Birthday Bash

Sorry this is a little late!

I am still sitting here in disbelief that is has been a year since the quads were born. And we're still alive to tell about it. HA! We had a great party for them, as you all know from the previous post, we did a monkey theme. Let me tell you how hard this was to find stuff to decorate with. So, I had to result to making some of the decorations. I made their birthday banner out of monkey & colored card stock. Then we hung it above the fireplace. I made their birrthday hats, out of monkey material, pom-poms & rhinestones for Ellas. I bought an oval glass dish, and filled it with green M&M's and stuck monkey face suckers in it. I did however find some cute monkey's hanging from palm trees. I just placed them is different places around the house. I also found monkey's hanging from palm tree sticks, so I made a fruit bouquet. I stuck them in a green pail I found from the dollar spot at Target. Last but not least, I made the cake, and their individual cakes. I totally hated how theirs turned out, and to be honest I really didn't love the big cake, but it worked. We rented a moon walk for the big kids to have something to do, and the babies just loved on all the family and friends that were there. We did hotdogs and finger foods, since the party was at 2 in the afternoon. You should have seen them with all of the presents, they were so excited to be able to have so many bows, tissue paper and wrapping paper to chose from to eat. They loved it! Then came one of my favorite parts of all, with the help of two friends, we put a DVD together of their first year, no one knew about it. They loved it, of course they could have rung my neck for making them cry, but it was a happy cry, I am so glad I have that DVD. It took along time to put together but so worth it. Ah yes, my other favorite part of the party. CAKE!!!!!!!!!! They dove right in! Casen was such a cake hog, he tried to steal Cooper and Ella's every chance he got. Ella loved it as did Cole. Cooper is not a huge sweets fan, so he made hair products out of his cake and icing.HA! After the fun with the cake, we quickly gave them a bath and their bottle. They hung out for a while, but they were so tired they crashed at 5:45 PM and never woke up! Happy Birthday to my sweet angels!

PLEASE PRAY for KAYLEIGH

Please take a moment and pray for Kayleigh and her family. She came into this world 3 mos early and weighed 1lb. She is now 10mos old, and has been in the NICU since she was born. She has recently had an operation and she has been recovering, and now she will not wake up. They ran some tests, and they are saying that part of her brain has no activity. Kayleigh and her family really need your prayers, so if you would just take a moment and pray for her. This is the link to their blog if you would like to read her story. Kayleigh's Story
PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY

OMG!

I have to update our tooth count. I can't believe it is like overnight. This is just a quick post, but I don't want to forget. I promise birthday pics VERY soon.
Cole:3 last week NOW 6 total

Ella:0 last week NOW 1:)

Casen:2 last week NOW 2 trying to cut through

Cooper:2 last week NOW i have no idea, because we can't keep his hands out of his mouth long enough to try and see, but we think he has 2 more coming in as well.

WOW!!!!!!!!! I must admit they have been fussy. They had never been before when getting teeth, but NOW, WATCH OUT! They have even been running a low grade temp! We thought maybe ear infections, but NOPE doc says its TEETH X 4. :) I feel so sorry for them, they want to chew on everything or be held. Good thing Daddy has been off, and Mamaw is here visiting.

B-day post coming soon.................so stay tuned.

We're MOVING & TEETHING & BITING to the MUSIC

When someone cried! That's right folks we are officially biting. I knew it would happen, but the question is now what? How do you stop it? Poor Ella has no teeth what so ever, therefore she gets bitten. Cole is the worst of the biters. Cooper only bites if you put your finger in his mouth, and surprisingly Casen, has only bitten ME! I am sure the biting will get worse before it gets better, but in the mean time, I am open to suggestions. Here is the official tooth count.

Ella:0

Cole:4

Cooper:2

Casen:2

I will do a birthday post soon, but it will be a big one so I want to get it all together before I do it.

Happy Birthday

WOW! I can't believe how fast this year has come and gone. One year ago today, I was just getting ready to order breakfast, when out of NO WHERE, I felt this piercing pain in my upper right side. I remember at first thinking that Cooper was just pushing on my ribs. WRONG!!!! It seemed to get worse every breath I took. I managed to crawl up the bed to push the nurse button. I was in such pain, I could barely speak. In seconds, Maggie (mine & the quads Angel) came into my room, for what would be the last time she would care for me in Anti-partum. Of course I didn't know that at the time. She tried to get me hooked up to the monitor to see if it was contractions, but already having a baby before, I KNEW it wasn't contractions. She pushed the button to call for some help. She then looked at me eye to eye and very calmly said, "Brandy, I have been a L&D nurse long enough to know that something is wrong, I am paging Dr. Reiter 911". She then says again very calmly, "You need to get your cell phone, we are taking you in your bed to the ultrasound room to check for heartbeats only, and then you are probably having some babies". I did exactly that, but I had actually already called my mom and told her to get Jeremy up, who by the way had just come off of working the 12 hr night shift. I told her for them to get up to the hospital ASAP, something was wrong, and I thought I would be having the babies. They wheeled me into the smallest US room ever, and Dr. Reiter came running in, ripped the WHOLE top of the US jelly and dumped the bottle of jelly on my stomach. He looked at me and said, "I am just checking for 4 heartbeats, and maybe try to see what is causing the pain. I still at this point was in excruciating pain. I stayed very calm, and I called Tammie and told her she needed to pray, something was wrong, and I was probably having the babies. Dr. Reiter announced 1, 2, 3, & 4, yes, we have 4 heartbeats. Brandy is this where the pain is? Yes, I said. He then says to me, "How fast can Jeremy get up here?" "We need to take the babies NOW"! Baby C, which was Cooper, placenta is tearing off the wall, if we don't get him out, he will die! Then the hustle and bustle began. This TINY roomed was filled with L&D nurses, anesthesia, OR nurses, Maggie, & Dr. Reiter, along with Dr. Adams. They started prepping me for an emergency C-section. Everyone was asking me questions at the same time, and all along the while I am still on my cell phone with my mom and Jeremy who were on there way. The anesthesiologist, says we are going to try and give you an epidural, but if it doesn't work we will have to put you to sleep. I turned over and sat up in the bed and said these exact words to him" Let me tell you something, I have fought a long hard battle to get these babies this far, I absolutely will not be put to sleep, so you better get the best you have on staff to get the epidural done right and make it work, you got it?'" I then laid back down and his reply, "Yes we will make sure we do that" That is exactly what happened, I was rushed to an OR, and trying to get my camera ready and still on my cell phone for the big day. They took me into the OR, got the epidural in right away, and they were trying to keep monitoring Cooper's heart rate. The nurse then yells, "I can't pick up the heartbeat for the baby anymore, Dr. Reiter looks at me and says I can't wait any longer for Jeremy, I am starting now. At the very moment he began to cut me, Jeremy was rushed in and was right by my side for the whole thing. At 9:36, we welcomed Ella & Cole, 9:37 Cooper, and 9:39 Casen was born. They were born at 28 wks 5days. I remember the moment that I heard I had to leave my older kids at home, and stay in the hospital until delivery, because I lived so far from the hospital. I was so sad to leave them, but on April 2, at 7:30am, I knew why God had that plan for me and the babies & why I was in the hospital, because had I not been there, Cooper's placenta would have probably completely abrupted and we would have lost him. It was truly a miracle from the conception of 4 babies to the birth of 4 healthy babies. Yes, we had the NICU roller coaster ride, but to have been so blessed to have 4 healthy, beautiful babies. We couldn't be more blessed that GOD chose us to be their parents. Do you believe in miracles? We DO! We couldn't have done it this year without the support & love from our family and friends, we love you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Ella 2lbs 0oz

Ella 18lbs 6oz

Cole 2lbs 7oz

Cole 17lbs 9oz

Cooper 2lbs 1oz


Cooper 20lbs 1oz

Casen 2lbs 7oz

Casen 17lbs 6oz

Happy Birthday Ella. Cooper, Cole & Casen our "4 miracles"

A Little Late

I am a couple of days behind on posting this, but I really want to have this one as part of my blog for my memory if nothing else.

BED REST FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE PREGNANCY

One Year Ago Today-March 23, 2008

Pre-term labor and hospital lockdown!

About 6Pm I noticed I was having contractions. I laid down and drank some water, but they never stopped coming. I called Jeremy and kept him updated, while Ashley and Tammie kept me company at the house. As they were trying not to fall asleep, seeing how they had to work the next day. Sorry guys. Mom continued to call to check in as well. Then I woke poor Christie, who also had to go to work the next day. And we all came to the conclusion that i needed to go in and just let them check me out. So we headed to L&D, can I just mention those beds are sooo uncomfortable. The nurses got me all checked in and hooked up. They that's when all the fun got began. That was just being a little sarcastic. Because the truth of the matter was, I was fixing to be introduced to my worst enemy, MAGNESIUM SULFATE!!!!! I'll get to that part a little later. Dr. Reiter came in to check my cervix, and thankfully I hadn’t dilated any, but I WAS still having contractions. They had slowed down. He said that if the contractions stop then I could go home but he also said that rarely happens. He then remembered that I lived about 45 min on a good day from the hospital, then I got the dreaded, but knew it was coming statement. "You will be in the hospital until you deliver". I can't even begin to explain what hearing that sounding like. The reason I say that is because, my first thought was my other two kids at home. We had been telling them that this would probably happen. But lets face it, kids don't really understand, Mommys not coming home until the babies are born. I just kept reminding myself that I was doing what was best for the babies. Plus, this would only be for a short time. I will admit, that really didn't stop my constant thoughts from being at home with my other two kids. But I survived and so did they. The Dr. then told the nurses my contractions were 3 minutes apart, and I would need to go on the MAG IV. YUCK!!!! Let me tell you about this MAG mess. It makes you feel like you are flushed, headache, and have the flu all at the same time. He told me that if they stopped I could come off. I ended up staying on that until I delivered, luckily it was lowered to the minimum dose, which was so manageable. The nice part about the manageable dose, was that I felt normal, other than feeling like my cheeks were sunburned, so the sweet nurses hooked me up with a HUGE fan, that blew straight on me, plus the hum from it, drown out the noise from the hospital. I loved that fan. We were hoping I could keep them in until I was 30 weeks which would have been April 11th. When I went in that night, I was 27wks and 2 days. The next day, I was finally moved to anti-partum, where I spent the rest of my time waiting for their arrival. I was monitored 2 times a day, and was told to rest, and grow babies. I had the best nurses ever. My favorite nurses were Ethel & Maggie. Plus my favorite tech, Laura. My very sweet and wonderful husband was there the whole time by my side that first 24 hrs. Then after that he & our family took turns staying with me at night, so that I wouldn't have to be alone.

I will post about delivery day.

I also included our last picture of a family of 4, I managed to go into pre-term labor on Easter Sunday!

This is a picture of me being monitored, or should I say all 4 babies being monitored. HA! You can see my red (MAG) face! HA!

Transforming into "Oh So Chic"

In the midst of planning a 1st birthday party for the quads, we are redoing Haiden & Kennedy's rooms. Haiden is doing the camo theme (Hardwood real tree) to be exact, he is Daddy's hunting buddy. We thought this would be a good one to go with since he's kind of getting out of "little boy" things and into more "older boy". I can't believe it! He will in 5th grade next year. Ok, Ok enough with the mushy moment. Kennedy is doing zebra print & bright pink from Target. Kennedy's room required painting, doors changed out and crown molding, so her room is taking a little longer to complete. Haiden on the other hand wanted to keep his same room color (which is a yellowish, Camel color), but decorate and get new bedding. He too got new doors and trim. Not that they really cared about that kind of stuff. HA! I wanted to decorate her room more to suit a 5 yr old. That is the beauty of this bedding, it can grow with her! But, you women know, I'm sure she'll find something different down the road and want to change it again. HA! We painted the walls plain white, which is so not like me, but there was so much "busy" look to her room already with the print, I just kept the wall color simple. She did however want me to paint polka dots on the walls for her. So, I caved in and painted them. She chose silver, black & pink dots. We spray painted the plug covers, light switch cover and fan blade holders all silver. I went to JoAnns and bought some pink & zebra print fabric and made her a curtain.

That was a total of $10! I then went to the scrapbook section of JoAnns and bought matching paper, and covered the letters of her name to hang on the wall. I hung them up with some tulle. Total cost of that project $16.00. I thought they turned out really cute.

She picked out a $4 dollar lamp at the dollar store. I told her we would need to dress it up, then she could put it in her room. It already came with the zebra print shade, so I just added the 2 different trims. Total cost:$9.60. Not a bad deal. It's not a finished room, but I wanted to share the pics of the projects completed up to this point. I will post with the completed project.