Never A Dull Moment

There aren't many changes to report. I'm still in L & D getting magnesium sulfate through a PICC line. We are trying to keep the contractions at bay and buy some time. My doctors say we are in uncharted waters and the best things we can do are wait and pray. Since Catherine was born we've had daily sonograms to check the other babies. I wasn't prepared for how hard it would be to see just three babies on the screen. I didn't know who was who because everyone's positions were always determined by Cate. We are thankful that our other three daughters have looked great on each scan. Many of you know from reading my blog that my mom has Alzheimer's Disease. I learned last night that she has stopped swallowing and was moved to hospice. She is resting comfortably and the doctor says she will go soon. I feel like I'm living my worst nightmare. I told Reid today that all I want to do is curl up on our bed at home cry for hours. I want to mourn my mom an...

Blessed be Your name On the road marked with suffering Though there's pain in the offering Blessed be Your name Yesterday morning, March 28, 2012, I delivered our sweet Catherine Della with Reid by my side. She weighed 1 pound, 1 ounce and was 12 inches long. She had my nose and her daddy's lips. We like to think she shared our brown eyes. She had the prettiest, long fingers and toes with tiny fingernails. There was even a little birthmark on top of her head. Our perfect little angel baby. Reid and I spent some time with her in our room. We looked over her perfect little body in awe that, even if only for a little while, she was ours. We prayed over her, thanking God for graciously allowing us a glimpse of just how much He loves us. I miss her more than I even thought possible, but I have great comfort in knowing that we will see her again one day in Heaven. I mentioned a while ago that the sonographer took 3D images of the girls at 18 weeks. I thought I'd share t...

Dear friends and family, Reid and I learned this morning that our daughter Catherine Della Grandle, our sweet Baby A, went to heaven on Monday night. As many of you know I was admitted to the hospital for long-term bed rest Friday afternoon (which was very much expected considering I'm measuring full-term). The weekend was fairly uneventful aside from round ligament pain and a few Braxton Hicks contractions, which are completely normal at this point in my pregnancy. After a great appointment with the Maternal/Fetal Specialist and our OBGYN on Monday morning we were encouraged that things were going very well. In fact, that report was much better than the report we were given at our Friday appointment. For reasons we'll never know, my water broke unexpectedly on Monday afternoon. I was immediately taken to Labor & Delivery by an incredible team of nurses. I was also very lucky that my doctor was in-house performing a C-section and was able to come see me im...

We had our weekly appointment yesterday morning. My cervix didn't respond to the home bed rest last week so I'm all moved into the hospital and will be here until the babies are born. I'm not dialating or contracting, the doctor just wants me to be monitored daily and to be here in the event something does happen. There's still no reason to think we won't be able to make it to 28+ weeks, which is very reassuring! My nurse told me that ten years ago she had a patient of with quads who went on hospital bed rest at 18 weeks and didn't deliver until 32. That was really encouraging news! The other encouraging news is that the babies are doing great! They are all measuring around 23w1d and I'm only 21w4d. Our doctor was astounded and said that it is rare for a singleton to measure so far ahead, much less quads! I'm so glad the babies are so healthy and that my issue is the only one we are dealing with! While in the hospital I'll be seen by a resident a...

I'm missing this little guy today. He's spending the week with his friends at Kinder Kritter. Cant wait until he's home tomorrow! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

This morning I came to the realization that strict bed rest is nature's way of making a mother of multiples really ready to handle the task of taking care of her babies. Yes, I was put on strict bed rest as of Friday morning. Day 4 of bed rest and I'm already seeing so many similarities between this and my first few months as a new mom of four. - I can take one five minute shower a day. No time to blow dry my hair. - I can only get up to go to the bathroom. But I must be quick! - I depend on someone else to run all my errands and prepare my meals. - I shop solely online. Amazon Prime is amazing! New moms, I know you can relate. Really, the only thing that will be different is that my husband won't question what I'm doing every time I get up for a bathroom break... Or hopefully he won't. :) We originally thought that strict bed rest wouldn't happen for a few more weeks. At my appointment on Friday we discovered that the weight of the babies is finally st...

When we found out that Reid would be a dad to four little girls one of our good friends sent us a link to the sweetest website, Life to Her Years . The blog is written by a dad who posts a different "thought" for everyday. They are so sweet and its so neat how excited each one makes Reid. I think it made him realize just how special these daddy/daughter relationships will be! I was reading through some of them today and found this. Thought it was too precious not to share. “A true father is always there. He is there to spill tears of happiness when his eyes fall upon his infant daughter. He is there with arms to catch her when she takes her first steps or stumbles. He is there to teach her at the youngest age, even though she might not understand half of it. He is there to help her color inside the lines, make her grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, and tie her shoes. He is there to hug her and kiss her on her first days of school, and to walk her in if need be. H...

I feel like there have been lots of changes in the past month. Its so hard for me to believe that a month ago we were on vacation. You couldn't pay me to sit on a plane for that long now! As I've continued to grow its become a lot more difficult to get comfortable anywhere. Standing up actually feels best... Oh, the irony. This past weekend we checked a few other big to-dos off our list. We ordered the gliders for the nursery and hired night nannies! I am so excited about the two ladies who are going to help us through the first few months that the babies are home. There have already been so many times through this journey that we've seen the Lord's provision play out perfectly. Finding these night nannies was just one more very tangible example of that provision. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you hiring a nanny was one of the weirdest and most surreal things I've done in a long time. It was bizarre to sit down and talk with someone about taking care of ou...

We had our weekly appointment this morning. Let me start by saying that everything is OK. The last thing I want to do is write a long, dramatic post that has you thinking the worst, only to find out that nothing is really wrong. I just want to document this for my memory and share some of my feelings about today. During the sonogram they saw that Baby D's fluid was looking really low. The sonographer went and got the doctor. They both looked at the scan with concern, told me to get dressed, and we'd talk about it in his office. I can't even tell you the thoughts that went through my head. I was terrified. The doctor sat down and told us a few of the risks associated with low amniotic fluid and said he wanted me to be seen by the Maternal/Fetal Specialist immediately. I'm so, so thankful that we have such proactive doctors looking out for these babies! We went across the street for the second scan. The specialist was wonderful and spent 45 minutes measuring each baby...

I just wanted to take a minute to post about our "first born." When we found out we were having quads and that the majority of my pregnancy might be spent on bed rest I was sad about a lot of things. One of those being that Samson would either have to be boarded or go live with one of our friends during the week. It might sound ridiculous, but that dog has been my little (huge) companion for the last two years and the thought of not seeing him for extended amounts of time breaks my heart. Ok, moving on. I had no idea when we got him that I'd love him as much as I do. I'm not a dog person and even my dad about had a heart attack when we told him we bought a Lab puppy that I was going to be responsible for. All that to say, after lots of blood, sweat, tears, and a trip to obedience school for two weeks he has become an amazing dog. He's not perfect. But, he has learned a lot and has the sweetest temperament. The past few months I've been on restricted act...

Only five weeks away from viability! So exciting to be this close. Things are still going well. I'm on modified bed rest which hasn't been terrible. It was a little bit of a bummer that I had to lay in bed or on the couch the majority of the time our families were here this weekend. It was great having them here regardless. We had a wonderful couples shower on Friday with Dallas friends. The hostesses didn't skip a detail and made it so very special for us! We are blessed to have such generous friends who are so excited about our girls! This weekend we started getting the nursery ready. We bought cribs and a dresser several months ago. The rug and bedding arrived Monday. The painter finished on Thursday. And, we put everything together on Saturday. We still have to order the nursery gliders and finalize the wall decor. It's coming together and I'm so glad the bulk of it was done by the time bed rest began. Here's a little sneak peak... I'm still fee...

When people find out we are having quads there are usually quite a few questions that get asked. And, rightfully so! I asked quite a few myself. I thought it might be a good idea to share answers to the questions that I'm asked the most. "I didn't even know you were trying to get pregnant. Why didn't you blog about it?" I chose not to blog about our struggle with infertility for several reasons... It was my way of keeping things more private. I was totally open about it with friends or when someone asked when we were going to have kids (by the way, worst question you can ask someone), but I knew it was not productive for me to document everything in such a public place. There were three main reasons for that: In the grand scheme of life, we only struggled to get pregnant for 15 months. Was it a hard wait? Yes, maybe the most challenging thing I've ever faced. But, at the same time there are so many people who try for YEARS. I wanted to be sensitive to...

We had our appointment on Thursday this week. Everything looked great with the babies. They are all growing really well, heartbeats were strong - all 149 to 158. We even got to see them in 3D which was unexpected. They usually don't even do 3D until around 27 weeks because the babies are so small and don't have much (if any) fat on them. But, our sonographer gave us an unexpected peak which was neat. I'm going to wait to share those pictures until we do them again later on in the pregnancy. I think it will be more fun to have something to compare them to. I am measuring in at 32 weeks. I am starving all. the. time. I eat every two to three hours during the day and usually wake up to eat a granola bar in the night. I just got a pregnancy pillow and it's making a world of difference for my sleeping. I'm feeling the babies move a lot more this week. Most movement is concentrated by my belly button - where B and C are positioned. The other morning I woke up and felt w...