Back to the begining: My Quad Story (from Caring Bridge)

I wanted to have everything in one place, so I'm copying my caring brige journal over.  Here it goes...

Hello everyone, I am a 32 year old, wife, teacher, literacy coach, but most importantly​, mother. I have been married to my husband, Tony, for 9 1/2 years. I am a 4th grade teacher/lit​eracy coach at Suncrest in Frankfort, IN. I have one beautiful daughter, Lilya, who was born Sept. 12, 2008, and a 14 year old step-so​n, Kaleb. We are now expecting our 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th babies together. Yep, we are expecting quadruplets!​

Background Story

Like I said, Tony and I have been married for 9 1/2 years. We started trying right away to start our family, and were having no luck. My OBGYN decided to try me on a fertility medicine called Clomid. I was on Clomid for about a year, and still, nothing. At that time, I found out that both my sister and my step-mom were expecting. We decided to give the family plan a break for a while, and I went back to school to get my teaching degree. I graduated in December of 2005, and we returned to the doctor to talk about options for starting our family. We tried Clomid unsuccessfully for about a year before we finally made up our minds that we needed to try something different. With our first round of injectible fertility medicine, our dream of building our family together came true...we were expecting twins. Just 20 weeks into my pregnancy, my water broke. There was nothing they could do to save our little boy and girl. Gavin was born stillborn, and I held little Greta and watched her heart beat knowing that she would soon be gone too. It was one of the hardest times of my life. We didn't give up. 4 months later, using the same fertility treatment, I became pregnant with my daughter, Lilya. It was a long, scary time for us, with lots of trips to the doctor, but actually a very normal pregnancy. Two years after she was born, I finally talked my husband into the fact that one more child would make our family complete. We saw the same doctor, went through the same fertility treatment, and suprise...there were 4 heartbeats!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 9:58 AM
Well, right now, I am couch bound. Last Wed., Jan. 5th, I had what is called a transabdominal cerclage. This required a cut from my belly button to my pelvic bone to allow the doctors to work around my uterus to get to the cervix. Once they reached the cervix, they tied around the top of it so that it cannot open up. I was in the hospital for two days, and here I am on the couch now, recovering. We have appreciated friends and family so much. They have helped to take care of Lilya, brought food, done laundry. We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives. While it was nice to be waited on at first, I am really ready to be feeling better, and back to normal. 2-4 weeks is a long time to be down!

Thursday, January 13, 2011 2:17 PM
Well, yesterday was a pretty rough day. I didn't sleep at all the night before, and was cramping pretty bad throughout the morning. I had my follow up visit at the doctor at 3:00. They checked the cervix, the uterin blood flow, and baby heart beats. All were fine. When I finally talked with the nurse and doctor, it seems like all of the symtems I've been having are very common. They said that everything is going really well. They removed the staples which have left a little spot that was not completely healed inside my belly button. This has to be packed twice a day with a special kind of packing so that it will heal (YUCK). They are also encouraging me to get extra protein in my diet. I never in a million years thought that I would have trouble eating, but I really do now. Looks like many protein shakes and protein bars are in my future. They also explained the pain I've been having in my left leg being due to the pelvic bones opening up to allow room for the babies. My stomach is already measuring 28 weeks which is twice of what I actually am. Said I wouldn't be losing weight for too much longer.


I woke up today feeling much more rested, and without so much cramping. Hopefully each day will continue to get easier. My next appointment is Jan. 26th. They will measure babies and give me some pictures at that appointment, so I'll be able to post some at that time.