Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Week 16 &17

Week 16
This past Saturday I celebrated my twenty fourth birthday. This must be the year of FOURS!!!!! It was the first birthday in 24 years that I have spent away from my family & friends back home. Even though my family makes birthdays extra special, Jeff did a wonderful job giving me a memorable birthday. My husband does not keep secrets worth anything; it is just not in his nature to hold onto one for more than a few days. He managed to keep my birthday BBQ a surprise right up to a couple hours of it happening. I had a wonderful time!!! My day was made by our friends joining in the festivities and my feasting on ice cream birthday cake...just what this pregnant mamma of four ordered:).

Now that I go to the OB every week, my weeks tend to fly by!!! Even though I know to expect the weekly Wednesday appointment; I still find myself getting anxious for its arrival. My heart beats like I am running a marathon (although baking four babies could easily be mistaken for a marathon!!!) and has done so for a few weeks now. It proved to be no different when the tech took my vitals; and escorted us to the exam room (exam room means that there will be no fun ultrasounds on the high tech ultrasound machine). After questioning our Dr. about my runner's heartrate, he informed us that my heart is working way past overtime to push the blood that has multiplied 100% through my body and to my four bundles. My Dr. did as he normally does and checked my cervix length as well as the boys' heartbeats. All was well!!!! My iron was checked last week and the results had indicated that I was severely anemic...which would be a good reason why I can hardly find energy to walk to the bathroom!! The Dr. informed us that low iron could effect the boys' development and how much blood and nutrients they receive. That afternoon I had to go back to the hospital to get an iron transfusion. Having it done on the labor and delivery section, made child birth real as newly born babies were whimpering and being wheeled to the nursery. The process was incredibly lengthy, (thank goodness I was in a lazy boy recliner...I need one of those at my house!!!) but necessary so I sat...and sat. A Dr. different from the one I typically see came in to tell me just how low my iron was and how it was a great possibility I would get a transfusion every week or two. I will learn for the future iron visites to pack a snack cooler, go to the bathroom as many times as I can before I am "hooked", and will bring a warm blanket....might as well make myself comfy if I am going to spend my entire afternoon there!!!!

Week 17
We have anticipated the anatomy apt for weeks now!!! Today was finally the day to ensure us that each little boy was growing and organs developing as normal. The three hour appointment flew by!! The ultrasound tech examined each baby at a time being sure to point out every little detail. She explained to us that she was looking for minor warnings of syndromes or defects. After reviewing each baby, she gave us the clear that they were all doing well and all of their "bits and pieces" were functioning as they should be. My cervix is still holding strong which is what I look forward to hearing every week. The longer it holds out the longer I can live without being on "do nothing" bedrest. We will continue our weekly Wednesday appointments next week; this coming week my iron will also be retested to see how the infusion took. The Dr. told me today that a normal person's iron level should be at 36 but carrying four babies he said that 30 would be a low end of normal for me but I was at 26. Depending on how the results read next week will determing whether I get iron transfusions weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Either way, this is the only bump in the road that can effect the babies and it is completely fixable. God knew what he was doing when he blessed us with four babies; and he is continuing to show us just what he is capable of doing.

Having the babies confirmed as boys gave me the all go to start the decorating and shopping!!! When browsing for baby bedding, I had my criteria in mind. I did not want the run of the mill "baby" room...no bears, no pastels; but rather sophisticated and unique to fit us! On top of the criterium was price!!!! With four babies comes four cribs which comes four bedding sets. There were alot of cute sets that would have been fine priced for one baby or maybe even two....but $130 or more for one bedding set does not cut it when I am having four of these bad boys!!!! Having already decided that I was having two nurseries, I decided that I wanted two different themes for each. I googled, I ebayed, I searched and searched and nothing called out my name. A week after I began the search, amazon did me well!!! One of the nurseries will be a patriotic theme...the bedding is a dull red, white, and blue color scheme with white houses, eagles, flags, etc. The other nursery will be an all american sports theme...it is dull (or primary colors sounds better) with blue, red, tans, etc and has every ball and sport fit for an all american boy. All I need is for housing to call me and tell me there is a four or five bedroom house available for us so I can begin "nesting and setting everything up!!!!!

Ice cream, cake, pizza: all of these things bring happiness to a pregnant woman; but all I needed to fill my cravings was to hear that all of my baby boys were growing and developing and had no warning signs of a syndrome of defect....as always, I am blessed!


The quads at week 17













3D of one of the boys

No comments:

Post a Comment