On May 31, 2006 at 16 weeks, I was sitting at work and my water broke. I didn't know what to do. I called a friend who had a baby and she was like, you could have just peed on yourself. So, I was thinking well yeah with 4 babies maybe so. But my seat and pants were soaked, so of course I called the dr and they told me to come straight to the office. I met Kevin and we went to the dr together. That was a scary drive and I was extremely nervous. We got to the dr office and Dr Robinett did an ultrasound. It confirmed the fluid from Baby A was extremely low. He knew immediately this meant bedrest and knew this had quickly become a much more complicated pregnancy that had all of us at risk. He made a phone call and in just a few minutes I was on my way to UAB Hospital. Dr Robinett felt I needed care beyond what he could give me considering the severity of things, so I was transferred to the Maternal Fetal Medicine Clinic at UAB. Also called the MFM clinic.
I was admitted to UAB for observation and stayed overnight. The fluid stayed about the same and we were to think of it like a water balloon that had a hole in it and the water being like the fluid coming out of the sac around Baby A. There was hope that maybe with bedrest the hole in the sac would correct itself and the baby would still be ok, even with low fluid. So, on Sunday the 1st I was sent home to start bedrest. Monday my two best friends came to visit me and loaded me up with magazines and things to keep me busy for my bedrest. Bedrest got old really quick!! I was very uncomfortable laying in the bed, so my mom bought us a mattress pad for the bed. That helped a lot. I also had a snuggle pillow that is suppost to contour to your body and help you rest better. Not really!
My 10 year high school reunion was taking place on June 3rd and I was at home on bedrest. My friends took a card and a lot of my classmates signed it and wished me the best. I hated to miss seeing everyone, but considering everyone understood. On June 5th, Karen from Dr Steinkampf's office that had been taking care of me during our treatments and all called to check on me. That night I had a restless night and couldn't sleep very well. Maybe subconsciously I knew what was about to happen.
On Wednesday, June 7th, I went to the bathroom before bed around 10 pm and I felt something sticking out of me. I wasn't sure if it was a body part of one of the babies or what, so I was terrified! We of course headed straight to the hospital. They thoguht it might be part of the umbilical card or membranes for the placenta, so they sent me back home because I had a dr appt later that afternoon. I was getting ready for my appointment and I went to the restroom I saw nothing but blood and I could feel a small foot sticking out of me. We rushed to the ER and discover the baby was trying to deliver itself. It had been a tough week since my water broke and Baby A fought hard, but it wasn't enough. It only took about 30 minutes and one push to deliver the baby. On June 8th around 1:15 pm, Dr Kimberlyn delivered our 1st baby at the beginning of my 17th week of pregnancy. It was a boy, our 1st son, and we named him Jacob Matthew Lloyd. He weighed 4.5 ounces and was 7 inches long. Of course his lungs were no where near developed enough for survival. Everything happened so fast. We didn't have a camera or anything, but the staff at UAB took pictures of him for us and brought him in for me to see him and hold him and spend some time with him. He was dressed in a white gown and was laying in a baby basket on a crocheted blue blanket. I knew you were at peace. Memaw, Papaw, and Grandma were there with me and were able to hold you and see you. Everything happened so fast and I can't remember a lot of my emotions but I cried and cried. We were given a memory box with his clothes that he was wearing and the blanket. We also had pictures of him that were taken by the nurses. We also had a certificate with his picture and his handprints and footprints. His fingers and toes were still webbed, so they weren't separated yet. His footprint was about the size of my thumbnail as well as his hands. He was very red and his eyelids and lips were still fused together. You didn't have hair yet either. I came home on Monday June 12th from the hospital and Kevin and I went through the memory box for the 1st time and had some quiet time.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Making Preparations for 4 Babies
So, the first thing we have to do is tell our families. Everyone was of course overly excited but shocked. The first 3 months were a whirlwind. Kevin's Granny passed away in April after we found out in March we were expecting the quads, so most of the family on Kevin's side we were able to tell when we travelled to Maryland for the funeral. I do remember that being the longest, hardest trip, physically. I was doing ok physically, but that trip we had to stop every 2 hours and rest. The dr had cleared me to travel but I had to stop every 2 hours. Needless to say that was a long trip in the car from Alabama to Maryland.
Our emotions were going from shock, to being scared of losing the babies, to worrying about how we were going to provide for 4 babies, supporting 4 babies financially, and knowing that our life as we know it was being turned upside down. We were extremely excited for the anticipation of life with quads!
I had my first regular checkup ultrasound on May 4, 2006 when I was 12 weeks pregnant. I was now seeing Dr Robinett at Brookwood. He told us the babies were growing good and we heard the heartbeats. What a relief! Two of the babies were moving around really good. One looked like it was waving and one of the others was squirming around. We were so excited to see them moving around so much. The dr told me our 1st goal was to make it to 28 weeks which would be around the end of August. He said that is where we wanted to get and that anything over that would be gravy. Of course they didn't expect me to carry 4 babies full term, so we were prepared for an early delivery. He started a progesterone shot once a week to help with preterm labor and at 24 weeks we would plan to start steroid shots to boost the babies lung development in case of an premature delivery. We were preparing to tour the NICU and meet the doctors because of course higher order multiples are expected to come early and have a NICU stay. We left very excited and prepared for what was in store. I had survived the 1st trimester!
Everyone was in full planning mode, making arrangements for these 4 little ones to come into the world. We of course knew I wouldn't be able to work after the babies came along and my mom was planning to quit work to help me also. We were trying to get everything arranged and stocked up for 4 babies. Would we have 4 cribs, 4 carseats, 4 bouncy seats, 4 of everything!!!!! We looked at yard sales, hand me downs, we had collections coming in all over the place for clothing and anything that anyone wanted to donate. Of course my family was like you need an EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER!! We were thinking about any company that we could get some freebies for, anything and everything we could get to help. We picked out a nursery theme, Lazy Day Pooh. It was nice and neutral for boys or girls or both. We painted the room in Froggy Green, which was a really bright green like grass that matched the colors in the bed set. We decided we would just have two cribs and have the babies pair up in one crib each. My cousin gave us a crib, so we had everything ready to start setting up. It wasn't all finished but it was becoming reality quickly as more and more baby stuff started piling up in the house. The room wasn't completely finished yet, but we were making progress. I was now 16 weeks, so 12 more weeks to go until we were safe! We had no idea that in just a few days our whole world would be turned upside down.
Our emotions were going from shock, to being scared of losing the babies, to worrying about how we were going to provide for 4 babies, supporting 4 babies financially, and knowing that our life as we know it was being turned upside down. We were extremely excited for the anticipation of life with quads!
I had my first regular checkup ultrasound on May 4, 2006 when I was 12 weeks pregnant. I was now seeing Dr Robinett at Brookwood. He told us the babies were growing good and we heard the heartbeats. What a relief! Two of the babies were moving around really good. One looked like it was waving and one of the others was squirming around. We were so excited to see them moving around so much. The dr told me our 1st goal was to make it to 28 weeks which would be around the end of August. He said that is where we wanted to get and that anything over that would be gravy. Of course they didn't expect me to carry 4 babies full term, so we were prepared for an early delivery. He started a progesterone shot once a week to help with preterm labor and at 24 weeks we would plan to start steroid shots to boost the babies lung development in case of an premature delivery. We were preparing to tour the NICU and meet the doctors because of course higher order multiples are expected to come early and have a NICU stay. We left very excited and prepared for what was in store. I had survived the 1st trimester!
Everyone was in full planning mode, making arrangements for these 4 little ones to come into the world. We of course knew I wouldn't be able to work after the babies came along and my mom was planning to quit work to help me also. We were trying to get everything arranged and stocked up for 4 babies. Would we have 4 cribs, 4 carseats, 4 bouncy seats, 4 of everything!!!!! We looked at yard sales, hand me downs, we had collections coming in all over the place for clothing and anything that anyone wanted to donate. Of course my family was like you need an EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER!! We were thinking about any company that we could get some freebies for, anything and everything we could get to help. We picked out a nursery theme, Lazy Day Pooh. It was nice and neutral for boys or girls or both. We painted the room in Froggy Green, which was a really bright green like grass that matched the colors in the bed set. We decided we would just have two cribs and have the babies pair up in one crib each. My cousin gave us a crib, so we had everything ready to start setting up. It wasn't all finished but it was becoming reality quickly as more and more baby stuff started piling up in the house. The room wasn't completely finished yet, but we were making progress. I was now 16 weeks, so 12 more weeks to go until we were safe! We had no idea that in just a few days our whole world would be turned upside down.
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