Introducing...Our Babies!!

You all must have responded to our prayer requests in a big way yesterday! By the middle of the day, Becca’s breastmilk had started to come in and she was able to take a few milliliters to the NICU for the babies. It was enough for all of them to have a little taste! She also was able to get some solid food in her stomach which made her very happy.

Update on the Babies:
All babies have been under phototherapy for at least some period of time for their bilirubin over the last two days. The doctors have also tried to move all of them off of their ventilators and on to a CPAP, but they’ve each only made it a limited amount of time. They have all become too tired from having to work so hard to breathe that all are back on ventilators. All four have had a couple of feedings of mother’s milk as their feedings are only about 1 milliliter each at a time. That will increase over the next days as Becca’s milk continues to come in.

Caleb- We’ve been told that he has been doing really good but is tuckered out and needs rest today. The nurses have made the area around his incubator very dark and have placed extra sound dampeners around him to reduce noise to give him a break. He’s positioned so that he is in as womb-like conditions as possible.

Abby - She is very restless today which is very unlike her in her short life. She was the one in the womb who always held very still for the monitoring and the sonograms and really didn’t kick Becca much at all. Now that she is Ex-Utero, she enjoys stretching but today she is very fidgety as if something is wrong. The nurse said that she is doing well, so we aren’t sure why she is so restless. She did receive a blood transfusion yesterday and all of her levels are good so far today. Maybe she is just tired also.

Elijah- He is going to receive a blood transfusion later today but for the most part is doing well. He is very chill when we go see him. He kicks back in his little snuggly blanket and loves to keep his hands up by his face. He doesn’t like to have his legs trapped in the blanket, so Becca jokes that he looks like he is on an inner tube floating down the river.

Elizabeth- Our little runt is doing the best out of all of them, which is ironic when you consider she is the smallest. Her levels have remained pretty stable for the most part. She is a stomach sleeper. This morning, she was sleeping on her stomach with her legs tucked under her which made her butt end up in the air. It was very cute!

With all of our drama going on here in the hospital, we can’t forget that life continues on outside these four walls.
Sean’s grandmother, Twilla, wanted to come see her new great-grandchildren but came down with the shingles. Sean had this the first year that we were married and it was very painful and crazy. If she crosses your mind, please pray that she is able to recover quickly and easily…and then come meet her great-grandchildren!

We are really aware of our marriage right now as we have been going through this pregnancy/hospitalization/NICU stay. We would love it if you would take a minute to pray for two other marriages that are close to our hearts right now. Becca’s sister Hannah is getting married to Jeff two weeks from today, and Sean’s brother Nathan who married Jen last summer. Please pray that both of their marriages would be God honoring. From everything we have heard (and experienced so far!), the first year is the roughest. Life can hold some seriously unexpected curve balls, and we would love to see them get off to a good start so that they have a solid marriage that can handle what comes in the future.

And now…FINALLY!...introducing our beautiful babies!!

 

Sean and Becca during the cesarean section.

 

Caleb-taken by Grandma Stolberg

 

Mommy getting to touch Caleb for the first time on the way from the Recovery room to the Mother/Baby unit. Katie, my nurse, was really good at navigating the NICU with me still in bed!

 

Abby-taken by Grandma Stolberg

 

Daddy doing hand containment with Abby. She's trying on Daddy's wedding ring!

 

Elijah-taken by Grandma Stolberg

 

Elijah getting his first taste of Mommy's breastmilk. The nurse used a cotton swab to let him taste a little of it, and he seemed to enjoy it! He was even moving his jaw a little bit to roll his tongue over it!

 

Ellie-taken by Grandma Stolberg

Ellie in the operating room just after delivery.

 

--Posted by Sean and Becca

You all must have responded to our prayer requests in a big way yesterday! By the middle of the day, Becca’s breastmilk had started to come in and she was able to take a few milliliters to the NICU for the babies. It was enough for all of them to have a little taste! She also was able to get some solid food in her stomach which made her very happy.

Update on the Babies:
All babies have been under phototherapy for at least some period of time for their bilirubin over the last two days. The doctors have also tried to move all of them off of their ventilators and on to a CPAP, but they’ve each only made it a limited amount of time. They have all become too tired from having to work so hard to breathe that all are back on ventilators. All four have had a couple of feedings of mother’s milk as their feedings are only about 1 milliliter each at a time. That will increase over the next days as Becca’s milk continues to come in.

Caleb- We’ve been told that he has been doing really good but is tuckered out and needs rest today. The nurses have made the area around his incubator very dark and have placed extra sound dampeners around him to reduce noise to give him a break. He’s positioned so that he is in as womb-like conditions as possible.

Abby - She is very restless today which is very unlike her in her short life. She was the one in the womb who always held very still for the monitoring and the sonograms and really didn’t kick Becca much at all. Now that she is Ex-Utero, she enjoys stretching but today she is very fidgety as if something is wrong. The nurse said that she is doing well, so we aren’t sure why she is so restless. She did receive a blood transfusion yesterday and all of her levels are good so far today. Maybe she is just tired also.

Elijah- He is going to receive a blood transfusion later today but for the most part is doing well. He is very chill when we go see him. He kicks back in his little snuggly blanket and loves to keep his hands up by his face. He doesn’t like to have his legs trapped in the blanket, so Becca jokes that he looks like he is on an inner tube floating down the river.

Elizabeth- Our little runt is doing the best out of all of them, which is ironic when you consider she is the smallest. Her levels have remained pretty stable for the most part. She is a stomach sleeper. This morning, she was sleeping on her stomach with her legs tucked under her which made her butt end up in the air. It was very cute!

With all of our drama going on here in the hospital, we can’t forget that life continues on outside these four walls.
Sean’s grandmother, Twilla, wanted to come see her new great-grandchildren but came down with the shingles. Sean had this the first year that we were married and it was very painful and crazy. If she crosses your mind, please pray that she is able to recover quickly and easily…and then come meet her great-grandchildren!

We are really aware of our marriage right now as we have been going through this pregnancy/hospitalization/NICU stay. We would love it if you would take a minute to pray for two other marriages that are close to our hearts right now. Becca’s sister Hannah is getting married to Jeff two weeks from today, and Sean’s brother Nathan who married Jen last summer. Please pray that both of their marriages would be God honoring. From everything we have heard (and experienced so far!), the first year is the roughest. Life can hold some seriously unexpected curve balls, and we would love to see them get off to a good start so that they have a solid marriage that can handle what comes in the future.

And now…FINALLY!...introducing our beautiful babies!!

 

Sean and Becca during the cesarean section.

 

Caleb-taken by Grandma Stolberg

 

Mommy getting to touch Caleb for the first time on the way from the Recovery room to the Mother/Baby unit. Katie, my nurse, was really good at navigating the NICU with me still in bed!

 

Abby-taken by Grandma Stolberg

 

Daddy doing hand containment with Abby. She's trying on Daddy's wedding ring!

 

Elijah-taken by Grandma Stolberg

 

Elijah getting his first taste of Mommy's breastmilk. The nurse used a cotton swab to let him taste a little of it, and he seemed to enjoy it! He was even moving his jaw a little bit to roll his tongue over it!

 

Ellie-taken by Grandma Stolberg

Ellie in the operating room just after delivery.

 

--Posted by Sean and Becca

A Couple Things to Pray For

Rebecca's breast milk to come in. We've got a drop so far. The doctors say it can take about 4 days, but Mama Bear is getting impatient.

That we get to spend more time today with the babies. We were only able to spend about two hours yesterday with the babies. In between the lack of sleep, hospital staff checking on Becca, pain medication, the amount of information that we receive at the NICU, and well-doers calling and texting, we don't have as much energy as we would like. The NICU is a very emotional and spiritually draining place. Granted, we are thrilled that the babies are there and the staff is simply wonderful with the care and the updates that they are giving us but it still takes a lot out. We wake up to a "Parade of Hope". Where one after another a doctor or nurse comes in and checks on Becca for something or other. It takes about two hours. At least it did this morning. She is kind of used to it. It's an adjustment for me. Let's also just say that some staff has more soothing voices than others.

Becca's bowels to start moving. She can't eat solid food until stuff happens down there. She has been talking about Panera since I showed up at the hospital on Wednesday. She hasn't ate anything in over 48 hours except for clear liquids.

Sean's Papa Bear claws and fangs. For those that know me this probably doesn't come as a surprise. Let's pray I don't kill any bunnies. I of course am not referring to the babies. People are sweet and I know they have the best of intentions, but they also don't realize what we are going through at the hospital so sometimes the comedic sense of timing makes for an irritated Papa Bear rather than a welcoming Papa Bear.

Also, pray that people are understanding of the care that we need to provide to our kids. These are our kids and we want them to be as healthy as possible. This means we have to make decisions on who can see them and who can't. It's sweet that people do want to see them and that comes with the territory of having babies, but we can't just let everyone and their brother in the NICU. The staff is encouraging us to drastically limit who we allow in there, especially this time of year with flu and RSV. We can not risk them getting sick. Their immune system will be very weak for the first year or two.

We want to express our thanks to everyone who has given us space during this time. I can only imagine how hard it is not to ask for updates or to call and see if we need anything. We greatly appreciate the space so that we have extra energy to spend with our babies.

The babies are doing great so far. Elizabeth was doing the phototherapy when we were in there yesterday and Elijah had moved to a CPAP, but might have to go back on the ventalator. As usual, no news is good news. We are always glad that the NICU doesn't call us during the night.

Update: The doctor gave Becca permission to start eating food in small quantities


posted by Sean

Rebecca's breast milk to come in. We've got a drop so far. The doctors say it can take about 4 days, but Mama Bear is getting impatient.

That we get to spend more time today with the babies. We were only able to spend about two hours yesterday with the babies. In between the lack of sleep, hospital staff checking on Becca, pain medication, the amount of information that we receive at the NICU, and well-doers calling and texting, we don't have as much energy as we would like. The NICU is a very emotional and spiritually draining place. Granted, we are thrilled that the babies are there and the staff is simply wonderful with the care and the updates that they are giving us but it still takes a lot out. We wake up to a "Parade of Hope". Where one after another a doctor or nurse comes in and checks on Becca for something or other. It takes about two hours. At least it did this morning. She is kind of used to it. It's an adjustment for me. Let's also just say that some staff has more soothing voices than others.

Becca's bowels to start moving. She can't eat solid food until stuff happens down there. She has been talking about Panera since I showed up at the hospital on Wednesday. She hasn't ate anything in over 48 hours except for clear liquids.

Sean's Papa Bear claws and fangs. For those that know me this probably doesn't come as a surprise. Let's pray I don't kill any bunnies. I of course am not referring to the babies. People are sweet and I know they have the best of intentions, but they also don't realize what we are going through at the hospital so sometimes the comedic sense of timing makes for an irritated Papa Bear rather than a welcoming Papa Bear.

Also, pray that people are understanding of the care that we need to provide to our kids. These are our kids and we want them to be as healthy as possible. This means we have to make decisions on who can see them and who can't. It's sweet that people do want to see them and that comes with the territory of having babies, but we can't just let everyone and their brother in the NICU. The staff is encouraging us to drastically limit who we allow in there, especially this time of year with flu and RSV. We can not risk them getting sick. Their immune system will be very weak for the first year or two.

We want to express our thanks to everyone who has given us space during this time. I can only imagine how hard it is not to ask for updates or to call and see if we need anything. We greatly appreciate the space so that we have extra energy to spend with our babies.

The babies are doing great so far. Elizabeth was doing the phototherapy when we were in there yesterday and Elijah had moved to a CPAP, but might have to go back on the ventalator. As usual, no news is good news. We are always glad that the NICU doesn't call us during the night.

Update: The doctor gave Becca permission to start eating food in small quantities


posted by Sean

All of the Details about Our Babies' Birth Day!

Wow! Thank you so much for your huge outpouring of prayers, love, and congratulations! We couldn’t believe the number of people who said that they were/are praying for us on Facebook and on our blog. Yesterday alone, we received over 5000 hits on our blog as people were checking for updates so that they would know how to most effectively pray for us. Many of you we don’t know, yet you’ve chosen to lift us up to our Lord. How awesome for us to see the body of Christ come together to support our family. Amazing and so encouraging!

This is a super long post, but I wanted to make sure that I got all of the details down on paper before I forgot anything. I decided to post the whole thing as that is easiest for me at this point rather than typing out two versions of what happened yesterday. Sean and I are both incredibly tired and this post was quite an undertaking for me today, so please bare with me. Just a warning for the unwary! :-)

I woke up yesterday morning with the same agenda that I’ve had every day while I’ve been on bed rest here at the hospital. In fact, I had even mentioned to Sean on Tuesday night that I felt like this was going to go on forever and that I’d be on bed rest for several more weeks. On Saturday, one of our doctors, Dr. Lu, was talking about how he would handle me when I got to 32 and 34 weeks of pregnancy. So when I started my routine yesterday, I wasn’t even thinking about having babies yet.

Yesterday, at 8am, I had my growth sonogram which I have every three weeks. It’s a longer sonogram where they measure everything from heart rate, to head circumference, to length of the femur bone. Everyone looked great with great fluid and cord doplars. I even specifically asked the ultrasonographer if there was anything that appeared to be wrong with any of the babies. She said she couldn’t find anything. Dr. Parrish came in to look at the sonograms and said that everything looked great as well. I had felt a couple of contractions up to that point, but nothing out of the ordinary. Dr. Parrish said that my next growth sonogram would at week 31, and they would do the shorter sonograms every Wednesday in between. At 9am, they wheeled me back to my room with new sonogram pictures of the babies and a new sketch of how the babies were arranged in my uterus (which I was going to artistically enhance for you all again! :-))

At 10am, the nurse and I started monitoring the babies. I had figured out that they tended to be a bit more sluggish in the morning, so I always tried to get it done then. They are such wiggle worms that they were much harder to catch in the afternoon. The process to monitor them easily took upwards of three hours a day, so it was helpful to get started on it early for that reason as well. The nurse, Judith, monitored the first two babies (we always did Caleb and Ellie together since they were both on my left side, and then Abby and Elijah together since they were always on my right side) and they were extremely cooperative! We buzzed right through that, but while we were monitoring, I started noticing that I was having more contractions. Sometimes I couldn’t tell if it was a contraction or Caleb stomping on my bladder, but after a little bit, I was pretty convinced that they were contractions. We started monitoring Abby and Elijah, and the nurse decided to put the contraction monitor on me just to see what was going on. Sure enough! I was having contractions and the intensity was increasing. Judith timed them and I had 7 in a 50 minute time span. Nobody gets too worried until contractions come at a rate of 6 in a 60 minute time span. I was just over the limit, so she called the doctor and he said to give me Vistaril (an oral med that helps with contractions) and put me back on an IV with a regular bag of fluid to make sure that I was hydrated. Nobody was concerned about me having babies yet because it really didn’t seem like a worrisome situation.

My IV was started at about 12:15pm, and I decided that I better let Sean know so that he didn’t come see me after work and find me hooked up to machines again. I didn’t want to worry him, so I sent him a text message which said the following:

Not to worry you, but my contractions have picked back up. They gave me stronger meds and have me on the contraction monitor for a while. They also restarted my IV and I’m back on fluids. No mag though. No need to worry or come to the hospital. Just keeping you in the loop. Baby monitoring went well! Oh. And they aren’t letting me eat anything until my uterus calms down. That’s bummer.

Sean texted back to see if he needed to leave work early, and I told him that there was no need to as nothing was happening. I told him I’d let him know if I needed him to come. Let me just pause here to say that I’m extremely grateful to Sean’s boss for what he did next. Sean mentioned it to his boss that I was having contractions again, and his boss immediately ordered him to go to the hospital. If he hadn’t insisted that Sean leave, there wouldn’t have been enough time for him to get here once I found out that babies were on the way.

Sean showed up at the hospital at about 1:45pm and I was dozing in and out because of the contraction meds. I thought that it was nice that he was getting to spend the afternoon with me since I miss him so much during the day. I kept feeling contractions come, but they were far enough apart that I wasn’t worried, just tired. They actually seemed to slow a bit, down to one every nine minutes or so, but they weren’t stopping. I still thought that they would be able to get them stopped, I just figured they needed a different type of medicine or maybe put me back on magnesium again.

At about 3:30, Judith, who had been watching the contractions from the nurses station, came in to tell me that she had called the resident OB-GYN to come up and check me. She said that they weren’t slowing enough and because I kept grimacing with every contraction (even while asleep, according to Sean), that she just wanted a doctor to take a quick look below to make sure everything was okay. Cue the speculum. A few minutes later while staring at the ceiling and gripping Sean’s hand, I heard the doctor say quietly to the nurse, “Oh, she looks like a 4. Hang on, I want to check her the other way.” Then I heard her say, “She’s actually a 6 or 7.” I knew immediately that the babies were coming. Once you dilate, there is no going back. It was too late to try anything else to postpone the day. The nurse and doctor sat me back up and said, “Okay, the babies are coming right now. We need to get you ready for surgery right away.” The doctor left the room to start getting things in order, and I couldn’t stop from crying. I was so incredibly disappointed that I hadn’t made it further. I was supposed to get my second steroid shot at 28 weeks to help the babies’ lungs develop more. I had missed it by one day. One day! However, God is so good! While monitoring earlier in the day, Judith and I had found something in common: we are both Christians. So Judith grabbed my hand and said, “It’s going to be okay. You’ve made it so far. Can I pray with you before we go?” It’s amazing how God orchestrates things ahead of time to put people in our paths. I’ve had several nurses several times, but this was the first day that I had Judith. She hit the Staff Assist button, prayed quickly with me and Sean, and by the time she said amen, my room was quickly filling with nurses who were rushing me to the operating room. Sean grabbed his phone and made the three phone calls while they starting moving me that we had decided on before hand: one to my parents, one to his parents, and one to our pastor.

They wheeled me out and down the hallway and straight into the operating room while they took Sean a different direction to get all decked out in paper scrubs. Remember that list of people I blogged about who would be helping with the c-section? Sure enough! There were at least that many people in the OR. I think there were maybe even a few more as some people were coming off of their shifts while others were coming one. For example, I had three anesthesiologists instead of just the one that they told me would be there!

The staff here work really, really quickly and efficiently. Everyone knew exactly what their role was and talked me through what they were doing to prep me. I didn’t realize until I heard Dr. Parrish, the perinatologist who did the delivery, say to the anesthesiologist that there was still time for a spinal block that they were getting ready to put me completely under. I’m so glad that they let me stay awake for it! Within a matter of minutes, the spinal block was in and I went numb from the chest down. If you haven’t had a spinal block before, it is a really strange sensation! They put me on oxygen, added a second IV for a blood transfusion just in case I lost too much, and had “painted” my stomach with a disinfectant solution within a matter of minutes. One of the anesthesiologists asked, “Can you feel anything?” I said, “A little bit of pressure, but other than that, nothing.” He said, “Okay, because Dr. Parrish is pinching you really hard right now. I’m talking ‘slam your hand in a door’ hard. You can’t feel that?” “No.” “Then it’s doing what’s it’s supposed to do! She’s numb!”

The nurse said she was going to go get Sean which was the last thing I needed before I was ready to have babies. I heard Dr. Parrish say, “Is everybody ready to go? Okay, let’s get started. I’m making the incision.” Then they brought Sean through the OR door and everything was underway.

Sean was right next to my head, but the excitement of having kids finally got to him. He stood up and looked over the curtain and got to see the first three babies being born. I could never have watched that, but it was neat for me because Sean narrated the delivery for me. I thought it was fantastic that they were born in order of how they were placed in my uterus. It’s a good thing, because I didn’t want to learn a new order of names when rattling them off in birth order! J He had to sit down before Ellie was born (and I certainly don’t blame him for that!) but they made sure that we both had a chance to see the babies after they had them initially stabilized in the OR. So little and so pretty!

They finished stitching me up and moved me to Recovery while Sean disappeared for a few more minutes to collect himself after the excitement and get out of his paper scrubs. He greeted our parents who came back to see me, and then went down to the NICU with them to check on the babies. Later, on his way home to grab a change of clothes so that he could stay with me overnight, Sean stopped by my Recovery room again to let me know that the babies were all on tubes, but doing well. He is a pretty happy dad!

After a few hours in Recovery, my favorite nurse and good friend, Katie, pushed me in my bed down to the NICU to see the babies on my way to the Mother/Baby unit. The babies are so beautiful and they even let me gently touch them! The neonatologists and neonatal nurses were absolutely wonderful for the short time that I was there. Each of them introduced them themselves and told me which baby they were taking care of…they even knew each of their names! It was so fun to hear them being called by their names! They told me briefly what was being done for each baby and told me that they would call if anything changed. Overall, they said that the babies were doing well and that they would be tweaking the settings on their machines through the night to get them exactly where the babies needed them. After my first visit to the NICU last week where I cried all of the way through the tour, I was surprised how that wasn’t my immediate reaction upon seeing my kids in there yesterday. The staff was very reassuring and calming, and because of that, I was able to enjoy my time with our babies instead of focusing on how many tubes they are attached to.

We’ve made it down to the NICU twice today to see our babies. I honestly didn’t think they would be that cute, but they are! Of course, I’m also quite biased! We took a lot of pictures, but unfortunately, my camera cord is at home and not here. I’m hoping to get my hands on it tomorrow, and as soon as I do, I’ll be uploading pictures of the kids on here to show them off. :-)

They are all doing well for being born at 27 weeks, 6 days. All of them are hooked up to feeding tubes, IVs, and breathing tubes, but it doesn’t hide how absolutely blessed we are to have our kids doing this great! They are all on oxygen in the 23-28% range which is actually quite good for this age! Elijah has even been downgraded from a ventilator to a CPAP (that’s still a breathing tube, but it means he is taking more breaths on his own). I learned today that I need to take a notebook with me to the NICU because there is just no way to remember everything that they say or which baby is on which machine.  We will certainly update the blog with more baby specific information as we get it! And, of course, stay tuned for pictures!!!

This is a very long post, but I wanted to make sure that I wrote down everything that I could remember about my kids’ birth day before I forgot any of the details. I know I could have edited the details down a bit, but now you know the story that we will be passing on to our kids about the day that they came into this world!

Thank you for praying for us and our babies! We have definitely felt your prayers over the last couple of days. Please continue to pray as our babies are now fighting to grow out in the big world!

--posted by Becca

Wow! Thank you so much for your huge outpouring of prayers, love, and congratulations! We couldn’t believe the number of people who said that they were/are praying for us on Facebook and on our blog. Yesterday alone, we received over 5000 hits on our blog as people were checking for updates so that they would know how to most effectively pray for us. Many of you we don’t know, yet you’ve chosen to lift us up to our Lord. How awesome for us to see the body of Christ come together to support our family. Amazing and so encouraging!

This is a super long post, but I wanted to make sure that I got all of the details down on paper before I forgot anything. I decided to post the whole thing as that is easiest for me at this point rather than typing out two versions of what happened yesterday. Sean and I are both incredibly tired and this post was quite an undertaking for me today, so please bare with me. Just a warning for the unwary! :-)

I woke up yesterday morning with the same agenda that I’ve had every day while I’ve been on bed rest here at the hospital. In fact, I had even mentioned to Sean on Tuesday night that I felt like this was going to go on forever and that I’d be on bed rest for several more weeks. On Saturday, one of our doctors, Dr. Lu, was talking about how he would handle me when I got to 32 and 34 weeks of pregnancy. So when I started my routine yesterday, I wasn’t even thinking about having babies yet.

Yesterday, at 8am, I had my growth sonogram which I have every three weeks. It’s a longer sonogram where they measure everything from heart rate, to head circumference, to length of the femur bone. Everyone looked great with great fluid and cord doplars. I even specifically asked the ultrasonographer if there was anything that appeared to be wrong with any of the babies. She said she couldn’t find anything. Dr. Parrish came in to look at the sonograms and said that everything looked great as well. I had felt a couple of contractions up to that point, but nothing out of the ordinary. Dr. Parrish said that my next growth sonogram would at week 31, and they would do the shorter sonograms every Wednesday in between. At 9am, they wheeled me back to my room with new sonogram pictures of the babies and a new sketch of how the babies were arranged in my uterus (which I was going to artistically enhance for you all again! :-))

At 10am, the nurse and I started monitoring the babies. I had figured out that they tended to be a bit more sluggish in the morning, so I always tried to get it done then. They are such wiggle worms that they were much harder to catch in the afternoon. The process to monitor them easily took upwards of three hours a day, so it was helpful to get started on it early for that reason as well. The nurse, Judith, monitored the first two babies (we always did Caleb and Ellie together since they were both on my left side, and then Abby and Elijah together since they were always on my right side) and they were extremely cooperative! We buzzed right through that, but while we were monitoring, I started noticing that I was having more contractions. Sometimes I couldn’t tell if it was a contraction or Caleb stomping on my bladder, but after a little bit, I was pretty convinced that they were contractions. We started monitoring Abby and Elijah, and the nurse decided to put the contraction monitor on me just to see what was going on. Sure enough! I was having contractions and the intensity was increasing. Judith timed them and I had 7 in a 50 minute time span. Nobody gets too worried until contractions come at a rate of 6 in a 60 minute time span. I was just over the limit, so she called the doctor and he said to give me Vistaril (an oral med that helps with contractions) and put me back on an IV with a regular bag of fluid to make sure that I was hydrated. Nobody was concerned about me having babies yet because it really didn’t seem like a worrisome situation.

My IV was started at about 12:15pm, and I decided that I better let Sean know so that he didn’t come see me after work and find me hooked up to machines again. I didn’t want to worry him, so I sent him a text message which said the following:

Not to worry you, but my contractions have picked back up. They gave me stronger meds and have me on the contraction monitor for a while. They also restarted my IV and I’m back on fluids. No mag though. No need to worry or come to the hospital. Just keeping you in the loop. Baby monitoring went well! Oh. And they aren’t letting me eat anything until my uterus calms down. That’s bummer.

Sean texted back to see if he needed to leave work early, and I told him that there was no need to as nothing was happening. I told him I’d let him know if I needed him to come. Let me just pause here to say that I’m extremely grateful to Sean’s boss for what he did next. Sean mentioned it to his boss that I was having contractions again, and his boss immediately ordered him to go to the hospital. If he hadn’t insisted that Sean leave, there wouldn’t have been enough time for him to get here once I found out that babies were on the way.

Sean showed up at the hospital at about 1:45pm and I was dozing in and out because of the contraction meds. I thought that it was nice that he was getting to spend the afternoon with me since I miss him so much during the day. I kept feeling contractions come, but they were far enough apart that I wasn’t worried, just tired. They actually seemed to slow a bit, down to one every nine minutes or so, but they weren’t stopping. I still thought that they would be able to get them stopped, I just figured they needed a different type of medicine or maybe put me back on magnesium again.

At about 3:30, Judith, who had been watching the contractions from the nurses station, came in to tell me that she had called the resident OB-GYN to come up and check me. She said that they weren’t slowing enough and because I kept grimacing with every contraction (even while asleep, according to Sean), that she just wanted a doctor to take a quick look below to make sure everything was okay. Cue the speculum. A few minutes later while staring at the ceiling and gripping Sean’s hand, I heard the doctor say quietly to the nurse, “Oh, she looks like a 4. Hang on, I want to check her the other way.” Then I heard her say, “She’s actually a 6 or 7.” I knew immediately that the babies were coming. Once you dilate, there is no going back. It was too late to try anything else to postpone the day. The nurse and doctor sat me back up and said, “Okay, the babies are coming right now. We need to get you ready for surgery right away.” The doctor left the room to start getting things in order, and I couldn’t stop from crying. I was so incredibly disappointed that I hadn’t made it further. I was supposed to get my second steroid shot at 28 weeks to help the babies’ lungs develop more. I had missed it by one day. One day! However, God is so good! While monitoring earlier in the day, Judith and I had found something in common: we are both Christians. So Judith grabbed my hand and said, “It’s going to be okay. You’ve made it so far. Can I pray with you before we go?” It’s amazing how God orchestrates things ahead of time to put people in our paths. I’ve had several nurses several times, but this was the first day that I had Judith. She hit the Staff Assist button, prayed quickly with me and Sean, and by the time she said amen, my room was quickly filling with nurses who were rushing me to the operating room. Sean grabbed his phone and made the three phone calls while they starting moving me that we had decided on before hand: one to my parents, one to his parents, and one to our pastor.

They wheeled me out and down the hallway and straight into the operating room while they took Sean a different direction to get all decked out in paper scrubs. Remember that list of people I blogged about who would be helping with the c-section? Sure enough! There were at least that many people in the OR. I think there were maybe even a few more as some people were coming off of their shifts while others were coming one. For example, I had three anesthesiologists instead of just the one that they told me would be there!

The staff here work really, really quickly and efficiently. Everyone knew exactly what their role was and talked me through what they were doing to prep me. I didn’t realize until I heard Dr. Parrish, the perinatologist who did the delivery, say to the anesthesiologist that there was still time for a spinal block that they were getting ready to put me completely under. I’m so glad that they let me stay awake for it! Within a matter of minutes, the spinal block was in and I went numb from the chest down. If you haven’t had a spinal block before, it is a really strange sensation! They put me on oxygen, added a second IV for a blood transfusion just in case I lost too much, and had “painted” my stomach with a disinfectant solution within a matter of minutes. One of the anesthesiologists asked, “Can you feel anything?” I said, “A little bit of pressure, but other than that, nothing.” He said, “Okay, because Dr. Parrish is pinching you really hard right now. I’m talking ‘slam your hand in a door’ hard. You can’t feel that?” “No.” “Then it’s doing what’s it’s supposed to do! She’s numb!”

The nurse said she was going to go get Sean which was the last thing I needed before I was ready to have babies. I heard Dr. Parrish say, “Is everybody ready to go? Okay, let’s get started. I’m making the incision.” Then they brought Sean through the OR door and everything was underway.

Sean was right next to my head, but the excitement of having kids finally got to him. He stood up and looked over the curtain and got to see the first three babies being born. I could never have watched that, but it was neat for me because Sean narrated the delivery for me. I thought it was fantastic that they were born in order of how they were placed in my uterus. It’s a good thing, because I didn’t want to learn a new order of names when rattling them off in birth order! J He had to sit down before Ellie was born (and I certainly don’t blame him for that!) but they made sure that we both had a chance to see the babies after they had them initially stabilized in the OR. So little and so pretty!

They finished stitching me up and moved me to Recovery while Sean disappeared for a few more minutes to collect himself after the excitement and get out of his paper scrubs. He greeted our parents who came back to see me, and then went down to the NICU with them to check on the babies. Later, on his way home to grab a change of clothes so that he could stay with me overnight, Sean stopped by my Recovery room again to let me know that the babies were all on tubes, but doing well. He is a pretty happy dad!

After a few hours in Recovery, my favorite nurse and good friend, Katie, pushed me in my bed down to the NICU to see the babies on my way to the Mother/Baby unit. The babies are so beautiful and they even let me gently touch them! The neonatologists and neonatal nurses were absolutely wonderful for the short time that I was there. Each of them introduced them themselves and told me which baby they were taking care of…they even knew each of their names! It was so fun to hear them being called by their names! They told me briefly what was being done for each baby and told me that they would call if anything changed. Overall, they said that the babies were doing well and that they would be tweaking the settings on their machines through the night to get them exactly where the babies needed them. After my first visit to the NICU last week where I cried all of the way through the tour, I was surprised how that wasn’t my immediate reaction upon seeing my kids in there yesterday. The staff was very reassuring and calming, and because of that, I was able to enjoy my time with our babies instead of focusing on how many tubes they are attached to.

We’ve made it down to the NICU twice today to see our babies. I honestly didn’t think they would be that cute, but they are! Of course, I’m also quite biased! We took a lot of pictures, but unfortunately, my camera cord is at home and not here. I’m hoping to get my hands on it tomorrow, and as soon as I do, I’ll be uploading pictures of the kids on here to show them off. :-)

They are all doing well for being born at 27 weeks, 6 days. All of them are hooked up to feeding tubes, IVs, and breathing tubes, but it doesn’t hide how absolutely blessed we are to have our kids doing this great! They are all on oxygen in the 23-28% range which is actually quite good for this age! Elijah has even been downgraded from a ventilator to a CPAP (that’s still a breathing tube, but it means he is taking more breaths on his own). I learned today that I need to take a notebook with me to the NICU because there is just no way to remember everything that they say or which baby is on which machine.  We will certainly update the blog with more baby specific information as we get it! And, of course, stay tuned for pictures!!!

This is a very long post, but I wanted to make sure that I wrote down everything that I could remember about my kids’ birth day before I forgot any of the details. I know I could have edited the details down a bit, but now you know the story that we will be passing on to our kids about the day that they came into this world!

Thank you for praying for us and our babies! We have definitely felt your prayers over the last couple of days. Please continue to pray as our babies are now fighting to grow out in the big world!

--posted by Becca

The Babies are here

Caleb Sean Ishum made his grand entrance into this world at 4:11 PM CST at 14.5 inches 2 lbs 5 oz

Abigail Rose Ishum appeared shortly after her He-Man of a brother  at 4:12 PM CST 13.75 inches 2 lbs 5 oz

Elijah James Ishum knew Caleb was older but not taller and showed up at 4:13 PM CST at 14.5 in 2 lbs 3 oz

Elizabeth Grace Ishum is a petite princess but slightly taller than her sister arriving at 4:15 PM CST 14 in 1 lb 14 oz

Mother is doing fine but needs a week or so to recover.   The babies are healthier than expected but still need some time to develop their immune system.     Please hold off on phone calls for a few days while we recover.   Due to the nature of being in a NICU and the health risk that are associated, we would appreciate NO visitors.

Thank goodness, Alan told me to get to the hospital when Becca called.  If I would have listened to her, I would have missed their birth.  As it is, I only missed Elizabeth.  (yes I started to black out)

posted by Sean

Caleb Sean Ishum made his grand entrance into this world at 4:11 PM CST at 14.5 inches 2 lbs 5 oz

Abigail Rose Ishum appeared shortly after her He-Man of a brother  at 4:12 PM CST 13.75 inches 2 lbs 5 oz

Elijah James Ishum knew Caleb was older but not taller and showed up at 4:13 PM CST at 14.5 in 2 lbs 3 oz

Elizabeth Grace Ishum is a petite princess but slightly taller than her sister arriving at 4:15 PM CST 14 in 1 lb 14 oz

Mother is doing fine but needs a week or so to recover.   The babies are healthier than expected but still need some time to develop their immune system.     Please hold off on phone calls for a few days while we recover.   Due to the nature of being in a NICU and the health risk that are associated, we would appreciate NO visitors.

Thank goodness, Alan told me to get to the hospital when Becca called.  If I would have listened to her, I would have missed their birth.  As it is, I only missed Elizabeth.  (yes I started to black out)

posted by Sean

babies are coming please pray

27 Weeks 6 Days

Becca's contractions have started back up.  The medical staff is pretty sure they can get them stopped but I might be a father very soon.  Rebecca is on an IV (not magnesium) to stop them and is very drowsy.   Becca says the babies need to hold off until at least Sunday so that she can get the steroid shot tomorrow and it can have a few days to take effect.

Please give us some space at this time.  We will update our family and then the blog when we know more.

The babies were measured today:

Caleb: 2 lbs 11 oz        28 weeks 2 days

Abby: 2 lbs 10 oz        28 weeks 2 days

Elijah: 2 lbs 7 oz           28 weeks 1 day

Elizabeth: 1 lb 14 oz     26 weeks 5 days

Ellie is behind but she is still healthy and she will remain behind while in utero.  All the babies have at least 4 cms of fluid

posted by Sean

Becca's contractions have started back up.  The medical staff is pretty sure they can get them stopped but I might be a father very soon.  Rebecca is on an IV (not magnesium) to stop them and is very drowsy.   Becca says the babies need to hold off until at least Sunday so that she can get the steroid shot tomorrow and it can have a few days to take effect.

Please give us some space at this time.  We will update our family and then the blog when we know more.

The babies were measured today:

Caleb: 2 lbs 11 oz        28 weeks 2 days

Abby: 2 lbs 10 oz        28 weeks 2 days

Elijah: 2 lbs 7 oz           28 weeks 1 day

Elizabeth: 1 lb 14 oz     26 weeks 5 days

Ellie is behind but she is still healthy and she will remain behind while in utero.  All the babies have at least 4 cms of fluid

posted by Sean

The New Ishum Mobile!

While I’ve been cooped up here in the hospital, Sean has stayed busy getting things ready for our babies at home. Last week, he found a used mini-van that seemed perfect for our family and picked it up on Wednesday. He got an AWESOME deal on it! Sean bought the van from an incredibly nice Christian family where the wife decided that she didn’t need it anymore. She blue booked the car ahead of time to price it, but her husband is the one who talked to Sean. It is a one owner vehicle that has been meticulously kept since they bought it. The husband even has records of everything that he has ever done to the van! Sean agreed on a price with him and went to pick it up on Wednesday with cash in hand. When he got there, the husband told him that his wife had actually used a Plymouth Voyager instead of a Dodge Grand Caravan when she priced it on the Kelly Blue Book site, and they had accidentally priced it at more than $2000 less than what it was worth (I double checked it-it’s true!). Then he told Sean that he would still honor the price they agree on…which means that we got a better mini-van than we could have hoped for right in our price range. And because we have relatives and friends, both known and anonymous to us, who have been very generous to our family over the last few months, we were able to pay cash for the mini-van, inspection, taxes, and licensing and avoid having to take on a car payment. God is so good! Sean and I have been praying that He would provide a good, safe mini-van since we found out that we are expecting quads. Thanks to all of you who have helped us purchase our mini-van by keeping your eyes open, praying with us, and helping us afford it!

The Ishum Mobile: 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan

With exactly the set-up we needed: two captain chairs in the middle row for easy access to the back seat, two sliding side doors so that we can put babies in from both sides, and trunk space for two double strollers along with other baby accoutrements!





Sean showed it to our (almost) 4 year old niece for approval.   She loves it!  She says it is so amazing because “the key makes the door open.” I’m excited to see it in real life someday!! :-)

*********************************************************************************************************

And now a little anecdote from the weekend, because it’s important to keep smiling! :-)

I think I mentioned this before, but they moved me to a different room about five days after I got here because the new Labor and Delivery unit was overflowing with happy moms-to-be. I’m now on the old Labor and Delivery unit which is much older. The shower that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago was on the new unit. The shower in the room that I’m in now is quite a bit smaller and less exciting (but I’m glad I have a shower because not all of the rooms come with one!). The detachable shower wand doubles as the shower head, so it’s important that it is securely reattached to the wall after using it as a wand. Anyhow, Sean stayed overnight at the hospital with me on Saturday, and it was the first time he used the shower on this unit. The last time he showered here was during the blizzard when I was still on the other unit.

On Sunday morning, while the nurse was monitoring the babies, Sean took a change of clothes into the bathroom, and I heard the water come on in the shower. After about three minutes, I started hearing the strangest noises coming from behind the closed bathroom door. I couldn’t tell if he was dismantling the shower piece by piece or having his butt handed to him in a losing battle. After a few more minutes, the water stopped, I heard the shower curtain open, and Sean say, “Oh.”

By this point, I was laughing so hard, the monitors I was hooked up to were bouncing all over the place. The poor nurse who was trying to do the monitoring was doing her best to stay discrete and not wonder aloud with me what in the world my hubby was doing in the bathroom!

When Sean opened the door, he was wearing the same clothes he was wearing when he walked in. Behind him I could see his clean, wet jeans draped over the shower curtain rod. All he said was:

“I can now scratch two things off my list of things to do before I die:
1) take a shower in a coat closet and
2) flood a hospital bathroom.”

Hehe! :-)

--posted by Becca

While I’ve been cooped up here in the hospital, Sean has stayed busy getting things ready for our babies at home. Last week, he found a used mini-van that seemed perfect for our family and picked it up on Wednesday. He got an AWESOME deal on it! Sean bought the van from an incredibly nice Christian family where the wife decided that she didn’t need it anymore. She blue booked the car ahead of time to price it, but her husband is the one who talked to Sean. It is a one owner vehicle that has been meticulously kept since they bought it. The husband even has records of everything that he has ever done to the van! Sean agreed on a price with him and went to pick it up on Wednesday with cash in hand. When he got there, the husband told him that his wife had actually used a Plymouth Voyager instead of a Dodge Grand Caravan when she priced it on the Kelly Blue Book site, and they had accidentally priced it at more than $2000 less than what it was worth (I double checked it-it’s true!). Then he told Sean that he would still honor the price they agree on…which means that we got a better mini-van than we could have hoped for right in our price range. And because we have relatives and friends, both known and anonymous to us, who have been very generous to our family over the last few months, we were able to pay cash for the mini-van, inspection, taxes, and licensing and avoid having to take on a car payment. God is so good! Sean and I have been praying that He would provide a good, safe mini-van since we found out that we are expecting quads. Thanks to all of you who have helped us purchase our mini-van by keeping your eyes open, praying with us, and helping us afford it!

The Ishum Mobile: 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan

With exactly the set-up we needed: two captain chairs in the middle row for easy access to the back seat, two sliding side doors so that we can put babies in from both sides, and trunk space for two double strollers along with other baby accoutrements!





Sean showed it to our (almost) 4 year old niece for approval.   She loves it!  She says it is so amazing because “the key makes the door open.” I’m excited to see it in real life someday!! :-)

*********************************************************************************************************

And now a little anecdote from the weekend, because it’s important to keep smiling! :-)

I think I mentioned this before, but they moved me to a different room about five days after I got here because the new Labor and Delivery unit was overflowing with happy moms-to-be. I’m now on the old Labor and Delivery unit which is much older. The shower that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago was on the new unit. The shower in the room that I’m in now is quite a bit smaller and less exciting (but I’m glad I have a shower because not all of the rooms come with one!). The detachable shower wand doubles as the shower head, so it’s important that it is securely reattached to the wall after using it as a wand. Anyhow, Sean stayed overnight at the hospital with me on Saturday, and it was the first time he used the shower on this unit. The last time he showered here was during the blizzard when I was still on the other unit.

On Sunday morning, while the nurse was monitoring the babies, Sean took a change of clothes into the bathroom, and I heard the water come on in the shower. After about three minutes, I started hearing the strangest noises coming from behind the closed bathroom door. I couldn’t tell if he was dismantling the shower piece by piece or having his butt handed to him in a losing battle. After a few more minutes, the water stopped, I heard the shower curtain open, and Sean say, “Oh.”

By this point, I was laughing so hard, the monitors I was hooked up to were bouncing all over the place. The poor nurse who was trying to do the monitoring was doing her best to stay discrete and not wonder aloud with me what in the world my hubby was doing in the bathroom!

When Sean opened the door, he was wearing the same clothes he was wearing when he walked in. Behind him I could see his clean, wet jeans draped over the shower curtain rod. All he said was:

“I can now scratch two things off my list of things to do before I die:
1) take a shower in a coat closet and
2) flood a hospital bathroom.”

Hehe! :-)

--posted by Becca

27 Weeks!!

27 weeks and still pregnant! Every week seems like such a huge accomplishment at this point. The babies’ sonogram yesterday showed that everybody’s heart rates are still awesome and their fluid is all holding steady. Ellie’s fluid actually measured a little bit more than last week. The ultrasonographer did say that the way the baby is positioned in the sac will influence how much fluid they are able to measure-but the point is, she still has fluid and it hasn’t decreased anymore! The daily strip tests that they do also show that their nervous systems are developing really well. The steroid shots that they gave me when I first came in at 24 weeks probably have something to do with that. Next week, they will give me another round of those since they help develop the babies’ lungs. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about getting shots before!

Tuesday, Sean and I went on a tour of the NICU. It’s taken me a couple of days to be able to sit down and actually blog about it. We watched a DVD that the March of Dimes gave us about the NICU last week, but it was still extremely emotional actually going in there and seeing the rooms that our kids will be in.

The staff here have done a wonderful job of preparing for the babies’ arrival. Two rooms have already been closed off and sterilized specifically for Caleb, Abby, Elijah, and Ellie. There is even a sign on each door that says “These rooms are reserved for quads.” Literally all they need to do is slide the glass doors open and walk in there with our babies. I’ve been told that every morning at 5am, the NICU gets a report on how I’m doing so that they know if they should be expecting an onslaught of babies that day or not.

It was very encouraging for us to see how ready they are for us. But at the same time, it was extremely hard to see the four incubators that our babies will be fighting for their lives in and all of the machines that surround them. I actually cried my way through the NICU because it seems so real now. Up until Tuesday, I knew they would be headed there, but I had chosen not to concentrate too much on it. Sean kept himself together, but I know it was hard on him as well. When we got back to my room, I broke down and cried for a good long time while Sean just wrapped his arms around me. The closest I can get to describing the emotions is to compare it to how I felt when we originally found out that we are having quads. Neither of us want our kids to have to go through what they are going to go through in order to come home. I wish I could do something so that they could skip the NICU altogether. I don’t want to see my babies hurting.

So even though I’ve been saying that I want to stay pregnant longer, I REALLY want to carry these babies as long as possible now. Every extra day that they are inside me equals 3-4 days less that they will have to spend in the NICU. I want them as big and as developed as possible before they show up. And when the time comes to deliver, I really am glad that we are at Saint Luke’s. The nurses in the NICU seem to know exactly what they are doing, and they are ready for them. I’m so grateful that our babies have the care that they do inside the womb and will have an amazing level of care outside the womb that will give them the best medical chance they have of surviving and thriving!

And I’m grateful for a God who already knows what is in front of our family before we even get there. That knowledge comes with a certain sense of peace that it’s not going to be a surprise to Him. Thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts, for your prayers for us and our babies.

Onward!! :)

27 Weeks!

--posted by Becca

27 weeks and still pregnant! Every week seems like such a huge accomplishment at this point. The babies’ sonogram yesterday showed that everybody’s heart rates are still awesome and their fluid is all holding steady. Ellie’s fluid actually measured a little bit more than last week. The ultrasonographer did say that the way the baby is positioned in the sac will influence how much fluid they are able to measure-but the point is, she still has fluid and it hasn’t decreased anymore! The daily strip tests that they do also show that their nervous systems are developing really well. The steroid shots that they gave me when I first came in at 24 weeks probably have something to do with that. Next week, they will give me another round of those since they help develop the babies’ lungs. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about getting shots before!

Tuesday, Sean and I went on a tour of the NICU. It’s taken me a couple of days to be able to sit down and actually blog about it. We watched a DVD that the March of Dimes gave us about the NICU last week, but it was still extremely emotional actually going in there and seeing the rooms that our kids will be in.

The staff here have done a wonderful job of preparing for the babies’ arrival. Two rooms have already been closed off and sterilized specifically for Caleb, Abby, Elijah, and Ellie. There is even a sign on each door that says “These rooms are reserved for quads.” Literally all they need to do is slide the glass doors open and walk in there with our babies. I’ve been told that every morning at 5am, the NICU gets a report on how I’m doing so that they know if they should be expecting an onslaught of babies that day or not.

It was very encouraging for us to see how ready they are for us. But at the same time, it was extremely hard to see the four incubators that our babies will be fighting for their lives in and all of the machines that surround them. I actually cried my way through the NICU because it seems so real now. Up until Tuesday, I knew they would be headed there, but I had chosen not to concentrate too much on it. Sean kept himself together, but I know it was hard on him as well. When we got back to my room, I broke down and cried for a good long time while Sean just wrapped his arms around me. The closest I can get to describing the emotions is to compare it to how I felt when we originally found out that we are having quads. Neither of us want our kids to have to go through what they are going to go through in order to come home. I wish I could do something so that they could skip the NICU altogether. I don’t want to see my babies hurting.

So even though I’ve been saying that I want to stay pregnant longer, I REALLY want to carry these babies as long as possible now. Every extra day that they are inside me equals 3-4 days less that they will have to spend in the NICU. I want them as big and as developed as possible before they show up. And when the time comes to deliver, I really am glad that we are at Saint Luke’s. The nurses in the NICU seem to know exactly what they are doing, and they are ready for them. I’m so grateful that our babies have the care that they do inside the womb and will have an amazing level of care outside the womb that will give them the best medical chance they have of surviving and thriving!

And I’m grateful for a God who already knows what is in front of our family before we even get there. That knowledge comes with a certain sense of peace that it’s not going to be a surprise to Him. Thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts, for your prayers for us and our babies.

Onward!! :)

27 Weeks!

--posted by Becca

Happy slightly late Valentine’s Day!

Sean made a point of coming up to the hospital yesterday to see me like he has every day since I’ve been here. The fact that he comes up so often is definitely a sign that he loves me because he hates hospitals; yet, he never complains about the time he spends driving back and forth or sitting in the room with me. Yesterday, he brought a Valentine’s Day card with him and had written on the inside:

“I’m glad to spend Valentine’s with you. It’s not where you are but who you are with that matters.”

Doesn’t that just melt your heart? *sigh* I’m so in love with my husband! Plus, I’ve developed the world’s biggest crush on him over the past few months. :-)

One of the hardest things for me is being away from Sean. Even though I see him every day, it’s still hard to see him leave at the end of his visit. I know it’s just for a short period of time, but I miss the days when we could cuddle up together on the couch or fall asleep holding hands. At the same time though, we both hope it is several more weeks before I find myself back at home. I think that’s why our Valentine’s evening meant so much to me.

Last night, he created an in-room date night for us. He showed up with sandwiches from Planet Sub (whoohoo!) and used a free Redbox code to rent “How to Train Your Dragon.” Then he surprised me by staying overnight on the cot that a nurse brought over from the Mother/Baby unit. We were actually moved to a new room about five days after we got here due to a flood of women who came in to deliver babies. I’m now on the Comp Unit (Complicated Pregnancy Unit) in a room that is much smaller with older furniture (and without the stellar shower that I loved so much). The furniture threw out Sean’s back and shoulder when he tried to sleep here the first night we were moved, so he’s been going home to sleep in a real bed since then. However, last night, he decided to try to sleep here again. That is some serious love! Even though the cot was a little better, I still don’t think he slept much. But I was pretty excited to get to spend extra time with him and not have to say good-bye at the end of the evening!

Why would I need to go out on the town when the love of my life is willing to spend his evening in a hospital room with me? Did I mention how much I love my husband? :-)

--posted by Becca

Sean made a point of coming up to the hospital yesterday to see me like he has every day since I’ve been here. The fact that he comes up so often is definitely a sign that he loves me because he hates hospitals; yet, he never complains about the time he spends driving back and forth or sitting in the room with me. Yesterday, he brought a Valentine’s Day card with him and had written on the inside:

“I’m glad to spend Valentine’s with you. It’s not where you are but who you are with that matters.”

Doesn’t that just melt your heart? *sigh* I’m so in love with my husband! Plus, I’ve developed the world’s biggest crush on him over the past few months. :-)

One of the hardest things for me is being away from Sean. Even though I see him every day, it’s still hard to see him leave at the end of his visit. I know it’s just for a short period of time, but I miss the days when we could cuddle up together on the couch or fall asleep holding hands. At the same time though, we both hope it is several more weeks before I find myself back at home. I think that’s why our Valentine’s evening meant so much to me.

Last night, he created an in-room date night for us. He showed up with sandwiches from Planet Sub (whoohoo!) and used a free Redbox code to rent “How to Train Your Dragon.” Then he surprised me by staying overnight on the cot that a nurse brought over from the Mother/Baby unit. We were actually moved to a new room about five days after we got here due to a flood of women who came in to deliver babies. I’m now on the Comp Unit (Complicated Pregnancy Unit) in a room that is much smaller with older furniture (and without the stellar shower that I loved so much). The furniture threw out Sean’s back and shoulder when he tried to sleep here the first night we were moved, so he’s been going home to sleep in a real bed since then. However, last night, he decided to try to sleep here again. That is some serious love! Even though the cot was a little better, I still don’t think he slept much. But I was pretty excited to get to spend extra time with him and not have to say good-bye at the end of the evening!

Why would I need to go out on the town when the love of my life is willing to spend his evening in a hospital room with me? Did I mention how much I love my husband? :-)

--posted by Becca

26 Weeks!!

Praise God! Yesterday was 26 weeks! We feel like we have jumped another hurdle. Our babies now have an 80% chance of survival as opposed to the 50% they had when we walked into the hospital just over two weeks ago. Now we are praying for 27 weeks.

26 Week Photo!

At my sonogram on Wednesday, the ultrasonographer was able to catch a really fun picture of our quads. She has been doing sonograms for more than 30 years and has looked at several sets of quads, but this photo was a first for her. She was so excited, she actually took the photo, left me in the room for a few minutes, and went around to show it to the other ultrasonographers she works with. She was able to get all four heads in one photo! That is incredibly hard to do, especially at this gestational age with all of them smashed up together.



She also drew a picture for me of how the babies are positioned in the womb. I decided to redraw it with a little extra flair for the blog. I should warn you that I have major artistic talent, so don’t get too blown away with how amazing my sketch is. :)  (Click on the picture if you want to make it bigger. Give it a second to load and it should adjust itself to fit your screen size.)



It’s obviously not 100% accurate as the babies are much bigger inside their sacs and they really are squished together. It’s also only a 2 dimensional drawing. Elijah is actually tucked behind Caleb and Abby, so you shouldn’t be able to see his head in my picture. However, I wanted everyone to see his smiling face so I took creative license while drawing it!

*********************************************************************

Now for a little Q and A. These are questions that we have been asked many times, so I figured I would answer them on here as well since others might be wondering the same thing:

You keep talking about Caleb, Abby, Elijah, and Ellie, but are you really talking about the same baby each time?
Each baby is in his or her own sac and they each have their own placenta. Each one of them is attached to part of my uterus just as they have been since they showed up in there. Because they are anchored to different parts of my uterus, the sacs don’t change location even though the babies can roll around within their sacs. The sonograms we’ve had over the past few months have shown us where the babies are inside of me. So when Sean and I talk about a specific baby, we are talking about the same baby each time.

Can you tell which baby is which when they move around?
Yes! I can tell which baby is kicking me based on where I’m feeling the kicks since the location of the sacs never change.

How are they going to know which one is which when they start delivering them?
The doctors know our babies as A, B, C, and D, so when they are delivered, they will be able to keep track of which baby is which based on their location before they pull them out (see the above drawing). The horizontal cesarean section incision will be made so low that Caleb will most likely make his appearance first followed by the others.

Are they identical?
Nope! They came from four separate eggs and are in four separate sacs. There are no twins or triplets in there. They won’t look alike (other than the resemblance that siblings normally have to each other!).

Are you ready for this? I can’t imagine having quadruplets!
Me either! But we are about to start figuring it out! :)

I've found that a lot of people have the same questions, so if you have a specific question that I didn't answer above, you can leave it in the comments. I’ll try to answer some of them in upcoming blog posts (emphasis on “try!”).

--Posted by Becca

Praise God! Yesterday was 26 weeks! We feel like we have jumped another hurdle. Our babies now have an 80% chance of survival as opposed to the 50% they had when we walked into the hospital just over two weeks ago. Now we are praying for 27 weeks.

26 Week Photo!

At my sonogram on Wednesday, the ultrasonographer was able to catch a really fun picture of our quads. She has been doing sonograms for more than 30 years and has looked at several sets of quads, but this photo was a first for her. She was so excited, she actually took the photo, left me in the room for a few minutes, and went around to show it to the other ultrasonographers she works with. She was able to get all four heads in one photo! That is incredibly hard to do, especially at this gestational age with all of them smashed up together.



She also drew a picture for me of how the babies are positioned in the womb. I decided to redraw it with a little extra flair for the blog. I should warn you that I have major artistic talent, so don’t get too blown away with how amazing my sketch is. :)  (Click on the picture if you want to make it bigger. Give it a second to load and it should adjust itself to fit your screen size.)



It’s obviously not 100% accurate as the babies are much bigger inside their sacs and they really are squished together. It’s also only a 2 dimensional drawing. Elijah is actually tucked behind Caleb and Abby, so you shouldn’t be able to see his head in my picture. However, I wanted everyone to see his smiling face so I took creative license while drawing it!

*********************************************************************

Now for a little Q and A. These are questions that we have been asked many times, so I figured I would answer them on here as well since others might be wondering the same thing:

You keep talking about Caleb, Abby, Elijah, and Ellie, but are you really talking about the same baby each time?
Each baby is in his or her own sac and they each have their own placenta. Each one of them is attached to part of my uterus just as they have been since they showed up in there. Because they are anchored to different parts of my uterus, the sacs don’t change location even though the babies can roll around within their sacs. The sonograms we’ve had over the past few months have shown us where the babies are inside of me. So when Sean and I talk about a specific baby, we are talking about the same baby each time.

Can you tell which baby is which when they move around?
Yes! I can tell which baby is kicking me based on where I’m feeling the kicks since the location of the sacs never change.

How are they going to know which one is which when they start delivering them?
The doctors know our babies as A, B, C, and D, so when they are delivered, they will be able to keep track of which baby is which based on their location before they pull them out (see the above drawing). The horizontal cesarean section incision will be made so low that Caleb will most likely make his appearance first followed by the others.

Are they identical?
Nope! They came from four separate eggs and are in four separate sacs. There are no twins or triplets in there. They won’t look alike (other than the resemblance that siblings normally have to each other!).

Are you ready for this? I can’t imagine having quadruplets!
Me either! But we are about to start figuring it out! :)

I've found that a lot of people have the same questions, so if you have a specific question that I didn't answer above, you can leave it in the comments. I’ll try to answer some of them in upcoming blog posts (emphasis on “try!”).

--Posted by Becca

Sonogram and C-Section RSVP List

I had another sonogram today and everybody is still holding their own! It was a limited sonogram so they didn’t measure the babies, but they did check heart rates and amniotic fluid levels. The only thing they found was the Ellie seems to have a little less fluid than the other three babies. The ultrasonographer told me that Caleb, Abby, and Elijah have fluid between 2-3 centimeters, and Ellie’s fluid is between 1-2 centimeters. It is not at a level to be concerning at this point, but it looks like her fluid could be decreasing very slowly. Could she be the one in the ruptured sac? They aren’t sure. The point is that she still does have fluid. The ultrasonographer said that it isn’t something we have to worry too much about right now, but as her parents, we would love to see her fluid hold steady and for her to grow more. We don't have any medical training, but she seems to us to be having the hardest time out of the group. Team Ellie? Your prayers are needed (and anybody else who wants to join them)!

I am still hanging in there. My back pain hasn’t been as bad over the past couple of days, which is a welcome relief! They have a massage therapist on staff here at the hospital who works with pregnant women who have been on bed rest more than a week. She also works with the babies who end up in the NICU. Between the memory foam bed, the egg carton on top of it, the heating pad, and the massage (doctor ordered!!), I’ve been more comfortable. And when it gets really bad, I can take muscle relaxants. I’m so glad there is finally some relief! It makes this a little easier!

Today, I was told about the people who will be involved in my cesarean section when we get to that point. I knew there would be quite a team, but now I know exactly who is participating:

My OB Team (these are the people who will be working on me):

• Anesthesiologist


• Anesthesiologist Resident


• Perinatologist


• 1-2 OB Residents


• Scrub Technician


• 2-3 Delivery Nurses
  1 will be run for any supplies that are needed and not in the room
  1 will document everything that happens


• Information Associate

Baby Teams (each baby will have their own team!):

• Neonatologist or Nurse Practitioner


• 2 NICU Nurses
  1 to take care of the baby
  1 to document everything that happens with the baby


• Respiratory Therapist

In addition to the people on each Baby Team, there will be two Pharmacists (1 for every two babies) who will be there to administer emergency medication.

After they gave me the list, I asked if they would have room in there for me and Sean! Lol!

They will use two adjoining surgery rooms for the cesarean section. Everyone will start in one room and once the first two babies are delivered, their teams will move with them into the next room to make space for the teams to work with the last two and me in the original room. I’ve been told that in an emergency situation, they can transport me to the surgery rooms, have me on the table, under anesthesia, and open me up in less than 10 minutes. While I really hope that doesn’t happen (I’d like Sean to be there!), it is reassuring they can work that quickly if necessary.

Next week, we get to tour the NICU. They already have an action plan in place for the babies, as well as two rooms that are sterilized and ready for them to move into. Apparently, the rooms have been ready for a week and half and are reserved just for our babies. They won’t be putting any other babies in those rooms because ours can come any day. Every day, the NICU gets a report on how I’m doing so they have an idea if our kids will be showing up soon. I’m so glad they are ready for us!! It’s one less thing for us to worry about.

                                                                                                          *******************************************************

I know Sean posted yesterday about how we receive a lot of email, phone calls, and text messages every day. We do want to make sure that you know how much we enjoy and are encouraged by the comments that you leave on our blog, Facebook pages, and via other forms of communication. It lets us know that people are still keeping our babies in their prayers! We just also need people to understand that we can’t respond to all of the contacts that are made every day. We certainly wish we could, but Sean is working, and I stay surprisingly busy with everything they do here at the hospital to keep tabs on our babies. I don’t have a lot of time to spend on the internet and responding to people since I try to rest in between visits from hospital staff. I’ve found that the more tired I get, the more my contractions increase, and everyone is trying to keep my uterus as quiet as possible. All of that to say, some people have told us that they are concerned that we are not getting back with them, so thought we needed to be upfront that it’s not that we don’t want to respond, we are just limited in terms of time and energy. But please don't stop letting us know that you are there! The last thing we want to do is offend our support system by not responding, and really appreciate the understanding that you all have extended to us as we fight for the best outcome in this situation.

Every day the doctors say the same thing on their rounds, “Stay boring!” And every day I respond with, “I’m trying!” No news is very good news in our situation! Overwhelmingly, the one question people ask is, “How are Becca and the babies?” We are so thankful that we don’t have more exciting news to share right now. However, as soon as anything changes, it will go up on the blog right away. We know that is the quickest way to mobilize our wonderful prayer warriors! We are SO grateful that you all care so much and continue to watch our blog so you know when to throw your prayers into overdrive!

--Posted by Becca

I had another sonogram today and everybody is still holding their own! It was a limited sonogram so they didn’t measure the babies, but they did check heart rates and amniotic fluid levels. The only thing they found was the Ellie seems to have a little less fluid than the other three babies. The ultrasonographer told me that Caleb, Abby, and Elijah have fluid between 2-3 centimeters, and Ellie’s fluid is between 1-2 centimeters. It is not at a level to be concerning at this point, but it looks like her fluid could be decreasing very slowly. Could she be the one in the ruptured sac? They aren’t sure. The point is that she still does have fluid. The ultrasonographer said that it isn’t something we have to worry too much about right now, but as her parents, we would love to see her fluid hold steady and for her to grow more. We don't have any medical training, but she seems to us to be having the hardest time out of the group. Team Ellie? Your prayers are needed (and anybody else who wants to join them)!

I am still hanging in there. My back pain hasn’t been as bad over the past couple of days, which is a welcome relief! They have a massage therapist on staff here at the hospital who works with pregnant women who have been on bed rest more than a week. She also works with the babies who end up in the NICU. Between the memory foam bed, the egg carton on top of it, the heating pad, and the massage (doctor ordered!!), I’ve been more comfortable. And when it gets really bad, I can take muscle relaxants. I’m so glad there is finally some relief! It makes this a little easier!

Today, I was told about the people who will be involved in my cesarean section when we get to that point. I knew there would be quite a team, but now I know exactly who is participating:

My OB Team (these are the people who will be working on me):

• Anesthesiologist


• Anesthesiologist Resident


• Perinatologist


• 1-2 OB Residents


• Scrub Technician


• 2-3 Delivery Nurses
  1 will be run for any supplies that are needed and not in the room
  1 will document everything that happens


• Information Associate

Baby Teams (each baby will have their own team!):

• Neonatologist or Nurse Practitioner


• 2 NICU Nurses
  1 to take care of the baby
  1 to document everything that happens with the baby


• Respiratory Therapist

In addition to the people on each Baby Team, there will be two Pharmacists (1 for every two babies) who will be there to administer emergency medication.

After they gave me the list, I asked if they would have room in there for me and Sean! Lol!

They will use two adjoining surgery rooms for the cesarean section. Everyone will start in one room and once the first two babies are delivered, their teams will move with them into the next room to make space for the teams to work with the last two and me in the original room. I’ve been told that in an emergency situation, they can transport me to the surgery rooms, have me on the table, under anesthesia, and open me up in less than 10 minutes. While I really hope that doesn’t happen (I’d like Sean to be there!), it is reassuring they can work that quickly if necessary.

Next week, we get to tour the NICU. They already have an action plan in place for the babies, as well as two rooms that are sterilized and ready for them to move into. Apparently, the rooms have been ready for a week and half and are reserved just for our babies. They won’t be putting any other babies in those rooms because ours can come any day. Every day, the NICU gets a report on how I’m doing so they have an idea if our kids will be showing up soon. I’m so glad they are ready for us!! It’s one less thing for us to worry about.

                                                                                                          *******************************************************

I know Sean posted yesterday about how we receive a lot of email, phone calls, and text messages every day. We do want to make sure that you know how much we enjoy and are encouraged by the comments that you leave on our blog, Facebook pages, and via other forms of communication. It lets us know that people are still keeping our babies in their prayers! We just also need people to understand that we can’t respond to all of the contacts that are made every day. We certainly wish we could, but Sean is working, and I stay surprisingly busy with everything they do here at the hospital to keep tabs on our babies. I don’t have a lot of time to spend on the internet and responding to people since I try to rest in between visits from hospital staff. I’ve found that the more tired I get, the more my contractions increase, and everyone is trying to keep my uterus as quiet as possible. All of that to say, some people have told us that they are concerned that we are not getting back with them, so thought we needed to be upfront that it’s not that we don’t want to respond, we are just limited in terms of time and energy. But please don't stop letting us know that you are there! The last thing we want to do is offend our support system by not responding, and really appreciate the understanding that you all have extended to us as we fight for the best outcome in this situation.

Every day the doctors say the same thing on their rounds, “Stay boring!” And every day I respond with, “I’m trying!” No news is very good news in our situation! Overwhelmingly, the one question people ask is, “How are Becca and the babies?” We are so thankful that we don’t have more exciting news to share right now. However, as soon as anything changes, it will go up on the blog right away. We know that is the quickest way to mobilize our wonderful prayer warriors! We are SO grateful that you all care so much and continue to watch our blog so you know when to throw your prayers into overdrive!

--Posted by Becca

2-8-11 1 PM CST

Rebecca and the babies are doing great.  If you have contacted either of us and we have not gotten back to you.  Please do not take offense.  You are one of many who want a personal update from one of us and unfortunately, we do not have the energy to return every phone call or e-mail.   Thank you for your patience, but mine is wearing thin.

posted by Sean

Rebecca and the babies are doing great.  If you have contacted either of us and we have not gotten back to you.  Please do not take offense.  You are one of many who want a personal update from one of us and unfortunately, we do not have the energy to return every phone call or e-mail.   Thank you for your patience, but mine is wearing thin.

posted by Sean

25 Weeks!

Yesterday marked 25 weeks!!  :)

Thank you for praying!!!

 

Sean is super excited that his super heroes t-shirt was selected to be worn in this photo! ;)

--posted by Becca

Yesterday marked 25 weeks!!  :)

Thank you for praying!!!

 

Sean is super excited that his super heroes t-shirt was selected to be worn in this photo! ;)

--posted by Becca

*Cue Music* These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Today they did a growth sonogram on the babies and everything looked pretty good. Here are their measurements (as near as they can tell). As a reference point, today I am 24 weeks, 6 days pregnant:

Caleb     Size: 25 weeks, 1 day
Weight: 1lb, 13 oz

Abby     Size: 25 weeks
Weight: 1lb, 10 oz

Elijah     Size: 24 weeks, 3 days
Weight: 1lb, 7 oz

Ellie        Size: 23 weeks, 3 days
Weight: 1lb, 5 oz

Ellie is definitely on the smaller side, but the doctor said that as long as she is within two weeks of the other babies, he doesn’t worry about it. Still, I would prefer that she has a growth spurt soon just to put her more on par with her siblings. All of them have great fluid though, and that is the most concerning point with the rupture that I have in one of their sacs.

Last night, I felt some contractions start back up. They don't keep me on the contraction monitor all of the time as I will always have contractions, some noticeable and some not, until the babies come. I asked to go back on it for about an hour last night just to make sure that I wasn’t having too many. Can’t be too careful! In the hour that I was on the monitor, they picked up four contractions. Turns out that four in an hour is still okay, but if I feel 6 or 7 an hour, then it’s worth checking into. I was very happy to hear that it was within the norm!

With the blizzard and road conditions that everyone has been battling for the past two days, I am so grateful to have already been holed up here. One of my big fears with the time of year that I’m pregnant is the weather. I didn’t want a big snow or ice storm to hit and then find it necessary to go to the hospital. On top of that, Sean’s work has been very gracious and understanding about the pregnancy/crazy weather situation and has allowed him to work from the hospital this week so that he is close in case something happens.

Even though I’m currently on bed rest in the hospital, there are some really nice perks that come with it. Here, in no particular order, are the highlights of my day:

1)     The Shower: Oh my word! This must be the best shower ever! The shower head is the size of a dinner plate, and is fixed to the ceiling so that the water pours straight down like a waterfall. PLUS there are three panels in the wall that shoot water sideways. PLUS there is one of those handheld water thingys that you can wave around to rinse off anything that is left over after the waterfall and panels have done their work. PLUS there is a chair in there so I can sit down the entire time if I want to. If there was a way to sneak this shower home in my bag, I’d probably give it a try. And yes, I do drag my showers out as long as possible simply because they are so wonderful!

2)      The Multiple Naps per Day: Since I’m not allowed to wander around, I can take all the guilt free naps I want. I’m enjoying this while I still have the opportunity to experience sleep.

3)      The Milk: Fact-I LOVE milk! We didn’t drink much juice while growing up, but milk was an option at every meal. Since getting married, I haven’t given myself the same freedom to drink milk whenever I want since It’s $4 a gallon. I’m sure it’s probably more like $8 or $10 per gallon since I’m in a hospital, but since I’m not actually paying out of pocket for it myself, I’m drinking milk like it’s going out of style. That’s right, I am enjoying milk at every meal…and sometimes in between meals also!

4)      The Food: I don’t have any restrictions on food unlike a lot of pregnant ladies with multiples who suffer from things like gestational diabetes. I eat a LOT of food here. Between the very full, well-balanced meals (that are mostly pretty edible), the snack room down the hall, and the food that people keep sending to me, I have pretty much anything I want, anytime I want it. The doctors said to gain weight, so I’m giving it my best effort!

5)      The Wheelchair Rides: After being cooped up in my room for several days, they finally cleared me to take a 30 minute wheelchair ride per day. They won’t let me walk around anymore until after the babies come, and 30 minutes in a wheelchair is about all I can handle because of my back, but that little freedom is great! Hey, this goes on the list of favorite things because I actually get to see the outside world. It’s the little things these days.

6)      The Ice Chips: Crushed ice is the bomb, and the ice here is dangerously close to that! In fact, it’s a lot like ice from Sonic. Thankfully, they don’t have me limited to only ice chips anymore, but as an accessory to my water, it’s fantastic!

7)      The Nursing Staff: I can’t talk enough about how wonderful the nursing staff is in this hospital! Tonight makes it an entire week that I’ve been on bed rest here, and I must say, I’ve become attached to some of the nurses who I’ve had several times. They honestly do care about how I’m feeling and do whatever they can to make me as comfortable as possible. They go out of the way to track down things to make me comfortable, including, switching out my bed for one with memory foam, adding an egg carton on top, giving me my own wheelchair to keep in my room so Sean doesn’t have to hunt one down for my daily ride, and making sure that I have as many cartons of milk that I want! On top of that, the hospital doesn’t understaff this department, so if I need something and hit the call button, the nurse generally is in my room in less than a minute.

I’ve had a lot of people ask how my spirits are. They are pretty good! Everyday I’m stuck in this room is another day that my babies are growing. I have a feeling my spirits would have a hard time staying up if I suddenly found myself in another scary situation like last Wednesday. I am SO grateful to be “stuck” here right now!

                                                                                                                *****************************************************

Excuse the slightly unflattering photo (why wear makeup if I'm in my hospital room all day?) This was taken during yesterday's strip test. It took about 3 hours total to catch 30 minutes of heartbeats for each baby. They were extremely active and wouldn't hold still! Caleb and Abby are the two babies being recorded in this photo.

 

And here is another photo taken during the strip test. In this one, they are recording Elijah and Ellie. If you look closely, you can also see a third monitor that is tracking my contractions. CeeCee is the nurse who is standing up (she is fantastic! She's been my nurse for 4 of the days I've been here) and Dr. Charles is a resident OB-GYN who is using an ultrasound machine to try to find the babies' hearts as they roll around in my stomach. The monitors have to be directly above their hearts to make the recording. (both said that I could put their pictures on my blog)

--posted by Becca

Today they did a growth sonogram on the babies and everything looked pretty good. Here are their measurements (as near as they can tell). As a reference point, today I am 24 weeks, 6 days pregnant:

Caleb     Size: 25 weeks, 1 day
Weight: 1lb, 13 oz

Abby     Size: 25 weeks
Weight: 1lb, 10 oz

Elijah     Size: 24 weeks, 3 days
Weight: 1lb, 7 oz

Ellie        Size: 23 weeks, 3 days
Weight: 1lb, 5 oz

Ellie is definitely on the smaller side, but the doctor said that as long as she is within two weeks of the other babies, he doesn’t worry about it. Still, I would prefer that she has a growth spurt soon just to put her more on par with her siblings. All of them have great fluid though, and that is the most concerning point with the rupture that I have in one of their sacs.

Last night, I felt some contractions start back up. They don't keep me on the contraction monitor all of the time as I will always have contractions, some noticeable and some not, until the babies come. I asked to go back on it for about an hour last night just to make sure that I wasn’t having too many. Can’t be too careful! In the hour that I was on the monitor, they picked up four contractions. Turns out that four in an hour is still okay, but if I feel 6 or 7 an hour, then it’s worth checking into. I was very happy to hear that it was within the norm!

With the blizzard and road conditions that everyone has been battling for the past two days, I am so grateful to have already been holed up here. One of my big fears with the time of year that I’m pregnant is the weather. I didn’t want a big snow or ice storm to hit and then find it necessary to go to the hospital. On top of that, Sean’s work has been very gracious and understanding about the pregnancy/crazy weather situation and has allowed him to work from the hospital this week so that he is close in case something happens.

Even though I’m currently on bed rest in the hospital, there are some really nice perks that come with it. Here, in no particular order, are the highlights of my day:

1)     The Shower: Oh my word! This must be the best shower ever! The shower head is the size of a dinner plate, and is fixed to the ceiling so that the water pours straight down like a waterfall. PLUS there are three panels in the wall that shoot water sideways. PLUS there is one of those handheld water thingys that you can wave around to rinse off anything that is left over after the waterfall and panels have done their work. PLUS there is a chair in there so I can sit down the entire time if I want to. If there was a way to sneak this shower home in my bag, I’d probably give it a try. And yes, I do drag my showers out as long as possible simply because they are so wonderful!

2)      The Multiple Naps per Day: Since I’m not allowed to wander around, I can take all the guilt free naps I want. I’m enjoying this while I still have the opportunity to experience sleep.

3)      The Milk: Fact-I LOVE milk! We didn’t drink much juice while growing up, but milk was an option at every meal. Since getting married, I haven’t given myself the same freedom to drink milk whenever I want since It’s $4 a gallon. I’m sure it’s probably more like $8 or $10 per gallon since I’m in a hospital, but since I’m not actually paying out of pocket for it myself, I’m drinking milk like it’s going out of style. That’s right, I am enjoying milk at every meal…and sometimes in between meals also!

4)      The Food: I don’t have any restrictions on food unlike a lot of pregnant ladies with multiples who suffer from things like gestational diabetes. I eat a LOT of food here. Between the very full, well-balanced meals (that are mostly pretty edible), the snack room down the hall, and the food that people keep sending to me, I have pretty much anything I want, anytime I want it. The doctors said to gain weight, so I’m giving it my best effort!

5)      The Wheelchair Rides: After being cooped up in my room for several days, they finally cleared me to take a 30 minute wheelchair ride per day. They won’t let me walk around anymore until after the babies come, and 30 minutes in a wheelchair is about all I can handle because of my back, but that little freedom is great! Hey, this goes on the list of favorite things because I actually get to see the outside world. It’s the little things these days.

6)      The Ice Chips: Crushed ice is the bomb, and the ice here is dangerously close to that! In fact, it’s a lot like ice from Sonic. Thankfully, they don’t have me limited to only ice chips anymore, but as an accessory to my water, it’s fantastic!

7)      The Nursing Staff: I can’t talk enough about how wonderful the nursing staff is in this hospital! Tonight makes it an entire week that I’ve been on bed rest here, and I must say, I’ve become attached to some of the nurses who I’ve had several times. They honestly do care about how I’m feeling and do whatever they can to make me as comfortable as possible. They go out of the way to track down things to make me comfortable, including, switching out my bed for one with memory foam, adding an egg carton on top, giving me my own wheelchair to keep in my room so Sean doesn’t have to hunt one down for my daily ride, and making sure that I have as many cartons of milk that I want! On top of that, the hospital doesn’t understaff this department, so if I need something and hit the call button, the nurse generally is in my room in less than a minute.

I’ve had a lot of people ask how my spirits are. They are pretty good! Everyday I’m stuck in this room is another day that my babies are growing. I have a feeling my spirits would have a hard time staying up if I suddenly found myself in another scary situation like last Wednesday. I am SO grateful to be “stuck” here right now!

                                                                                                                *****************************************************

Excuse the slightly unflattering photo (why wear makeup if I'm in my hospital room all day?) This was taken during yesterday's strip test. It took about 3 hours total to catch 30 minutes of heartbeats for each baby. They were extremely active and wouldn't hold still! Caleb and Abby are the two babies being recorded in this photo.

 

And here is another photo taken during the strip test. In this one, they are recording Elijah and Ellie. If you look closely, you can also see a third monitor that is tracking my contractions. CeeCee is the nurse who is standing up (she is fantastic! She's been my nurse for 4 of the days I've been here) and Dr. Charles is a resident OB-GYN who is using an ultrasound machine to try to find the babies' hearts as they roll around in my stomach. The monitors have to be directly above their hearts to make the recording. (both said that I could put their pictures on my blog)

--posted by Becca