A Quad Pod Party!

Amber 4 Comments

Last week, I was honored by the staff at my second school, Springdale Elementary.  It is my first year at that school, but I’ve been welcomed as “one of the family” there very quickly.  I actually think that my first day there I was already receiving hugs from staff.

The special education staff worked together to coordinate a shower with the “Quad Pod” theme, which they carried out with full force.  Elizabeth worked with her special education students for weeks to make the decorations including peas in a pod and flowers, which were all precious.  They brought all sorts of yummy snacks including Gina’s famous “Texas Trash” (a snack mix that puts traditional Chex mix to shame!)  and Rae’s special punch.  They even used our Name Game scramble as a shower game!  Teachers really know how to work together because by the end of the shower, most of the names were revealed.  Unbeknownst to me, there was a little twist to the invitation letting everyone know I should be showered with diapers, wipes, and gift cards.  Boy, did the staff take that to heart- I received a stack of diapers and wipes taller than me!  I am constantly humbled by the kindness of everyone around me and am forever grateful.

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Here is a link to Gina’s blog with the Texas Trash recipe if you’d like to try it.  Beware though, this stuff is seriously addictive!  I could eat a whole batch myself.  In fact….I have a hankering for this stuff right now.  I may have to send George on an ingredients run tomorrow!

http://www.cottag3.com/2010/10/broadening-my-horizons-recipe.html

Hugs!

Amber

Adventures in a Mini Van

Amber 3 Comments

This week we had another good visit with Dr. Tabor for our 19 week check up.  My appointment was at 4:45 and I arrived at 4:45 sharp.  However, when I came in the office, the receptionist exclaimed, “There she is!”  I checked the clock twice and replied, “It’s 4:45.  That’s my appointment time right? Is everyone trying to get home since it’s almost 5:00?”  The receptionist said, “Oh yes it is 4:45, but Dr. Tabor was worried about you.  I was about to call your cell to see if you were okay.”  I thought that was so sweet that he cared about me enough to worry!  Anyways, my vitals were all good, the babies were the right size and had good fluid levels so no bed rest!  I keep expecting for my appointment to be the one where I lose my freedom, but continue to be surprised.  Rylin is still situated a little bit low, but it’s still not a huge concern right now, he says there is still time for her to migrate upwards.  Dr. Tabor pointed out the silver lining about her position: if I were to dilate, I would bleed and know I dilated so I’d come in right away. Otherwise, I might not know if I dilated and keep up with business as usual.  Dr. Tabor had me book appointments every week through the month of May, which I thought was funny, but also really convenient.

If only Saturday had gone as smoothly as my appointment.  George and I woke up relatively early, ate breakfast and decided to peruse the community garage sales for baby containers (that is what I call things like swings, bouncers, and seats, which I think we need lots of).  We didn’t want anyone scooping up anything we would want so we didn’t bother getting ready.  We basically got dressed and brushed our teeth. (We were looking good! Ha!)  George thought it would be best to take the van in case we stumbled across something large, but pointed out that we didn’t have much gas.  He said it would be okay if we stayed close though, after all there was probably a 1/8 of a tank.  Mind you, I like to fill up when my gas gauge is at 1/4 of a tank just to be safe.  We stopped by a few sales but found nothing.  Then we saw one that seemed to have several baby containers so we stopped.  George didn’t bother to park very well since we were just stopping by.  He was sort of far from the curb and halfway parked in front of a driveway.  As it turned out, there was a fantastic swing with all sorts of nifty sound and swing settings.  It could chirp like birds, sound like the rolling ocean waves, or play lullabies- very cool.  We scooped up that treasure then loaded it in the van.  There was a problem, however.  The van we bought two weeks ago didn’t start.  The radio played and the instrument panel worked, but it didn’t start.  I leaned over to check the gas gauge and it was registering below zero.  On the van, there is a label for a full tank and 1/2 tank with tick marks in between.  Then, there is a thick red line labeled zero.  That is where the needle fell- below the zero.  Of course, I gave George the speech about filling up the tank at 1/4 to be safe and how emptying the tank can cause fuel injector problems.  He begrudgingly walked back to the house to pick up our lawnmower gas.  It wasn’t much, but should have been enough to start the van, but it didn’t!  The neighbor hosting this particular garage sale kindly shared her lawnmower gas, but to no avail.  George had to walk back home again to pick up the Accord so we could drive to the closest Quick Trip to fill up as many gas tanks as possible.  I just knew it was out of gas.  George filled up the tank, but it still didn’t start!  ARGH!!!!  George hotly called the Volkswagen Roadside Assist number and they determined it would need to be towed to the nearest dealership.  Okay, this was getting embarrassing.  45 minutes later, George hopped up into the tow truck for a ride to the dealership.  I felt bad to make him take care of it all, but I had a hair cut appointment because we were reading scriptures in a wedding that evening.  The dealership ran diagnostics and determined the battery was low.  They jumped it and George drove it home.  Why didn’t we think of that?  Oh yeah because it is our new van!  I had a huge helping of crow to eat… However, when it was time to go to the wedding, the van wasn’t starting quite right, which meant we would need to take the Accord.  Except, George noticed there was a nice nail in the front right tire.  We had a gamble to make: take the van with a questionable battery or the Accord with a nail that could result in a flat tire.  George made an executive decision to take the car, and thankfully there were no more hitches in transportation.  This morning we spent a good chunk of time at National Tire and Battery taking care of the two sick cars.  Turns out the van’s battery was totally dead so we replaced it and now it’s good.  They plugged the tire and it’s good.  So, we had our first adventure in the van and we weren’t even on a road trip!  I hope we’ll make better memories with the van in time.

hugs,

Amber

image

And the winner is….

Amber 23 Comments

When George and I decided to create the Name Game of scrambled baby name letters we had NO idea how seriously everyone would take it, how much fun it would be, or that it would even be possible to be cracked.  We apparently did not give you all enough credit!  The first two days after we posted it, two of my work friends, Gina and Mary, collaborated and started working to unscramble those letters.  I remember that on the first day, we had a lot of meetings and I would see Gina discreetly scribbling letters on a tablet as she crossed letters out and re-wrote them.  She was determined that the Name Game would not beat her!  To my surprise, Gina and Mary cracked the code within a day.  So, Gina and Mary are declared the winners of the Name Game!

Mary is an Occupational Therapist and Gina is a Speech Language Pathologist who work with me. Together we make a great team!

Here is some of Gina and Mary’s scratch paper. They may have cracked the code, but it was no easy feat!

We also have a few honorable mentions to announce.  By the end of the week, two more of my friends, Melissa and Nekedria had it figured out as well.  It turns out that Nekedria had an ulterior motive, you see she likes to give monogrammed baby gifts so knowing the name is critical for her!  My parents and sister, Courtney, got it within the weekend.  The funny thing is that my friends seemed to work together while my family had an “It’s every man for himself approach”.  Mom would not even give Dad clues.  We can be pretty competitive so I think they wanted to see who would get it first, and also having the pride in knowing they didn’t get help.  So, since so many of you cracked the code, we decided we might as well release the names.  Here it goes….

Baby A

Rylin Skye

Baby B

Harper Stone

Baby C

Sydney Raine

Baby D

Mason River

Here’s how we came up with the names.  For first names, we essentially chose names we just like.  We tried to choose names that weren’t terribly common, but also not “out there”, and names that would be cute for babies but would also become nice adult names. We also wanted each first name to be unique from the others.  That meant no rhyming, same first initial, or similar ending.  That got a little tricky because we’d inevitably think of two names that were similar, so one would get scrapped.  And, finally, NO family names.  George is a 4th so we decided long ago to end that tradition.  Having multiple people with the same name together gets confusing and we’ve learned it also affects things like your credit score!  Not to mention the fact that we didn’t want any family member feeling left out if their name wasn’t chosen.  Within a few days, however, we had all four names chosen.  I think it may have been easier choosing four than one.  You see we didn’t have to come to an agreement on just one name.  We both got to suggest more than one!

You will notice that the middle names have a common thread, they are all nature related.  It started out that because of our journey to have children I wanted to use “Hope” and “Faith” for the girls.  They just weren’t working with first names and that left the boys without similar middle names.  We then decided that rather than spiritual names, we wanted to choose names close to nature and in turn close to God.  Ironically, we did not directly plan this, but all four middle names can be found in the first two chapters of Genesis.  My mom discovered that during one of her insomniac moments when she decided to pray.  So there you have it, we hope you like the babies’ names.  (Please don’t tell us if you hate them, or give us your two cents because they are chosen now!  That is, unless you love them.)

hugs!

Amber

Let’s Runabout!

Amber 13 Comments

Some of the best advice I have gotten from Dr. Tabor was to check out the blog of a former patient of his who delivered quads, Suz Steece.  Reading her blog helped me in so many ways, especially by proving to me that this CAN be done, and also a little bit about what to expect.  I mean, there is no “What to Expect When You’re Expecting Quads” book.   After reading Suz’s blog for a while, I figured out how to connect with her and a few other local quad moms via blogs, email, and even Facebook.  They have been AMAZING with advice and support.

One huge question we had for the quad moms was what type of car seats and strollers to get.  I mean is it best to use convertible car seats so they last longer?  Do you need carriers?  Should we get twin strollers? Invest in a quad stroller?  No one else knew what to tell us, but the quad moms did. Based on all the sage advice, we decided we needed Graco Snugride car seats that would accommodate preemies (the NICU nurse also told us that).  To go with the car seats, we need two twin Snap and Go strollers, which are basically frames that you snap the car seat carrier onto.  But, since I like freedom, we would need a quad stroller.  Quad strollers are a bit tricky and ultimately the moms mostly preferred a Runabout stroller because it is lightweight, easy to steer, and fits through doorways.  It is actually the same model the Gosselin’s had for their sextuplets.  Without a stroller like that we’d be confined to our house unless there was more than one adult around.  Believe it or not, the quad moms said ‘”may think you’re not brave enough to go out alone, but you will want out, and you will need a quad stroller to do it”.  This is totally true too, because I know I’d get cabin fever.  When we had a snow storm last year, I went stir crazy after about 2 days!  The problem with this particular quad stroller is that it is quite expensive.  I don’t think there’s a huge market for them so I’m sure it’s a supply and demand thing.

So, here’s the cool thing about my online connections.  Casey Gerwer, a local quad mom, sent me a message asking if we’d like to buy their Runabout for a fraction of the original price (her quads are now four and just outgrew it).  YES!!!!  Of course we wanted it!  The day after I got Casey’s message, Suz sent me a similar one since her quads are also four, but Casey beat her to the punch.  So tonight, we headed to the Gerwer’s house to pick up the Runabout and meet everyone.  Finally meeting Casey in person was fantastic!  She is so sweet and welcoming.  She shared some of her experiences and answered our questions.  Her husband had some great advice for George too, “get an egg crate mattress pad for when you crash at the hospital because the beds are awful”.  It was also nice to meet the quads.  I mean, we’ve never actually seen any before.  They were all very well behaved as they finished eating their dinner.  There was lots of chatter of course, but everyone stayed at the table and obeyed their parents.  Not to mention..they are adorable!!!!

Here is George with the Runabout.  It is a pretty cool contraption actually.  It has a cool hitch for the back of the van so it’s easy to take traveling, the seats tilt for comfort, there is a handy little sun shade, and basket for storage.  If we decide to become serious runners, we can also go up to 10 mph with it (can you imagine that???)

The quad moms warned that while this is the best stroller for quads, it will attract attention. I figure, we will attract a lot of attention anyways! We might as well be practical about it.

In addition to raising four year old quadruplets, Casey has a web-based business called Designed for Babies that makes t-shirts and other stuff for families with multiples.  They say cute things like “Be nice, I’m expecting quads” (too bad I didn’t have that one today when I was shopping in a motorized cart), “Quadruplets zone defense”, and “Got Quads?”  She was sweet and hooked us up with some of her favorite designs, including onsies for the babies.  Her line is sold at http://designedforbabies.com/home.htm

She is one amazing quad mama!

Here are the onsies from Casey for the quads. So cute!!!!

Hugs!

Amber

Shameless

Amber 10 Comments

I am an independent person for the most part, but am quickly learning that I am going to have to rely on others more.  In fact, the first thing I read about having multiples was that you should learn to accept the help of others, and also accept that others may do things differently than you.  The second part of that may also be hard for me…I am very much a Type A personality.

Anyways…I am enjoying the freedom of not being on bed rest, but I’m very careful to not over do it.  After all, I don’t want to get myself put on bed rest!  The weekends are sort of the times I try to relax and get things done.  That usually involves some R & R mixed in with chores and lots of errands.  I’ve been able to do simple chores with a lot of rest between tasks with no trouble, but the errands (namely grocery shopping) are really daunting.  George had to work today, but I could tell that our food supply might be dire this week.  Yeah, we’ve got stuff in the pantry, but I don’t want to survive off of junk and stuff filled with so many preservatives they’d outlive roaches in an apocalypse!  So….I decided I could tackle a small grocery run for essentials (think milk, yogurt, bread).  However, I was going to need help to accomplish this…help from one of those motorized carts.  Oh yeah, I did my grocery shopping via motorized cart!  It was mildly embarrassing, but people were actually VERY nice to me.  I got a decent sized sample of pizza from the sample lady, people in the produce department helped me get bags for my fruit, and everyone always let me go in front of them.  Hmmm, maybe this cart thing isn’t so bad.  When it was all said and done, I did something I have never done in my life…I let someone take my groceries out to the car van!  You know, while I don’t like losing some of my independence, it wasn’t so bad.  If staying away from bed rest means I need to shamelessly shop via motorized cart, so be it.

Thanks, Becky @ Our Multiples Journey for giving me this brilliant idea!

hugs!

Amber

A motorized shopping cart in a supermarket

A motorized shopping cart in a supermarket (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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18 weeks and Still Truckin’

Amber 7 Comments

This week we saw Dr. Tabor for our 18 week check up.  All of the babies measured the correct size and had good fluid levels.  Baby A is settled a little bit too low, which puts me at risk of placenta previa.  However, Dr. Tabor thinks she may move up in the next few weeks so he is not concerned at this point.  If she doesn’t find a way to head north, I would be put on bed rest due to a risk of bleeding. Placenta previa also means a c-section is necessary, but that would happen for us anyways so it doesn’t make a difference in that regard.

Dr. Tabor seemed surprised at how well I am doing.  After my exam he said, “hmmm”, which was a bit confusing.  I asked what he meant and he said, “it looks good”.  He said my blood pressure was “rocking” (good), and I have no swelling so no bed rest!  I’ve been granted another week of freedom.  I don’t want to take advantage of my freedom though.  I try to take it as easy as possible and not over do (this can be hard for me sometimes, but totally is worth it!)

hugs!

 

Amber

It’s Infertility Awareness Week (4/22-4/28)

Amber 3 Comments

This week is an important one for George and me as it is Infertility Awareness Week.  While are are currently expecting quads, we will never forget the years of pain and struggle we went through to get here.  Not to mention the fact that infertility and loss robbed us of naivety to fully enjoy the pregnancy as we still have little fears that creep upon us.  Yes, the wounds from infertility heal in time, but it is something that forever leaves small scars on those affected.  Because infertility has forced us to grow and learn about ourselves as well as strengthen our faith and I would not change our experiences.  At the same time, I would not wish them upon an enemy.    We have many friends we’ve bonded with via the ALI (Adoption/ Loss/ Infertility) community who are continuing to struggle and we owe them our continued prayer and support.

Infertility affects 1 in 8 couples, however, most people are very private about it, and sometimes even feel ashamed so you would not know they are struggling.  Please take the time to read the link below regarding infertility etiquette because chances are you know someone who is struggling and may unintentionally be causing them pain.  I can personally say that one of the most painful questions that I was asked at least once a week was, “When are you having kids?”  Yes, this is a perfectly normal question to ask, but to someone dealing with infertility it is like pouring a container of Morton’s salt into a gashing wound.  So, please o take time to think about this.

Infertility Etiquette:

http://www.resolve.org/support-and-services/for-family–friends/infertility-etiquette.html

About Infertility Awareness Week:

http://www.resolve.org/national-infertility-awareness-week/home-page.html

Also consider checking out some of the ALI blogs I follow.  The wonderful people there deserve some support!

Amber

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I never thought I would say this…

Amber 13 Comments

But, we bought a van today!  George had a 2004 Jeep Liberty and we’ve loved that thing.  It is an amazing little SUV.  We have hauled more stuff in that Jeep than anyone could imagine.  Numerous times we have made large purchases (e.g. desk, chaise lounge, antique Hunt cabinet, 15 bags of concrete, ect).  Every time we’d pull up in the Jeep who ever was loading our purchase would shake their head and say, “It won’t fit.”  We would always insist that said large item would fit, and it always did.  Just last weekend, we picked up the girls’ cribs and once again the person loading them said, “Oh these won’t fit”.  It was a tight fit, but guess what, both cribs fit!  Here’s how George looked crammed into the Jeep with two cribs in the back.

But, today we had to let go of the good ‘ole Jeep Liberty.  I always said I would never drive a van, but honestly it’s the best thing you can have for quad babies.  We bought a Volkswagon Routan and despite it being a van “mom mobile”, it is pretty cool.  It has all sorts of features I never knew existed and they are going to be great for the babies!  The doors have automatic slide, the seats heat (awesome for my achy back), there are these cool little sun shades on the passenger windows for the babies, and the seats stow and go so we can haul stuff (probably not like the Jeep, but a close second).  I think we are going to really like this van!  So who gets to drive it now???

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hugs!

Amber

Retro Dinners

Amber 9 Comments

George and I are foodies and LOVE trying new recipes and expanding our palates.  We think it’s fun to hit Central Market for exciting new ingredients.  I used to cook dinner almost every night.  They weren’t always fancy dinners, but were always good and generally healthy.  Most nights there would be at least some dicing, chopping, and sauteing involved.  We’ve tacked complex things like sushi and have taught many of our friends how to make sushi, pizza, and gourmet pannis.  Our friends often joke about whether to accept a dinner invitation at our house because they might have to do some of the cooking themselves.  Keep in mind, they always have a blast even when they have to roll up their sleeves.

However, pretty much when this pregnancy began, cooking came to a screeching halt at our house.  It started out that I had so many food aversions cooking was a horrible idea.  The mere thought of raw chicken sent me wrenching.  I couldn’t manage to cook and George had no idea what I would eat so he didn’t bother.  I lived off of bland carbs like Ramen noodles, baked potatoes with a little butter, and dry crackers.  I honestly have no idea what George ate during the first trimester.   When I got to the second trimester, I got more adventurous with my eating again and had some energy, but cooking never really became part of the routine again.  I am lucky enough to still be working full time so when I get home, I pretty much take it easy and dinner just doesn’t happen.  That doesn’t mean we aren’t hungry for dinner.  Regular meals at our house are now: tacos, mac ‘n’ cheese, spaghetti, and P B & J.  Despite my lack of cooking, I have the appetite of a 15 year old boy so I eat constantly and am packing on pounds.  Poor George on the other hand is going hungry.  He’s lost about as much weight as I’ve gained.  The other night as we at our mac ‘n’ cheese with frozen peas, George said, “It’s like we’re back in college!”  Funny thought, we’ve come full circle with our dinners!  Seriously, we are eating what teenagers can manage, but I don’t see this as getting better anytime in the next five years at least.  Perhaps I should pick up one of those cookbooks for college kids, the kind with easy idiot-proof recipes and ingredients that never seem to spoil!  Any cookbook recommendations?

hugs!

Amber

Dinners Before:

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Dinners Now:

Kraft dinner

Kraft dinner (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Learning What Lies Ahead

Amber 8 Comments

One of the risky things about quads is that they always deliver prematurely, somewhere around 30 weeks plus or minus a few.  That means a NICU stay is inevitable.  Of course the NICU can be a scary place.  The positive side of having quads that will go to the NICU is knowing they will go there.  Many parents whose babies are in the NICU did not expect it, but we have some time to prepare for what lies ahead.  We have also learned that parents can choose what NICU their babies are admitted to.  We are fortunate that Cook Children’s Hospital is nearby and just opened a new level III NICU wing this past September.  We toured it this Saturday to learn more about it.  The NICU nurse warned us that we would have to act like “pit bulls” to insist that they go to Cook Children’s rather than our delivery hospital (as they have their own NICU), but we will do what we need to do to make that happen.  George was blunt about it and basically got the nurse to tell us it was about hospital revenue.  I don’t care about the hospital’s bottom line, this is our babies!

Cook Children’s is unique in their approach, which I appreciate.  They highly regard parent involvement and want us to be there providing care to the babies as much as we can.  In fact, the babies will be together in the quad suite and there are parent beds so we can stay too.  In other NICUs they could be in separate nurseries and would be with other infants.  If my babies are in a NICU, I want to be with them as much as I can and they will really make this possible.  We also felt better seeing how despite all the medical equipment housed there, it was not terribly clinical.  Everything is warm and personalized so we will feel comfortable.  George thought a tour wasn’t necessary since we’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted with the NICU, but he was really impressed with the facility.  We were so happy we took this tour, because the NICU is one less thing to worry over.  We know they will get the best care, which will mean the best possible outcome, and that makes me rest better!

hugs!

Amber

https://www.cookchildrens.org/SpecialtyServices/NICU/Pages/default.aspx#3