What's next?

By Amy
Well, what comes next? We have 3 of the 4 babies sexes....right? We have so many names we are throwing around. We have 4 that we agree on, but are they THE names ? A name is so important. We have so many that we like...
We will go for another appointment next week, hopefully baby A will show us some respect and give up their secret. If not, that is fine too... a little suprise never hurts anyone. There are so little suprises left in this world. Wouldn't it be fun if baby A kept their secret till the end? I'd secretly love that!
So, Christmas has passed, boy was it a great Christmas. We had the flu, so NO ONE wanted to come over. Which was fine, we had an awesome day just the 4 of us. Well, the 5 of us. Karley came over later in the day, and we were lucky to have her. We love her so much! (side tracked) Amanda said to me last night that she really missed Karley. She was going to call her and invite her over, but it was 11:00 at night. :)
Anyway, what's next? I have asked Eric and Trish to help me with the nursery. I am waiting on someone to run my lights in the ceiling. Then, I will drag them to the paint store and on with the painting. They are great decorators, and I know they will help me get it done in a timely fashion. I would like to get it done asap, so that I can stop stressing about it. I know it is early, but I want to be finished when Mandy gets slapped with bed rest, so that I can be free to do all the running, and working that may be called upon me. And, when she is finally thrown into the hospital, I want to be able to be free for that. I plan on signing the kids up for a class they have at the hospital for siblings. I think they would enjoy it, plus while hangin at the hospital, I think it will involve them a bit more than just sitting in their moms room waiting and waiting.
Amanda took a doll back that she got for Christmas... Mandy and I picked up the Spanish speaking version by accident. We couldn't figure out why when you pushed the button it said "pee pee in the Nano?" So, Amanda traded it in for a pack and play and an old fashion stroller for all her dolls. She has a few dolls, but she has 100 stufties. (stuffed animals). She is practicing for the babies. I told her her new brothers and sisters will probably fit in these doll toys! She always did. I remember Maggie and Meredith pushing her around Nana and Papa's house in a baby stroller (toy stroller). I think she was 1 when she still fit in it.
Nana and papa boo bought the babies clothes, it really made it real. It was their first Christmas presents. How exciting!
We have decided for New Years, we will all 4 (maybe 5?) of us be together and have fun as a family. Ya know, when there are 4 more of us, we will really really not be running like we are use to. And, that is ok with us. O what the (&%@&# do what ever it takes! (only some of you will get that). Love you all.

Christmas '08

post by mandy
well this was our second year with the tradition we started last year of not running around on christmas and going to other people's houses. we go to the movies on christmas day. now next year that won't be happening. our tradition will be quickly put on hold. we had planned to get chinese today and see bedtime stories and that's exactly what we did. The 5 of us had a blast. you should see our house. it is sooooooo torn up. i took a big time wrestling nap on the couch this afternoon. we have still been sick. we can't shake it. i read online that you can drink apple cider vinegar to get rid of the poops and an upset stomach. so last night i felt like i was a little quesy. so i tried it. OH MY GOD. i was up at 2:30 am puking. i think it was from my bright idea to drink the vinegar because i mixed it with orange juice. we are going to click our heals together 3 times and say. "we want to be well, we want to be well, we want to be well"
Merry Christmas

3 out of 4 ain't bad

post by mandy
we went to the doc today. i go every 2 weeks and get and ultra sound and today was the soonest we could tell sexes. amy's mom went with us today. i will let the whole world in on a Little Secret. i am EXTREMELY modest. growing up my nickname my friends gave me was "modest mandy" so today was quite the stretch for me to lay spread eagle with amy's mom in the room. i had to pee in a cup before my ultra sound started. uh for those of you that aren't aware of this being pregnant makes you completely headless. so the nurse gives me the cup and the marker to write my name on the cup and so i write my name on it and put it right back in the window EMPTY. i sit down and start to pee and i'm like uh wait. i'm supposed to be peeing in that cup. so i SQUEEEEEZE it back in the and hop up and get the empty cup out of the window. whew i was able to get some urine in the cup. so i get to the room and amy has positioned her mom to the side of me. i could tell there had been some conversation about my "modesty" amy so politely took the chair at the end of the table with the birds eye view of my crotch. so then i start to get undressed and Connie takes her winter coat and puts it over her head. and says "i won't look" it was quite comical. anyway we were able to see the parts on 3 of the 4 babies. 2 boys 1 girl and 1 surprise. we will find out next time the other baby. a side note i have 3 babies on one side of my uterus and 1 on the other. the one chillin' by herself was the girl. 2 babies weigh 5 oz. and 2 babies weigh 4 oz. they are all doing great.

soooooo tired

post by mandy
i have to say this pregnancy is really taking a toll on me. i am absolutely exhausted. words can't describe how i feel. i was at my desk at work today and just had to lay my head down on all my work. i look so forward to coming home and sitting in my chair and not doing a damn thing. i can't stand for more than a few minutes. the other night amy and i went christmas shopping and she was carting me around in a wheel chair. it's quite interesting to be in a different situation than i normally am. people treated me differently, not to mention just ran right over the top of us. i had presents piled higher than my head in the wheelchair it was funny. i absolutely can't even imagine the shape i am going to be in at week 38. in the beginning of all of this i was very fussy at bedrest. to be honest i don't see how it could be any other way as much as it strains your body. i'd consider myself to have been in pretty good shape. we cycled 5-6 miles a day up until the day i was inseminated. i never thought i would miss exercise this much. or even just doing anything. i just don't have the energy. if i simply walk across the room my heart rate goes to like 140 beats per minute. it's insane. the other day i was ready to leave for work and i told amy i felt like there was a fog over my eyes. i have not been compulsing about eating my 5,000 calories per day. i just eat when i am hungry. you know i go to the doctor every 2 weeks and they have yet to weigh me. unheard of!!! if i was going to a regular obgyn they would have my ass on that scale everytime. it's so funny what becomes important and what isn't. we might find out on monday what the sexes are. i'm EXCITED bout that. my prediction again is 3 boys and 1 girl. if we don't find out monday we will find out in 2 weeks. i have become an expert at laying on the couch and playing uno, war, operation, guess who and candy land with amanda ,bradley and karley. they are nice and allow me to waller around on the couch to get situated to play with them. amy surprised me with a real massage this week. i haven't had a massage yet while being pregnant. it was very different because you don't lay on your stomach. you lay on your side. thank god i wore underwear or my business would have all been hanging out:)

teaching kids

post by mandy
so when you have kids as a responsible parent we have to always continue to teach them what we want them to know and unteach them things they might learn from watching tv, hearing adults or other kids talk. It's one of those things (do as i say not as i do type thing). so the other day i was putting amanda and bradley to bed and i like to take turn singing songs. so we had each gone a couple of times and i was getting sleepy ;) the kids are the ones supposed to be getting sleepy at this game, not me. anyway, so i decided to take the opportunity and teach or unteach them something about illegal drugs. so every since i was in junior high i have always sang this song called I am a Star. it goes like this.

I am a star and i am free
I am the one in charge of me
all that i do and all that i choose
are all a part of my life

I am a star and i decide
i know what's right i feel it inside
i'm center stage it's my time to shine, cuz i am a star
your looking at a star when you're looking at me
a bright shining star that's always drug free
the more that i learn the more that i know
and if you offer me drugs I'll just say NO.

So after i sing the song amanda proceeds to tell me that drugs are bad for you. and i say "yes they are, they are very bad for your brain , they can scramble it and make you not think right." amanda says "ya your brain is your most important organ." Bradley sits up in the bed and says, "NUH UH YOUR PEE PEE IS."
my point exactly. where the hell did he learn that? :) kids pick up everything good or bad. always take the opportunity to teach a kid something positive.

pregnant belly photos

post by Mandy

Here's our latest photo shoot we did. i'm on the cover of amy and mandy the magazine. this is the december issue.

What? Me worry?

Amy's thoughts this morning
The flu has been in our house for the past week and a half. I finished last in the race to recover. This morning, I am 100 % healthy. We still cancelled Amanda's birthday party for today so that we could save anyone from catching this horrible bug so close to Christmas. Our plans later are to meet with Nana and Papa Boo, and probably a movie. I have cabin fever now. From one flu to another!
Yesterday I had my first panic attack about having quads. Can you believe that? I was soooo sick. I felt like if I had something to eat, and to get out of the house for a few minutes I might feel better. Mandy took us to Gray's cafeteria. I could only eat mashed potatoes. Boo hoo. We were sitting there, and the kids were so wonderful. The kids were so proud of themselves. Amanda bought butterscotch pie, and Bradley got jello. They kept sharing their desserts with each other, and Mandy was playing their game. All of a sudden, I realized we weren't going to be able to take a leisurely stroll to Gray's for a bite of MASHED POTATOES. I freaked out. (to myself of course) The entire world passed in front of me in a flash of 2 seconds, and I was like....Jeez what the hell are we gonna do? I settled down, and on the way home I told Mandy that next year I would probably break down and get a flu shot. Who has time for the flu with that many kids?
You should see my house. Holy Cow! I have never seen it this bad.
My mom always tells me when Im down and out about the mess in my house...
"Amy, you will have time later for a clean house. " And I will. When my kids are grown, and they have a messy house, I will be sure to pass on that great advice.

lots to update

post by mandy
so i had every intention of returning to work full speed yesterday. i woke up at 5 am and was just in excruciating pain. i had to get staples instead of stitches so i looked like Frankenstein:) so i call the doc and beg to come in because i hurt so bad. to describe how it felt it was cross between a hot iron being put on my skin and a pubic hair being caught on a panty liner. (sorry guys you don't know what that feels like) so i went in and luckily they took my staples out and that was the culprit. we got to see the sugar babies again. it is like the biggest treat ever to see them in there flip flopping around. i asked my mom is she wants to go with us next time to see some sheckles paul acrobatics going on in my uterus. we might find out the sexes next time. my prediction is 3 boys and 1 girl. i was right about there being 4 babies in there. lets see if i should quit my day job and become a psychic. i have been watching lots of trashy t.v. lately and of course now i also want to be all of these things. in no particular order.
1. bounty hunter
2. rapper (my name would be (MQuad)
3. psychic detective
4. sole survivor
5. american idol
6. dr. g medical examiner
7. lottery winner
8. spiritual healer
9. author
10. paris hilton's best friend
it is amazing how much t.v. persuades us. the funny thing is, is that i really think i could be all of these things. Mandy let's just get to 38 weeks. that is the goal by the way. :)

Magazine Article

Here's an article that i was featured in this month in indianapolis woman. It's about me having the lapband and being pregnant with quads:)

cribs?

Does anyone have a crib for sale? I have been on craigslist everyday, looking for used cribs. We have one that my cousin is giving us, and I just bought one from Craigslist. OK? After examining it more, it is junk. I can paint it, and jazz it up a bit, but none the less, JUNK.
I am willing to pay for any crib out there that is sturdy, and in good condition. Let me know...
amy
email me at amyandmandy@aol.com

ahhh

We got a christmas card in the mail yesterday. It was from the lab who introduced the sperm to the egg.... ahh..
They sent 3 pictures of the eggs, or the EMBRYO's. They appologized for not sending 4, they only took pictures of the 3 good embryo's. Ahhh, our first pictures of 3 of our 4 babies.

HOW Embarrassing

Geez Louise! How Embarrassing Mandy!

surgery

post by mandy

so i have a miraculous recovery and amy and i with the docs decide to move forward with the surgery. i suggested to the surgeon that we take some pics of the surgery. he tried to line up a videographer but they were booked. that's what i like a man that thinks BIG! i was happy with just some still shots. guess they had never documented for educational purposes photos of a surgery. there was a doc visiting from another state to stand in and watch my surgery. they are recruiting him to come work here in indy. so during the surgery i am awake. surgery is to take 2 hours. so all the nurses and residents kept coming in before my surgery to my room and saying, "ok, the doc listens to jamaican music REALLY loud" well normally during surgery that wouldn't be an issue because the patient is asleep. well not for this procedure. so we get in the operating room and me and the anethesiologist are buddies right away. so he gives me the shot in my spine to make me numb from the neck down. i can still talk and think. just can't move. not even wiggle my toes. now the lady come over with the pubic shaver. turns that sucker on and goes to town on my 70's bush. just kidding i do take pride in my grooming abilities. now i didn't say this outloud. i don't think so anyway but i wanted to ask her if she could make shapes and possibly if it wouldn't be too much trouble if i could get a heart shape on my big surgery day. they had to shave me because they make the incision right above your pubic line. gees i could have done that before hand with little notice. so i can't move and that medicine makes you feel like you have bees under your skin. i was itching everywhere. so i was having the anethesiologist scratch my nose, scratch my arm, then i got the biggest itch between my breasts. Well if you don't ask you don't know so i asked him and thankfully he agreed. he then entertained me with a short story of this one woman who asked him to scratch her "giner" hmm maybe she freshened up with alocoh swabs before her surgery. he told her NO!!! :) i was completely entertained by that. now mind you we have OPERA music playing,masked people taking pictures, and cleavage being scratched. to be a fly on that wall. :) surgery took less than an hour. i set a world record. only bled a few drops. looking good.

playing catch up "rewind"

post by mandy
so we went to the lion king at the murat. there were 7 of us. we raced over there after grandpa selke's showing. on the way home i was having a mack attack. i had pieced at the funeral home but my meals were messed up so we were passing Wendy's on the way home from the play and i pointed for Amy to pull in. yes i am 3 years old. so at 3am in the morning i'm up puking up a cheeseburger and a large frosty. Sick as a dog. OMG. so i progressively get worse, obviously i have the flu, no funeral for me. all the family we would call on in an emergency is at the funeral. I am home sick ,sick, sick all by my lonesome. can't stop puking. i have surgery the next day. now mind you we have very small window of opportunity to complete the surgery. it will be dangerous if we wait too long. so i immediately get bossed by amy to get on the phone with my doc. so i do. they call me in anti puke medicine. well amy is always bragging about walgreens telling me i should switch. i am a big fan of CVS. so thinking i could wait til she got home from the funeral to get my anti-puke meds i give my doc walgreens number to be nice to Amy. Amy is driving to new castle and coordinates a good friend to leave work during her Scientist duties at Lilly to come in and save the day and bring me the meds. Well good oh Walgreens f#@%&^*#@$S up the order and it takes like 2 hours longer to get me the drugs, mind you i'm home just puking and puking and can't keep anything down. so our friends come up with the idea for me to take pepsi and another medicine mixed together so I will quit puking. since walgreens can't find the order we had a back up plan, so one of the other meds is a sleep aid. Thank god they were smart enough to buy the sleep aid because the ani puke medicine didn't work once i had it. uhhhh. so i start (with docs approval) taking the sleep aid to try to sleep it off until amy (bossy britches) gets home. she is calling me when she can during the funeral festivities calling the shots on what i need to do. i'm pretty non functioning at this point. so the docs says, "hospital for you". the babies could be in danger at this point from me being dehydrated. so i am just hurtin' for certain. we get to the hospital and i am in the examing room on the table and the nurse says undress from the waste down. so i am laying there and i get the BRIGHT idea to freshen up and take a whore bath with the santi wipes on the back of the wheel chair that they had used to wheel me in there with. I got a little over zealous with my cleaning and touched the alcohol (hello dumbass mandy) to my "giner". I came off that table and loudly whispered to amy, "oh my god get me a wet paper towel fast" she moved at the speed of light and i was able to get the stinging alcohol of me before the nurse came back in. whewwww.
amy said, "boy i sure know how to get you to move fast from now on"

LET IT SNOW

Has anyone looked outside? It is snowing!

Mandy came home from the hospital last night. While she was there, we watched 3 movies! Talk about being spoiled. We love to go to the movies, and I'm thinking when she is finally on bedrest, watching movies on tv will have to do.
We came home, just the two of us. Teri had all 3 kids. She took them to chic fil a to play and then to spend the night with her. Mandy and I went and got Gray's carry out. I fell asleep on the couch at 10.
This morning Mandy woke up with her eye swollen and the thing in the back of her throat was the size of her pinky finger. Strangest thing I have ever seen. Dr. says it was probably an allergic reaction to some of the meds she was on? Wierd stuff!
While Mandy was in the hospital she had 3 ultra sounds. We were able to see all 4 babies again!!! How exciting.

WHEW!!!!

mandy is out of surgery. She is napping. She is healthy and all 4 babies are healthy. Please keep sending that good karma our way, it is working. '

Oh, it is cold outside!

Surgery Day

We had a little problem yesterday. We burried my grandpa, (not the problem, he was old, had a great life, and ready to be in heaven), Mandy woke up with the FLU!!!! Holly cow. She didn't move the entire day. I came home from the day of activities in New Castle, and took her to the hospital. They admitted her, kept her for the night to hydrate her. When I left at 11:00 she had a smile on her face, and was ready for bed.
Today she is having her surgery. We are nervous about it, however, we know that is necessary to have quads in her tummy for as long as possible. The surgery will help us accomplish that! Off to the hospital I go! Pray for Mandy and all the little ones today. Send some good energy our way.
Thanks for your prayers and blessings. We love you all!
Amy

Cribs X 4

We have been perusing the internet looking for used cribs on craigslist. Fun times. My cousin Joella is giving us her crib, only 3 to go. I did find one at the Kids Closet in Plainfield today, but the store wasn't open yet. So, I couldn't go in to check the price. I was so set on 4 matching cribs, but we decided that wasn't going to happen. Didn't seem reasonable. Go figure? Reasonable? Implant 6 eggs on purpose, get 4 babies? Reasonalbe? Ha Ha.
We have also been getting all the things we need to do the nursery. We have a huge roll of carpet in the hall. The room is really cold with the hard woods, so we bought a carpet remnant. We are installing new lights on the ceiling, and the room is full junk still. Anyone want to get me organized? LOL.
Mandy is having surgery on Thursday. Bradley told Marmee (grandma) tonight that we were having our babies this Friday since Mandy was going to the hospital. He is going to be so disappointed. Amanda has been drawing pictures of Mandy with 4 stick figures in her belly. They are both so excited. I love my family; )

How'd Mandy Get Pregnant

post by Mandy
One of my favorite people in Amy's family passed away yesterday. Her Grandpa Selke. He has always supplied me with many laughs. You want to talk about a guy that tells it like it is. Oh my gosh. So we knew that he is getting ready to die and we hadn't shared with him that we were pregnant. So Amy was over at his apartment and says, "Grandpa Mandy is pregnant" He lookes over his glasses and doesn't crack a smile and says back, "how'd she do that?" with a very stern voice he was thinking that i had done the deed. so amy explains to him i got pregnant using the same annonymous donor that Amanda and Bradley were conceived with and that we used the same fertility doc. he was much relieved. Our son Bradley is named after Grandpa Selke's son Brad. Amy and I both lost grandparents in November. My grandma Ardy passed on Nov. 11th. The circle of life is alive and well and working it's magic.