We're Moving? by Lew

Howdy everyone, been awhile since you've heard from me - glad to be back in bloggerspace!

Bedrest is not coming! Bedrest is not coming! Unbelieveable. That girl is amazing, truly amazing!

So yeah, we are moving to The Lewandowski Manor at Munson. Okay, so it's really the Munson Manor, but the latter is way cooler. Basically a hotel on the hospital property that is tailored for people and families in situations similar, in some ways, to ours. More than anything, we are fortunate for people like those that work at and donate time at a place like the Munson Manor and we apologize in advance for any chaos we may create!

The main thing is we will be right next to the hospital and that will bring peace of mind to the chick with the four chitlins in her belly, and me too!

On another note, if someone that wants a beautiful house on a beautiful golf course in Bellaire, Michigan would step forward with an offer, please do so now...

Also, our deepest thanks to our friends that did soooo much to help us try to get closer to TC. In the end, the Lewandowsk Manor at Munson is what's best for us.

So, Dr. J thinks 2 weeks...2 weeks as in Tonya will give birth to The Quads in 2 weeks!

HOLY SHAT!

But, he said "prove me wrong." And we will, believe me, we will. We have too many people pulling for us, and we have prayed too hard, and we have tried and tried and tried to do what we think we should do not to make it to 32 weeks. We will make it to 32 weeks and those quads will be just fine.

Before I get into it, I just want it to be known that we love Dr. J. The reasons are many, and we still love him despite his thoughts below...but he is doing his job. And he would have been doing a bad job if he would not have informed us like he did.

Dr. J based his conclusion on the fact that our babies are weighing just under 1.5 pounds at around 26 weeks - Baby A is 1 lb 5 oz and the rest are 1 lb 7 oz - which plots around 24 weeks on the growth chart. Also, Dr. J is kind of good at what he does, well like really good. When following The Quads weights on the growth chart, they are starting to fall off the curve a bit, as in around the 10th percentile. This is expected for quads, from information we have reviewed, to start around 20ish weeks. Our quads didn't really start falling back until like 22ish weeks. The thing is, the growth charts are for single babies. They don't have any growth charts for quads. Regardless, Dr. J feels The Quads are on the smaller side. We don't really agree - Tonya has smaller babies and she was a small baby (5 and a bit of change). Regardless, the point is when one or more of the babies starts to fall off the curve, that is generally indicative of stress on the baby(ies) that are falling off the curve - stress meaning the potential or liklihood of a failing placenta. This stress can be followed via DOPPLER (yeah modern medicine) of the umbilical cord to each baby. The DOPPLER will monitor the pulse in the umbilical cord and will provide data that the Dr's and us (yeah, Dr. J drew schematics so we know what to look for when the ultrasound techs tell us they can't tell us anything) can look at and determine what gives. So, there is a normal pulse, a "warning" pulse (forgot the technical term Dr. J used), and an abnormal pulse, referred to as reverse flow. If the warning pulse arises, Tonya gets DOPPLERS twice per week. If reverse flow is evident, they come out. Why do they come out? Because if the baby or babies that show reverse flow don't come out, they die within 7 days. If reverse flow is realized, Tonya will get a shot of 'roids that day and The Quads will be take within a day or two. And that's that - there are no other options to us.

So, on Monday, the DOPPLERS for each baby were normal. Dr. J anticipates reverse flow in one or more of The Quads within 2 weeks. We say no way. Absolutely now way. We have Meadow in our corner, and she's one tough little angel...\

I feel that Dr. J informed us as he did not only to because he had too, but because he knows we are the type of people that accept challenges and thrive on the challenge at hand and enjoy proving others wrong...

So, know that I have stolen most of Tonya's blogoriousness for this week, I shall finish with the following:

The first time I heard Tonya say that Dr. Madion calls Dr. Jelsema Dr. J, I had some serious flashbacks. I was 3, maybe 4 years old, and my Dad painted, in stencil, "Dr. J" in the middle of the backboard of my basketball hoop. Dr. J as in Julius Erving my friends, one of my childhood heros. Right, bringing the thunder on a hoop that was like 3 feet off the ground and nailed to our wood fence! Bring it! Now, some 30ish years later, my family and I have been challenged by Dr. J. We will win this game, we will win 32 to 28...

God Bless and get busy living, you only get one shot at life -
Lew

One last thing, I had The Vibe parked in front of the AT&T place in Traverse City today and while I was inside waiting I was able to watch an 18 wheeler run the back half of The Vibe over...neat.