Cool Site With Quad Facts.

http://www3.telus.net/tyee/multiples/quadruplets.html
looks like the longest gestation period is longer than 37 weeks. Might have to change my goal so i can be a world record holder;)

live, laugh, love

Amy here...Good shopping day for anyone? I went out and bought 2 twin mattresses this morning for the kids christmas surprise. Can't tell you what it is....there might be blabber mouths out there! LOL. Speaking of blabbering....you wouldn't believe how many emails we have been getting about the quads. Thanks for all your support, WE love it. This morning I opened an email from someone I don't know and they said, "should I congratulate you?" HAHAHA
We find these emails funny because I think we are the only ones who got pregnant with quads and actually HI 5'd it. We love kids, I love being a stay at home mom, Im good at it. So, in life if you do what you love, It really isn't work. Now is it? So, in 10 months, when I have 4 babies screaming at the same time, I will be fussy, I will need help, and at the end of the day, I will still love my life! Live , Laugh, Love

thanksgiving

post by mandy
well i have to say i am sooo thankful for amy, manda, bradley, karley, my parents, great family and friends. everyone has been so supportive of us with calls, emails and offers of baby furniture and offers to take me to the pizza hut buffet to get my calories in. it really does mean alot to us to hear from you all. :) we are very very lucky to have such great friends and family. thank you.

I do plan on eating my weight today in good 'ole thankgiving dinner. plan on going to my parents house and will be in company with good friends and family. Thinking i might want to take a pillow for my 2pm nap. i do get a nap in almost everyday at 2pm.

Silly kid stuff

We had a parent teacher conference on Monday with Amanda's teacher. (our first grader) After the AWESOME conference she says "so, 4 babies?". Amanda told her last week about the babies and explained to her that she may be a little busy when the babies get here, since she will have 5 babies to take care of (including Bradley). The teacher asked Amanda why she would be the only one taking care of the babies? Amanada replied ... "my moms will be busy making bottles for all those babies".

Stranger things have happened? I don't think so!

This morning I was on the phone with Eric, making a cup of coffee. Minding my own business. Out of the corner of my eye I catch Mandy spit out the shell to her vitamin E pill. I said "what the hell are you doing? Did you just chew that pill and spit out the shell?"
She says "yes. ".
She explains that she didn't want to have to digest the plastic covering on the pill.
IS THAT GROSS OR WHAT? A little over the top!

test results

post by mandy
so we went and had the babies necks measured today. (not ours) they do this by ultra-sound. i must say babies c & d were fooling around and didn't cooperate so they are grounded from Ellen tonight. We were finally able to get great pics of all their necks and 2 of their noses indicating a good result in the tests. We are happy. We have chosen not to do any other form of invasive tests on the babies. Such as needles in the sacks, etc. Too risky for our blood. We run the risk of miscarriage. NO interests at all. We will have a very extensive ultra sound at around 18 weeks to check out their bodies, but that is not invasive. Now the next big thing for us is next week. When they install the cerclage. Hell I act like it's a plumbing part. "ya put that O ring in there apply some tape, fix "er all up that should keep 'er from leaking" oh my god, speaking of leaking, i sneezed and peed my pants yesterday for the first time. Amy was laughing at me. not funny! i also stopped taking progesterone and estrace yesterday. The pregnancy has to survive on its own now. keep your fingers crossed.

genetic testing

post by mandy
we go tomorrow for genetic testing. we were at our appt. last week and we had been there 4 hours. we were starting to get glassy eyed with info. placenta's, sharing a sac, not sharing a sac, abdominal cerclage, birth defects, pee in this jug 24 hours keep it cold in the fridge.
The information was absolutely overwhelming. so doc started talking about how we would come in this week and have genetic testing and measure the necks to test for abnormalities. so we stumble out of the appt. and there were about 6 staff members standing at the check out and we were the only patients. and one of them said, "oh man they have you peeing in that jug already it's your first visit". i replied, "ya man they really brought out the red carpet for us". so amy and i continue our drunken stumble with information and we don't say much until we are about half way home and i mention something about the genetic appt. and Amy says, "now how are they going to measure the fat on our necks, and what does that fat on our necks have to do with the babies having birth defects"? i was absolutley tickled because i am usually the one getting the dumb box of rocks award. now amy holds the award.

HORMONES

By Amy
Tonight I was outside burning leaves with Amanda, Bradley, Karley. We were having so much fun. We smelled to high heaven of smoke though. Mandy was inside laying on the couch and watching tv. It got dark outside real quick, and the kids all got fussy REAL QUICK. So, when we went in, I asked Mandy to run the kids upstairs and bath them while I fixed dinner. WELL YOU WOULD THINK THE WORLD STOPPED! She stood up and stomped into the kitchen and was yelling at me with tears ... "I was watching a movie!"
I thought it was really wierd when it was happening, kinda in slow motion almost. Later I realized... "oh, It's her hormones". She is happy now! Yeah for me!

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT IN READING OUR BLOGS. WE HAVE BEEN GETTING GREAT FEEDBACK FROM ALL OF YOU!

chinese whore massages

post by mandy
Well after all that sitting and standing around watching everyone else move furniture i couldn't get a Chinese Whore Massage out of my mind. You are probably thinking, what's that? It's when you go to the mall and they have shop set up with chair massagerers ready to massage away and you sit in the chair while EVERYONE in the mall walks by and watches you like a monkey in a cage at the zoo. Gotta feel sorry for those poor monkeys now. Well we frequent the Chinese shop frequently, so right when we walk up they all smile really big and say, "how you". Take their hand and point to the chair. They aren't big talkers but they can sure rub a knot in your back like theres no tomorrow. So we finally arrive, Amy kept hauling me EVERYWHERE to shop. All i wanted was my chinese whore massage. So I'm about 15 minutes into it and i'm willing him to rub on my hip muscles because that is where i get my shots of progesterone every night. They are SORE. So finally after 15 minutes of willing he hits the jackpot and starts rubbing the knots. Well if you have ever had a chinese whore massage you will know that they have A.D.D. worse than me and only rub one spot 3 seconds then move to another. URRR So he immediately moves down to my butt. Yes he is rubbing my butt in the middle of the mall on a Sat. night while everyone shopping can see. So i am in the zone and feeling good. and i hear a pencil neck geek teenager walk by and say to one of his friends "OH MY GOD LOOK HE'S RUBBING HER BUTT".

normally not lazy

post by Mandy
So yesterday i layed around and didn't do a damn thing while Amy and some friends moved furniture:) Completely exhausting I must say. I am on the biggest stretch right not not being able to do ANYTHING. Everyone says, "don't lift that, move i'll do it" so i always just sheepishly back away and huff at them. i know they are right, just not in me to sit on the sidelines in life. At one point yesterday while we were moving a friend of mine into her new house there was a woman there i had never met and i said, "um i want you to know I am normally not this lazy". i could tell she was getting FUSSY that i was just standing around bossing people and not lifting a finger. I was actully a little tickled.

Shopping

Mandy and I were kid free tonight. Marmee has the kids. We went shopping. A little Christmas shopping, maternity clothes shopping, and crib shopping. We didn't buy anything. Just wanted to get out there and see what things cost 5 yrs later. We have been down the path of having the best crib, the deluxe crib sheets, and the best of everything. With 4 babies, and times being way different than we've had it before, we are working on a budget this time around. Funny how the best of the best just doesn't matter after awhile. I want a blue and chocolate nursery. Mandy doesn't really care much about the room, so I have this great picture in my mind. I am trying to locate all the pretty things I have dreamt up. I think it can be done on a shoe string budget!
Oh, I forgot, we did get the kids a christmas present tonight. That was fun!

Sucking it out of you!

So, today we moved the furniture out of the nursery. It use to be the guest room, and we moved it all to the basement. While we were in the basement, mandy was talking and I noticed a white streak on her front tooth. Hmmm, I asked if it had always been there, "UH NO!" So, mandy took extra calcium tonight. The 4 babies must be sucking it out of her!

passing tests

post by Mandy
it's so entertaining to think about how I have essentially been through basic training up to this point in my life to prepare for the Sugar Babies. Umm lets see.
test #1 I had major abdominal surgery to remove tumored ovaries. passed
test #2 carried around excessive weight my whole life. passed
test#3 had a band put around my stomach to lose the weight passed
Upcoming tests
test #4, 5 major abdominal surgery dec 4th to place a BAND around my cervix to keep Sugar Babies in there as long as possible. (what's up with me and bands) I'm thinking one of the babies should be named Band. LOL will pass.
test 6 weight will jump right back up to where it was pre-lapband surgery and my body has been there before so i will not have any life threatening issues for me or the Sugar Babies and my pregnancy will be a breeeze. will pass

The 4500 calorie saga

Post by Mandy
I have absolutely worked my ass off to lose all of this weight. 130 lbs. As soon as we found out there were 4 babies cooking in there Amy went to town and bought. Twins Triplets and Quads by Dr. Barbara Luke and Tamara Eberlein. WE both had our noses in it and our chins dropped to the floor at some of the information and the rules. For instance, the book suggest I gain 45 lbs by week 20 and eat like porky pig everyday. The reason is because i will be sooo big by week 20 my stomach will be squished and i won't be able to eat therefore the babies won't get much needed calories to thrive, grow and be able to beat the camby champ (me) in P.I.G. someday. Soooo talk about an emotional rollercoaster. I spent the past 2 years training my brain to eat sensibly. Not sure if you realize this or not but there ain't nothing sensible about 4500 calories. so of course me being miss compulsive i immediately starting counting how many Big Macs that is in a day. uhh 9. but wait, i'm supposed to eat healthy food for the Sugar Babies (nickname i have given all 4 of them). I have taken my food and calorie intake very seriously and do the absolute best I can. I have only gotten pukey twice my whole pregnancy both while brushing my teeth.

From the beginning

Post by Mandy

Well i want to not get too ahead of ourselves with telling our story so you can get the whole picture. I am sure Amy will always have her version of everything that happens too. We do like to have fun and poke at each other.

It has always been my dream to have a big family. Amy would say "what is a big family to you?" I could never answer her. I just knew i wanted lots of kids. So Amy carried Amanda and Bradley and she was DONE. I spent the next 4.5 years convincing her we needed more kids. I was busy convincing her while she was even still carrying Bradley. I tried everything. Offered her bribes, presents, vacations nothing was working. I even offered to carry the next baby. Boy that was a NO NO! Amy is a bit controlling and by God if anyone was going to be carrying our babies it was going to be her. The answer was still NO! Finally, I drug her to the fertility doctor in '07 and we were going to try again for another baby. I finally had convinced her, against her will to carry the next one. On the way to one of the appointments she looked like she had just eaten puke. The thought of carrying another baby to her was just not so exciting. We got all the way through the Drug class on what shots to take when and the mission was brought to a screaching hault. She felt like she was too old to just carry anymore babies. I completely understood her point of view. So I knew if it was to be, it was up to me. I had to formulate and manipulate another plan and get it going asap. i spent the next 1.5 years on it. I'm pretty persistant when i really want something. I had had the lapband surgery as part of my plan to get pregnant. I knew I also was not capable of carrying a baby as heavy as I was. So thank God I dug my well before I was thirsty. I had the surgery in sept. of '06. So now fast forward to june of '08 i had lost all the weight i wanted to lose and was healthy as a horse. I was in my back field and was racing with Bradley one night. We went in and about 3 hours later I became very very sick. I called my lapband doctor the next day. we were leaving for Florida to go on vacation with about 25 other people and just as a precaution I went ahead and had him take out some fluid. I wasn't able to keep anything down... Not even water. So I was temporarily better. We left for Florida. Got to my aunt and uncles in Georgia and then the real fun just started. I became dehydrated and couldn't keep anything down. Amy took me to the emergency room and at one point we thought I was going to die. we begged for the emergency room doc to take all the fluid out of my band. he was quite the prick, let me tell you. so they hydrated me and off i went. The next day we had to find a lapband doc that could remove all my fluid from my band. my doc back in indy found me one in Alphretta Georgia to go to. Thank God he was nice enough to come in on his day off for me. Cost me $350 cashola. I was still sick but they gave me anti nausea medicine and I started taking that. So I'm a very sick pup through the whole vacation. WELL back to how these babies came about. We were in Floriday with a ton of close family and friends and I started in on Amy about having more kids, but this time with me carrying them. Mind you i am non functioning sick as a dog on my death bed and all I can ask for is "more kids". so i think Amy felt so sorry for me in my state of helplessness she said, "fine, but your carrying them, I'm too old." I got everyone on board as my witnesses and the next day while still on vacation I called the fertility doc and made the appt. for myself to carry the babies. Now one other thing I haven't mentioned yet is I don't have ovaries. They were removed in an emergency surgery when I was 21. Tera Toma Tumors. I was completely devistated at the thought of never being able to be a mom. My dream of actually carrying a baby was about to become a reality. But i had a long road ahead of me.

We had driven to Flordia so on the way home we each made bucket list. I am looking at my list right now and number one says caring a Baby (babies). Exactly like that. I have to share some of the other funny stuff on our lists. That we have already been able to cross off. For me a Fau Hauck. I looked at my long hair as baggage and weighing me down. I had things in this life i still wanted to accomplish and felt like a much needed funky, fun haircut was a step in the right direction. On Amy's list she got hearing tested and we took at quick trip to New Hope Pennsylvania. Our lists aren't that long and obviously not very extravagant.

So my lapband had indeed slipped while running with bradley. we were faced with the choice of just fixing it or completely removing it. Either way it was going to cost lots of money. Getting pregnant was the absolute most important thing to me. So after several days of angonizing decision making mode. I chose to not put the band back in. I was bandless. The band is what has assisted me in losing almost half myself. But i was willing to pay whatever price at the mere thought of a shot at my big family. I was just going on hope at this point that I might get pregnant. Mind you they have to harvest Amy's eggs (if there are any, she's old remember) and put them in me once they are fertilized. So now that I have Amy convinced we can even go to the fert doc she says over and over again. "we are only putting in one fertilized egg." well i think i mentioned before i have this way of eventually breaking amy down of her stubborness. so then i get her to say we can put 2 in. So when we went in to harvest Amy's eggs (that means take them out of her body). we thought we were going to get only 4 eggs. Holy cow it was early christmas and we got 9. Shazzzzaaaam. So out of those 6 of them actually lived and became fertilized. The other ones died. so the day for transfer came (that is them being put in me). The doc had been saying all along with the scenario and the age of Amy's eggs he would implant 3. Well we had 1 really really good embryo. and 2 that were average and they last 3 were not worthy of putting in or saving according to the lab and the doc. so i asked, "what are you going to do with those other 3 embryos? Throw them away?" They said, "yes" my response was "well if you are going to throw them in the trash you might as well throw them in me." and the lab ladies eyes got really big. so amy and i talked later if they were so bad why did her eyes get so big. Soooo right then at that moment Amy went from absolutely no more than 2 embryos to now i had 6 implanted. What fun!!! I had told the doc all along i was not scared to carry multiples, he called me "the brave one". i immediately began to meditate and do lots of soul searching around the babies and imaging each of them implanting themselves into my uterus. so my friend Bubba is about 3 weeks ahead of me with their pregnancy and she turned me onto to the Gold pregancy test and explained to me about how the test worked. I got 4 days before I took my first test. I couldn't wait. But i didn't take the Gold Test the first time. Bubba had been on the phone with all the manufacturers and had done lots of homework that i was very appreciative of because i was busy meditating and didn't have time to call pregnancy test manufacturers. So on a sunday we took the Gold test. I was implanted 6 days prior. Amy and I ran to Walmart while my dad watched the kids. we got home and Amy couldn't even wait she made me pee on the stick right in the yard while she held it. When it said yes I was sitting down in shock. Amy literally ran around the driveway and yard screaming and yelling. the kids eyes were as big as saucers. we proceeded to take about 3 more tests. All saying yes. Over the next week I took approximatley 20 tests. Amy finally yelled at me and said, "we could be buying baby clothes with that money, stop buying tests". She was right but i couldn't help myself. they all said yes everytime.

We met with our doctor today. Mandy had yet another ultra sound. There are still 4 babies! Mandy was so afraid that he would find a 5th or yet a 6th in there today. Or even worse, he would only find 3. We are safe for yet another 2 weeks before our next untra sound.

Mandy will be having surgery on Dec. 4th. She is having the abdonimal cerclage. The doctor will take out her uterus and tie a band around the cervix. In doing this, it is our intention to keep these babies inside Mandy until 40 weeks. I am sending out a universal message that all will be good, and end in healthy momma and healthy babies.

Mandy is feeling tired, and sleeps a lot! Doc says that she is doing well and all looks good thus far. Poor Mandy. She hasn't complained once! Ya gotta love her enthusiasm for life.

We will provide more information when we get it. Carpe Diem