sale = $26.97
Get back $5 for your next trip (a jumbo pack of wipes, maybe, or 2 more packs of diapers!)

posted by Sean

A Visit with Another "Quad Family"

First of all, THANK YOU for signing up for our Baby Prayer Teams! If you look at the top of the website, we have a new page with our prayer friends listed according to the team they signed up for. We had hoped for maybe 3 or 4 people for each team and were blown away by the response we got. We just want you to know how grateful we are to have you covering our babies in prayer! And if you didn’t get on a team, just let us know if you want to join one. The more the merrier!

Last week we were able to go visit with a family here in the metro area that has 20-month-old quadruplets! On Friday, we drove up to their house for lunch and a crash course on what to expect in the coming weeks. Randy and Stephanie were extremely welcoming and let us watch how they did lunch with so many little ones to take care of. It was so nice for us to see a couple that had figured out how to do “the quad thing” and still be sane at the same time!!

Stephanie told us that we are heading into the bed rest/difficult phase over the next 3 weeks or so and to get ready for it. She went on bed rest at 18 weeks and I’m currently at 16 weeks, so our clock is definitely winding down. Both Randy and Stephanie talked us through their experience in the weeks leading up to their little ones being born and how they handled it. Stephanie also gave me some feeding/pooping and weighing charts that she used to keep track of her kids when they came home from the hospital. She was super organized and full of really helpful tips. They also pulled out their photo album of when their kids were in the NICU so that we could see pictures of what our kids might look like and what tubes they most likely will be hooked up to when they arrive. It didn’t scare us like we thought it might. It was actually extremely helpful to get a preview of what to expect. The best part was looking at the pictures, knowing how early their children showed up, and then seeing four little 1 ½ year olds running around like any full term children might. Very encouraging!!

This week we took our cat, Swiper the Fox, to his new home. We were thrilled that our good friends offered to take our cat in. We were days from having to put him down because we couldn’t find any shelters to take him. Sean got Swiper from a shelter for me the first year we were married, and he had become a part of our family so it really broke our heart to even have to consider it. We didn’t want to risk our babies, but didn’t want to lose our “baby” either. We already miss him a lot, but know that this is the best living arrangement for both us and him. And we know he is in a great home as well! That’s even better than having to put him back in a shelter to be adopted out again!

Next week is an exciting week for us! We’re hoping to find out the genders of a baby or two!  We will let y’all know what we find out!

16 Week Baby Bump
(I really went all out and dressed up for this one :) )

--posted by Rebecca

First of all, THANK YOU for signing up for our Baby Prayer Teams! If you look at the top of the website, we have a new page with our prayer friends listed according to the team they signed up for. We had hoped for maybe 3 or 4 people for each team and were blown away by the response we got. We just want you to know how grateful we are to have you covering our babies in prayer! And if you didn’t get on a team, just let us know if you want to join one. The more the merrier!

Last week we were able to go visit with a family here in the metro area that has 20-month-old quadruplets! On Friday, we drove up to their house for lunch and a crash course on what to expect in the coming weeks. Randy and Stephanie were extremely welcoming and let us watch how they did lunch with so many little ones to take care of. It was so nice for us to see a couple that had figured out how to do “the quad thing” and still be sane at the same time!!

Stephanie told us that we are heading into the bed rest/difficult phase over the next 3 weeks or so and to get ready for it. She went on bed rest at 18 weeks and I’m currently at 16 weeks, so our clock is definitely winding down. Both Randy and Stephanie talked us through their experience in the weeks leading up to their little ones being born and how they handled it. Stephanie also gave me some feeding/pooping and weighing charts that she used to keep track of her kids when they came home from the hospital. She was super organized and full of really helpful tips. They also pulled out their photo album of when their kids were in the NICU so that we could see pictures of what our kids might look like and what tubes they most likely will be hooked up to when they arrive. It didn’t scare us like we thought it might. It was actually extremely helpful to get a preview of what to expect. The best part was looking at the pictures, knowing how early their children showed up, and then seeing four little 1 ½ year olds running around like any full term children might. Very encouraging!!

This week we took our cat, Swiper the Fox, to his new home. We were thrilled that our good friends offered to take our cat in. We were days from having to put him down because we couldn’t find any shelters to take him. Sean got Swiper from a shelter for me the first year we were married, and he had become a part of our family so it really broke our heart to even have to consider it. We didn’t want to risk our babies, but didn’t want to lose our “baby” either. We already miss him a lot, but know that this is the best living arrangement for both us and him. And we know he is in a great home as well! That’s even better than having to put him back in a shelter to be adopted out again!

Next week is an exciting week for us! We’re hoping to find out the genders of a baby or two!  We will let y’all know what we find out!

16 Week Baby Bump
(I really went all out and dressed up for this one :) )

--posted by Rebecca