what it sounds like

at our house 99.8% of the time.

I honestly don't think Aiden has been quiet for more than 2 minutes since he came home. He is constantly making these noises. Awake, asleep, and while eating. Constantly. At first we laughed about it, but now I'm worried he may not have volume control and will be that kid. You know the one that screams everything without realizing they are screaming? Yea he is that baby.

Max watching the swing mobile.

Carolyn sleeping in the swing.

Aiden enjoying the bouncy seat

Alexis during her bottle. Notice the hands. They never stop moving.

What's that smell?

That's the smell of baby soap & lotion!

Aiden

Maxwell

Alexis

Carolyn

As you can probably tell today was bath day. The day when all the wires come off and we wash wash wash and come out smelling like a fresh clean baby. Can't imagine anything smelling better than a clean baby. Oh yea you're right...four clean babies does smell better than one.

Good day

Today I went for my six week check up, and then the babies had their eyes checked. It was our first outing as quads. Before when we've gone to appointments people thought we had twins, but today we were definitely quads. We took the babies in to see Dr. Platz so I could take a picture of her with the babies. The picture didn't turn out very great because the babies heads were all that could be seen of them. BUT I did get the picture for their baby books. Sad that I have to go back to my military doctors and not see Dr. Platz anymore. She is an awesome doctor that took great care of me and the babies and I will forever be grateful that she came in to deliver me on her day off. It was so nice to see everyone and show everyone the babies up at the Prenatal Wellness Center. They were all so nice, and I'm going to miss seeing them. I wanted to put a picture up of Dr. Platz, but then I realized I need to ask if she minds first.

After my appointment was the eye exam for the babies. Max wasn't required to have the exam because of his birth weight so we opted not to put him through the discomfort. Everyone did really well, and all passed the exam! Alexis fussed the most (of course) while Aiden was the calmest. Alexis was nicknamed Houdini because she got her hand out of the wrap pretty quickly. After the exam we went up to see the ladies in antepardem. Since I was there for four weeks we wanted to show them the babies. I didn't get to see some of my favorite nurses, but I was glad to stop in and say hi.
We got to the eye appointment and realized the milk had spilled into the cooler bag we brought so we were over an hour late for them to eat and we had basically no milk. Thankfully though Andy went up to the nursery and they were able to give him a few bottles of formula and nipples. YAY!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Andy turned 28 today. He celebrated by going to get a tattoo, and by going to the shooting range.

Once he got home he helped me feed everyone while his mom cooked his birthday meal. He couldn't decide which girl to pick so he decided since Carolyn had pooped earlier and might again he would take Alexis. I told him if he feeds Alexis he had to put her cannula back on her. He decided against that so he took Carolyn. He turned with her to go to the changing table when she pooped her pants. There was no mistaking it was poop. He sat her down and when he was changing her she pooped and he jumped because he wasn't expecting it. I was laughing while he was talking to her about her sense of humor. He waited for a minute to make sure he was done and started changing her again when she shot poop out across the changing table. I had to get up and leave because I was laughing so hard. The last words I heard were "I'm really not sure what to do right now...". Ooooh happy birthday Daddy.

pictures are fun...

Tiny Feet

Alexis & Carolyn

Sisters

Brothers

All together :)

We did a "photo shoot" today to get some pictures of everyone together. Our first mistake was doing it before bottles and not after. our second was thinking they would happily go along with the pictures.

Homecoming pictures

Homecoming part I
Max & Alexis

Homecoming part II
Aiden & Carolyn

One day soon we'll get a picture of all of us.

Finally

What a week it has been

Alexis, Max & Carolyn
thank you Aunt Martz for the awesome hats!!! We LOVE them!

Alexis

Max

Andy holding Carolyn, Max & Alexis.

Max, Carolyn & Alexis

Carolyn during her bottle tonight. I love how she hangs on to the rim of her hat. :)

Monday at 0330 we had to take Carolyn to the ER due to breathing problems. After many tests and 15 hours she was admitted back into the hospital. She was anemic and they think that might be what caused the problem with her breathing. On Wednesday she was given a blood transfusion, and that seemed to help her out a lot! She was going to come home today, but her heart rate and oxygen dropped down so they want to keep her longer for observation. It is hard not being able to go up there as much as I'd like to stay with her, but with four how do you split your time between them especially when they're in 3 different places?

Aiden was thought to come home today, but during his bottle tonight his heart rate also dropped. Andy and I made the decision to not bring him home because we don't feel like we are ready yet or comfortable with pacing him. SO we'll return up to the hospital tomorrow to try again. Poor little guy hasn't had a lot of time with us since he was behind everyone, and then Max & Alexis went home. Then Carolyn. Then Carolyn went to the ER. I'll be glad when everyone is home, but I'd rather they stay in the hospital then have to go through another day like Monday. I took my camera to the hospital to get some shots of Aiden, but forgot when he didn't do well with his bottle. It was a hard choice to make to leave him there, but it was one that was best for him.

Alexis is borderline in her apnea episodes. If she starts having more or we notice a color change during an episode she has to go to the doctor or the ER. We are praying she starts growing out of these episodes. When we went to the doctor for her first pediatrician visit she weighed 4lbs 6oz. She is very vocal, and loves to have her hands in the way during feeds and during diaper changes her legs are constantly going.

Max is doing well. Most of his apnea episodes are when he is eating. He sometimes gets to eating so well he forgets he needs to breathe. Crazy baby. His weight at the pediatrician's office was 5lbs 6oz! He has outgrown most of the preemie clothes and is now starting to wear newborn sizes. YAY Max!

I went into the antepardem hall tonight after visiting with Aiden to see the ladies that took such good care of me while I was on bedrest in the hospital. Those nurses are the greatest and it was really nice to see them!

Since everyone is wondering...YES we are getting sleep. Not a whole lot, but more than probably everyone out there thinks :)

At home with Carolyn

Carolyn, Max & Alexis held by Momma. Life is good. Tangled...but good.

We've made it 24 hours!

Max & Alexis snuggled in the crib together

Max

Max has a little smirk

Alexis thinks her sitting up taller is funny

Sleeping Alexis

Tired, but finally holding two at a time. I can't believe I left the house looking like this, but it is what it is.

The Room In

It ain't called the sleep in for a reason. It's strategically placed in your life to give you a glimpse into reality. I also think it's to give you a free out in case you decide "OH MY GOODNESS NO THANK YOU". We thankfully passed the room in with flying colors. I was asked some questions I had no idea what the answer was because well I think someone was supposed to go over with me previously that hadn't & because I'm a first time parent. Just because I have four to jack up on the first time around doesn't mean I have any secret knowledge.

We roomed in with 3 and came home with 2...no not by choice. Our little Carolyn actually lost weight so she is on the skinny girls program until she gains weight a few days in a row. How many days? I don't know. Some of you are probably wondering the estimate on Aiden. I don't know. If he does well with his bottles his feeding tube comes out tomorrow. You know what happens when the feeding tube comes out. They watch them for weight gain then start throwing them in our van. Aiden and Carolyn remain in the hospital while Max & Alexis are at home with us. It is a bittersweet feeling. YAY babies are home, but two still are 30 minutes from me and it makes me want to cry thinking about them away from home. Max and Alexis are both on apnea monitors and oxygen.

Last night we changed a lot of dirty diapers, fed a lot of bottles, and slept a little. Andy is still not feeling 100% so he wore a mask anytime he was holding one of the babies. We learned how to give a bath, how not to wait before putting a new diaper on bc waiting = everything gets wet, give medicine, and that they hate their multivitamins. Andy made two trips home to let the dogs out while I stayed at the hospital and did whatever needed to be done with the babies.

We have both Max & Alexis in the same crib it is so nice being able to see them together and not have to walk over and lift a blanket to see their face. Below are some pictures from last night/this morning.

Max & Alexis finally home

Alexis


Max

Carolyn

Carolyn

New Site For Parents of Multiples

When we were expecting the quads I got an email from one of the quad moms saying her husband was setting up a website for parents with multiples. Would we like him to help us get signed up for the many multiples discount programs? UM YES PLEASE! It was so amazing to not have to worry about figuring out who still had discount programs and who didn't and what we needed to do to enroll. The site is now open and ready for other parents of multiples to sign up! Go over to
http://www.multiplesdiscountclub.com
to read all about the club, and if you know someone with multiples please tell them about this site!

ER Visit & My Thoughts On Pumping

The above video is of Andy & Carolyn. He cheated by unwrapping her while she was sleeping which helps them wake up. So she woke up & he got to visit with her before she ate. :) It is a sweet video, and pretty funny when she starts to cry.

I had a really cute video of Aiden, but accidentally deleted it when I was trying to view it on my camera. :-(

Today is day three of not getting to go to the hospital to visit with the babies. :-( It is really frustrating to me to try to do everything right & then I get a cold that prevents me from going to see them. I miss them a lot & wish this cold would hurry up and pass.

I'm finding I don't enjoy this whole pumping situation. I do it because the babies need the milk to grow big and strong, but I really can't stand it. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to go to the ER last night for a breast infection. I had shooting pains after pumping so I called the after hours phone to find out what I could do. I went to the doctor on Thursday and talked expressed concerns about my nipples looking odd. She was going to give me cream for them, but the midwife she talked to said the pump does that to the nipples. I didn't like being diagnosed by someone who hadn't actually seen me, but I figured if I followed the instructions it would get better. Negative ghost rider. I got to bare my boobs to yet another person for inspection where it was determined I needed antibiotics. YAY! I hate taking antibiotics. They think my fever was caused not by the cold I have, but the infection I have. I was told I could have pain medicine, but that it would get in my breast milk and I would need to pump and dump. I said um no thank you I will do without the pain medicine. My babies need to eat and there will be no dumping of the milk!

Updates

So I woke up with a fever today and that means I don't get to visit the hospital. I didn't get to visit yesterday either just in case the runny nose was more than just sinuses. Major suckage it is more than a sinus problem, but awesome that I didn't go contaminate my sweet little babies.

Update on everyone...



Aiden
is now in an open crib and has been keeping his temp up so he gets to stay in the open air. He has been taking his bottle well, but has only been getting one bottle a day. He may be moving up to more than one bottle a day soon since he is doing well.



Max
was thought to be coming home this weekend, but at the last minute he was put on caffeine and back on oxygen. He will be coming home on a monitor, but it is unclear on if he will come home on oxygen at this time. He is taking all of his feeds by bottle, and no longer has a feeding tube!



Alexis
was put on oxygen with her bottles, but yesterday was also put on caffeine. So she will come home on a monitor. The caffeine is really helping her a lot though so YAY! The above picture she had just taken most of her bottle, and went right to sleep. I was calling her a buzzard because of her crazy hair.



Carolyn
is currently on a 48 hour trend to see if she needs to be put on caffeine. We won't be surprised at all if she does need caffeine since the other three are now on it. The trend is where she is kept on her monitor the entire 48 hours to see if the oxygen level in her blood drops down to 80 and stays there. If it does she will be on caffeine if it doesn't...well I guess she won't be.

Everyone had their hearing tests and passed! Everyone is also down in the level 2 nursery right near each other.

Mini Update

All the babies are NNICU graduates!!! It is awesome news, but I'll miss the nurses we've had taking care of the babies since they were born.

Max was moved out of the NNICU to the special care nursery last night, and tonight Aiden, Alexis & Carolyn were moved to the level 2 nursery. Once a bed opens up for Max in level 2 he will go down there to be with his brother and sisters. I don't like having everyone on one floor except Max. I feel guilty spending time in one area because when I'm with the 3 I feel bad Max is alone, and when I'm with Max I feel bad I'm not with the other three.

I'm taking CPR tomorrow. I just have to arrive early enough to find out exactly where the class is! I'm hoping to not get lost & to see the people that took care of me when I was on bed rest up there.