The Lewandowski Family

Crawlin', Teethin', Cryin', and Jammin'

2009-06-23T14:26:00.002-04:00

Booo!

Yeah, me here...that would be the Polish-blogmasta!

Just checked the blog and boy, bit of time has elapsed since Tonya's last blog.

So, I'll give a quick update:

Tonya is pregnant with twins!!!!!

Just kidding, but Caleb said he wants 2 more baby boys...

Quads are working on 11 months in this crazy world. Where does that put them? All over the freakin' house! It's nuts. I'm sure all of you can remember that one time, come on, you know it happened, when you set little Johnny down and went into the kitchen and then came back out and AHHHHH, where did little Johnny go!

At least there was one baby there...the other 3....AHHHHHH, where did they go!

Funny stuff. Didn't happen....yet.

Can't imagine what the heck kind of a corral we are going to need when the Rugrat 4 start walking!

So, crawlin' is cool. Funny when Summer and Cam are on concrete - knees don't touch - more of a bear crawl. Brock and Dane don't seem to care.

Also, man, you thought one kid ate a lot of crumbs, dirt, what-not off the floor...

Teethin' - God let it end soon!!!!!!!!!! Nuff said there.

Cryin' while Teethin' - I just lay there and pretend to be sleeping :) Shhhh, don't tell Tonya.

Jammin' is what Tonya does all day with Aiden and Cale and the Quads while I'm at work. Sounds like they pretty much party and have fun all day. Me, I'm still watering that money tree I planted in 2002 so I can join the mid-week party.

Caleb and Aiden absolutely rock. I never could have imagined how much love I have in me. Those 2 little dudes are my best buds!

Aiden is playing T-ball. Caleb and I are coaches. It's nuts, absolutely nuts. Caleb does a great job - get the lineup set, batting order, warmups, batting practice...Really he kind of wanders the field and stays by me, such a cutey. Aiden is good, real good, but we work with him a lot, which I don't think is a common activity with many others on his team. They are young though, but we have high standards in this house! He is an aspiring major leaguer. I remain optimistic - for a 5 year old, he can take an inside fastball yard and goes opposite field when it's low and away, something dad always struggled with.

I will get on Tonya to post some photos - ya'll will melt when you see recent photos of the Quads! Though, she is rather busy....

Peace -

Caleb turns 3 and us Lews are on the move...

2009-05-25T23:07:00.002-04:00

It has been a long time... not much going on over in our neck of the woods... you know... just loungin' around and stuff.

Sort of.

The end of April our little heart throb Caleb turned 3 years old. It is so hard for me to believe that my buddy is growing up. He is such a lover and the cutest darned thing you've ever laid your eyes on... oh how I love that adorable sweetheart o' mine =) He too had a big ole bday bash (spidey. of course.). With two friends that came over to play and pin some spidey on the web with us - ha! Who says bobbing for apples is only for halloween time? Let's live a little, eh? And I thank our friends who have been creative troopers for the Lew family bday rules - hereby enacted and enforced since becoming a family of SIX kids - yeah - we GET it. Homemade or regifted presents only, ma man. That's right. Takes a little forethought doesn't it? But I'll tell you what - our boys have never coveted something so much as when they can run up and tell us "Did you know that BENNY gave me this monster truck? It used to be HIS, mommy! But he GAVE it to me for my birthday and now I get to keep it!"

We hope that our birthday gift tradition continues and will prove to be a valuable teaching tool in our childrens lives. Be grateful.

Other than fun stuff like watching Caleb devour his cake and nearly pass out with excitement at the baseball bat big brother Aiden got him (SERIOUSLY!!!) we have been a tad bit consumed with packing, cleaning, fixing, and moving out of the cottage we stayed in over the winter. And then - gulp - fixing, cleaning, packing, taking to storage, and UNpacking (bare necessities only!) back at our home in Bellaire.

That's right. Darned thing still hasn't sold.

And a very special thanks to my mom and dad, Grammie and Papa, who put in WEEKS of work helping us get it spruced up (and liveable again after our renters... but that's a whole OTHER story...)! New tile shower, new paint, new wood trim, etc... this place is fabulouso and is destined to sell within the next month I'll tell ya'!!

Optimism is all we have sometimes, you know?!?! So just go with it!

Yep. Packing and cleaning and fixing to fix and clean and pack and unpack all the whole HOPING that you'll be doing it all again VERY SOON to move once our house sells.

And doing it with 6 kids in tow.

Oh, and did I mention daddy was out of town for over a week of it? And then with his commute to TC we haven't seen him before 7pm... boy. Insanity levels are running at a high over here...

The first week was nothing less than emotional exhausting and physically draining. It was absolutely unbearable at times and I thought I might just crumble up. The problem being our house was left in shambles by the renters and every single thing - from our pots and pans, to the cupboards, to the bathroom toilets, to the floors, to the last glass and tupperware top... had to be cleaned before we could begin doing ANYTHING. Progress was painfully slow because the day to day business of LIVING still had to take place, you know? All our children still had to eat, there were still diapers to change and laundry and dishes to do... etc.

But it's been two weeks and we have almost made it. A carpet cleaner, a gallon or two of fantastic, soft scrub and bleach, a liter of windex, a 10' x 10' storage unit... yeah, we're getting close.

And although it's not ideal and we did not want to be back in Bellaire... we have a home for our family that we can call our OWN for the first time in nearly a year... and that DOES feel good. It was the middle of June when we relocated to the Munson Manor last year per my doctor's orders while pregnant with the quads. It was such a hard goodbye for us to our home in Bellaire because, at the time, we honestly didn't think that we would ever call it "home" again. We cried our tears and remembered all the good times and all that had happened for our family during our lives in Bellaire... this home was truly a labor of love for us. We have our Meadow's Garden up front filled with so many plants and flowers from family and friends in memory of our Angel Meadow... we have our fire pit in back where we have hillbillied it up many a nights enjoying the outdoors... we have our garage for crying out loud (yeah... almost didn't have that due to budget constraints during building...)!

Anyhow, we're back. Aiden and Caleb are remembering all there is for them to explore here. And now the quads too are learning to love this home with us and are making memories every single day. Yes, THREE ARE CRAWLING!!! Little Dane (formerly known as Heavy D... now the incredible shrinking D) just can't get 'er together yet - but he will soon! Summer was the leader, thanks to her idol Cousin Avery showing her the way =) Summer is just in AWE of Avery - it is SO CUTE!! Cam came next and then Brockee. But Brock is by FAR the most adventurous of the group so far - all you have to do it blink the kid is across the room exploring the kitchen! He may be BIG but he's pretty darned fast!!

And at the end of the day we are loving life - no matter how hectic it has been the past month or so. The quads are SO FUN right now!! One of my guilty pleasures right now that they can all pretty much get where they want to go (even Dane... it's just not a CRAWl, per se...) is when I will be on the floor playing or whatever and next thing I know they have all made their way over to me and are crawling up on me!! I just melt!! They are learning to reach for us to get picked up and saying "Da Da" all over the place (even in light of my persistent "MA MA MA MA" !). They are playing so well together and then, blam! Stealing toys and leveling one another in the next second! It really is fun... slobbery kisses all around every day...

A huge shout out to our big boys too for being such troopers through this whole move. We have relied on them so incredibly heavily to play together and be independent while I try to get things put together and take care of the babies... and they have stepped up to the plate 110%. I love you guys. You rock my world.

Thank you Grammie for all your hard work and being here as my moral support and crutch. I would truly be lost without you.

Thank you Jeremy for loving me in the midst of madness. And for letting me sneak away to the Bayshore marathon (only a 10K for mama T and some hot mama friends - but we did it!!) and have some me time. I love you. I love you. I love you.

I will try to post some pics soon... thank you for reading and thinking of our family.

Peace out.

2009-04-09T15:44:00.007-04:00

Mommy and daddy getting in some luvin' for the cameras - Holy Hottie - look at that man! I am one lucky gal - that's for darned sure...

Yes, Jeremy is amazing as he gave me the ultimate "hall pass" - an all-girls trip to Vegas for 2-1/2 days!!! No better place to finish healing up from surgery than poolside, right? Right. All systems a-go for mama T feeling about 90% and rising by the day!

Now let me be very clear here - the Vegas trip was almost entirely free otherwise I would not have even considered the possibility. But, as luck would have it, I was offered frequent flier miles for the flight, we stayed in my parents timeshare for free, plus we had a kitchen so the first thing we did was head to the grocery store and stock up on beer, booze, and ummm... something else, something else... think, think... oh yeah, some food too. We split it all up between the 6 of us groovy gals and I think it cost something like $28/person for all that. And I don't gamble to boot.

Nice. Double nice.

Yeppers - It was all about getting some time away in the sun by the pool, relaxing with my girls. And boy did we maximize! Thank you to my mom, sister in law Jess (fellow pumper - thank goodness!), Steph, Dana, and Kris for a rocking good time - love you girls!! I have some pics... if only I could download them off of Aiden's underwater digital camera he let mommy borrow. That's no joke by the way.

Oh, and just for the record, we watched the MSU game poolside in a cabana that day... hope it wasn't snowing TOO hard up here in Michigan...

Hee, hee, hee...

But in all seriousness, I was sick for 3 days before we left panicking about leaving. Not that I doubted Jeremy could do it with me gone for crying out loud (Okkkkkkkkkk... so I was nervous about that a SMIDGEON too) but because the babies are only 8 months old and I knew that I would miss them and the big boys like the dickens! It's weird to go from 24/7 with your children to just taking care of yourself... whoa. That whole concept of "free time"? Whoa whoa. Laying by the pool WITHOUT water wings, sunscreen, plastic boats, balls, and kamakazee children jumping in with no regard for the depth and the fact that can't REALLY swim alone in 12 feet of water?

Priceless.

And let's not underestimate the power of a good mid-day buzz. I mean it. Those of you who have children understand what I'm saying here - and ESPECIALLY anyone who is a nursing mommy! It just doesn't happen. Period. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that you don't go around slammin' 'em back while your kids are awake and in need of a fully functioning parent. And so, us Vegas gals did the best we could to start mixin' up the pina colada - strawberry daquiri's by noon or so.

Just doin' our part, ladies. Just doin' our part.

Then, just like THAT it's time to come home again, straight into the welcoming arms of your loving spouse (THANK GOODNESS) and beautiful children who offer you nothing less than a heroes welcome everytime with their messy kisses and smiles so big their lips crack!

I love life.

Our family is in the midst of greatness right now, with the babies on an amazing schedule and growing and changing so much every day, the big boys rocking our world with the darndest things they say and do to make those little babies laugh (and mommy and daddy in the process)... these are the days. We couldn't love our family more. Cam and Summer are thinking about crawling about any second now - it's SO EXCITING!!!

But we are sad to announce that it doesn't appear that ANY of the quads will be getting teeth until they are about 10 years of age. Or at least that's what I'm going to start telling myself and everyone else because I'm sick of saying "They must be teething" to everything that gives them a hard time and being made a fool when 8-1/2 months later... NOTHING!!! What gives man? Oh well, we like yogurt and ice cream well enough... we'll be FINE with no teeth - ha!

Enjoy these pics of our family as of late -

Aiden turns 5 and LOVES Caleb's birthday present this year...

HELLLLOOOO new Tigers baseball jersey! Nice pick Cale - brownie points here. Quads loving storytime with mommy... (l to r - Dane, Brock, Cam, Summer)Cutie Summer Girl...Cam my little man...

Brockee lighting it up...
Ahoy Matee! Swash-buckling Dane laughs so hard it's contagious!
First time duel tubbing it up for the Lew quads (l to r - Dane and Summer) - A PLAYMATE IN THE TUB??!! HOW FUN!

Dressed to impress the illusive Easter Bunny... and melt mommies heart... l to r - Cam, Dane, Brock, Summer

The Lew crew - minus mommy and daddy - l to r - Caleb, Cam, Dane, Brock, Summer, Aiden

Mommy and Grammie win a Mother-Daughter makeover - WHAT!?!?! THANK YOU GTWOMAN magazine!!! 6 hours of pampering later, whoa! Check out these two hottie mommies!

The Boys and The Babies...Alone?

2009-04-06T11:59:00.004-04:00

Tonya went to Vegas...Jeremy, the boys, and the babies DOMINATED!

That's right, total, complete, absolute DOMINATION!

While mommy was out soaking up the sun and sucking down the strawberry daquiri's, we were sucking down ounce after ounce of formula! Well, Caleb and Aiden tend to steer clear of that stuff and my formula tends to be more of the "daddy variety"...

While mommy was out dancing the night away, we puts the Quads on the flo and partied to Jimmy Buffett, John Denver, and The Wallflowers! The Quads love Jimmy Buffett!

Total DOMINATION!

One question remains - could Jeremy have done it all by himself?

For the most part, I did it alone. Tonya's dad was there in the morning and evening. During the day, he was off at our pad in Bellaire making that puppy more sellable. Volunteers came over on Thursday and Friday for a few hours which allowed me some quality time with Caleb and Aiden.

I will say, the volunteers we had over appeared to be quite suprised when they waltzed into the cottage. I think they were expecting to see Caleb and Aiden impersonating Spiderman by clinging to the ceiling with their ears plugged while daddy frantically tended to four screaming babies. What they did waltz into was a tightly run ship! DOMINATION! Clean house, Aiden and Cale rockin' it, babies sleeping or playing happily on the floor, etc, etc. Heck, even found time to do the laundry, sweep floors, vacuum carpets, etc, etc.

I will say my patience about wore out Saturday night. Just needed a breather. Those Quads wear you down man. Getting a couple hours out with Caleb and Aiden is great, but it was essentially during baby nap time so it wasn't a break per se, rather extremely fun quality time with Caleb and Aiden.

What did I ultimately get out of Tonya's vacation?

A much greater appreciation for the Number 1 wife and mom in the world. I know she rocks. But until you do it alone, though I did have some help, you just don't really know what it's like. The days when she doesn't have any help, she's the best, without a doubt, and it really is amazing that she does what she does. Love that girl of mine. Need to tell her that more often...

So what else is new? Quads are 8 months, Aiden just turned 5, and Caleb will turn 3 at the end of April. Where does the time go?

Caleb and Aiden are my best buddies - I just love spending time with them. They are the world to me and it is tough not being able to spend more time with them. Really tough.

At the same time, spending time with The Quads is amazing, especially when you consider that whole time thing. Hard to believe we are at 8 months already. Won't be but a couple weeks and they will be crawling and teeth will be coming in and all that fun stuff!

On another note, our house in Bellaire is not sold or rented.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, life's a bitch man. At least we have a house. When you look at what's going on throughout Michigan and beyond, having a house has come to be a big deal.

So, in all likelihood, we will be back in Bellaire in May. It's not what Tonya and I want, but we will definitely make the most of it - you can count on that! Something miraculous could happen, but we are initiating plans to move back home. Although it's not where we need or want to be, we will have a place that is our own and a place with space. No doubt we'll miss the luxuries of the cottage, but at the same time, we will have space.

For the record, I could have done it all by my little self...

DOMINATION by Quad Daddy and the Lew Crew!

These are the days...

2009-03-25T11:38:00.003-04:00

Hey everybody! It is so great to finally blog again and... PICS AT LAST!! This has gotta' be a short one, but wanted to confirm that mama T made it through her surgery and I am TOTALLY going to post pics once I get the stitches all out of my belly button (WHAT? Yeah, it's cute...had to secure that puppy back down after lifting up my skin from my nether-regions to my freaking ribs!). I'll warn you though - it's noooooooot pretty! But heck - I'd be curious so why not?

Anyhow, enjoy these beautiful pics of our chitlins... I know we did and a huge thanks to Tera for taking them!!!

Long Time Listner, First Time Caller?

2009-02-20T14:02:00.002-05:00

Hi -

It's me. Haven't blogged in a coons-age. Good to be back. Felt like cybercizing a bit today...

Quads are great. Dane is shaving. Cam has a beer gut. Much to her mothers dismay, Summer is wearing makeup. Oh, and Brock ran away.

Other than that, oh, totally forgot, Aiden now drives the van and Cale rides on a snowboard behind it.

Sounds crazy eh?

Bingo! Come on over and witness it for yourself?

Life remains grand, crazy, a bit trying at times, but grand nonetheless. Our marriage is stronger, has to be. In darwin-esque fashion, we have evolved, in mere months, to be fully functional on a daily basis with 4 hours of sleep.

Hard to believe The Quads hit 6 months on January 31! Time, oh where does it go?

Really though, Dane and Cam and I think Summer can roll from back to belly. Brock seems to prefer lying on his back. Summer was recently described as "stiff" by the "developmental" people. I'll give them stiff...

Sitting is first and foremost on the to-perfect list. While sitting, Brock seems to lean forward to a point where he cannot do really anything. Summer sits with very good posture, reminiscent of her mother. Dane sits rather well and Cam is right there with him.

Summer and Cam appear to have eye color of the hazel variety while Brock and Dane appear to have blue eyes. Mailman? No, there's definitely some polish in these kids...

People seem to like to voice their opinion on who looks like who. Recently, an acquaintance indicated Summer looks very much like yours truly. I liked that Hurley. Brock seems to have a striking resemblance to a long line of polocks from my dads side of the family. Cam is Cam - unique - his own man. Dane, funny guy, over took Brockie as the funny guy. If you recall, when they were in the NICU, we would comment on how Dane would give us a "gummy smile". Kid has a huge smile - and it is very contagious - and very beautiful.

Summer is by far the cutest baby girl I have ever seen. China doll. She has come a long way since she first came home. Gone is the serious, scowl look. In is the cutest little cooing with simply put, a distinguished, confident smile, that melts her parents hearts. She could start growing some hair sometime in the near future.

Speaking of hair, Cam has this sweet little patch down the middle of his head. Considering his age, it is quite thick and probably best described as a pro-like divot/army sort of flat top.

Back to cooing, all The Quads have become rather vocal, in their own ways. Summer and Dane seem to have taken the lead over Brockie with regard to holding a conversation with themselves. Cam doesn't talk as much - he seems to prefer to grunt...

Feeding...Come on over and help feed The Quads cereal. You want crying? Come on over and help feed The Quads cereal. You want cereal all over everything (thanks to mom, not dad)? Come on over and help feed The Quads cereal. You want mass chaos that makes dad sweat with the thought of babies crying very loudly? Come on over and help feed The Quads.

Pooping...Come on over and help change The Quads diapers. You want poop? We got poop. You want buckets full of poopy and pee diapers? Come on over and stick your head in a bucket. You want an industrial size bucket of Butt Paste? Come on over and change some diapers.

Diapers...You want cloth diapers stacked to the ceiling? Come on over and I'll put one on you!

We think teething has started, or is very near. You want sleep? Don't come over at night...

So it has been pretty neat observing Aiden and Caleb interacting with The Quads. Both have impressed mom and dad in ways we could only have hoped for leading up to this circus. Watching them put on "Rock Outs" for the babies is extremely entertaining. "Rock Outs" is their way of playing guitars with whatever toy-of-the-day they have and, well, yelling goofy lyrics to The Quads. The amazing part is that it is actually rather annoying, yet The Quads will be lined up on the couch just laughing away.

When I say annoying, imagine Aiden, probably for the past 3 months saying something like this:

Banananana, banananana, it's a rock out, it's rockin, banananana, banananan, it's a rock out, it's rockin. And so on and so forth for what seems like hours on end. Get the point? The point is, The Quads love it and we love our kids.

Cale's signature move is playing his guitar for like 2 seconds and jumping as high in the air as he can landing on his butt. Funny!

So, Tonya goes under the knife soon to get the world's worst umbilical hernia patched up. I don't think I can talk about some of the details, but I will anyway. She has seen I think 3 different doctors, third of which is a....plastic surgeon. Insert evil chuckle here. This dude will go in through her C-section scar. Cool. Great. That's what she wanted to hear and that's what she wants done. She won't have a scar extending up her entire torso. I am supportive of whatever she wants to do. I'm really starting to get fat. If she has a scar up her belly, I don't care, I have a beer belly. But, yes, plastic surgeon...he just can't go in there and not do something that he specializes in, can he? No, apparently he cannot. Now we just need to figure out how to get a tummy tuck, belly button reassignment or whatever, boob job, just a titch of lipo around the hips, and butt implants taken care of for a $10 copay...

Tonya and I went to a seminar last night. Topic was "The Strong Willed Child". Presentor was John Rosembaugh? I think that's his name. If any parents ever have a chance to hear this dude talk - GO! Tremendous. Fabulous. Entertaining. I can't even start to tell you how basic it is to stop your child from owning you, you as in you parents. Now, let me get this straight, our kids are perfect. We only went for the entertainment aspect. Right. Our situation is such right now that it is very difficult on all of us. As you can imagine, most of our time is spent dealing with The Quads. Please don't take "dealing with" as a mean way, or sarcastic way of what amounts to dedicating the majority of our time to The Quads. You've all raised a baby. They need your time. So with us, yeah, that's a lot of time. Needless to say, Aiden and Cale being cooped up in the cottage kind of makes mom and dad want to rip our hair out and jump through the window and run like dang Forest Gumpp - Run Lew Run...

So, I will now start beating Aiden and Cale when they act up. No really, John told us to walk in the house last night, look at Aiden and Cale, and shout "It's over"! We will now have "a presence" in our house. We will now be view by Aiden and Cale as "Leaders". We will now command respect from Aiden and Cale. We will not have to give a 5 minute justification on why they have to eat all their dinner, or whatever.

Actually, I felt as though I was sort of on par with a lot of John's thoughts and theories. I believe in the old school. Cause I'm an old fool. Love that song. Anyway, John is a shrink by trade and openly criticized his colleagues for "making stuff up". It's true - think about it. Did your mom and dad or grandma and grandpa have kids in school that were depressed? No. Did they have ADD, AHD, ADHD and all those other acronyms to throw around? No. Did you know the average size of first grade classrooms back in the day was like 3 times the size of an average first grade class today? Yes, it's true. Why? Because back in the day, sure, a first grader came to school and didn't know their ABCs, but, they had respect for their teacher. They learned. And they left the first grade at a higher reading level than what kids today do. Look it up. If a teacher called home back in the day and talked to mom and said little johnny did "this" at class today. Mom said "okay" and that was that. Little Johnny never did "that" again at school. How does that same conversation today go. Yeah, mom vehemently denies that Little Johnny would do "that". Vehemently defends what Little Johnny did. Talks to Little Johnny and gets his interpretation of what he did and calls the teacher back and tells her what Little Johnny told her. It's crap. If you know a first grade teacher, ask them. Parents today, though they try hard and think they are helping, we are not. We need to get our shit together. All of you parents out there need to go listen to this guy. Just phenomenal.

Sorry, could have gone on and on there.

Would like to take the time here to thank Heidi Schramski for assembling a phenomenal group of people who take time out of their busy lives to bring us dinner 3 times a week. For those that come over and see dinner time, yeah, we have like about a 15 minute window to get it done. A million thanks to all of you.

When The Quads are crying and Aiden an Cale are acting like Spiderman clinging to the ceiling, I just drink a beer and smile and think "This is our life, and we love it". At this point, I couldn't imagine life without The Quads. I mean that. It has tried Tonya and me, tried us hard, and we are doing it.

Roger that, over and out.

Couldn't sign off without a shout out to the one person that, in the past 6 months or so, I have gained more respect for than anyone on the planet - Tonya. Can't wait for that boob job...

Yours truly

Here we go -

2009-02-17T11:31:00.004-05:00

Here we go - no pics again - stuck with my witty commentary... or something like that.

Well, our cereal feedings are getting easier - day by day - they are finally figuring out that - HEY! THIS STUFF IS GOOD! And that they actually need to OPEN their mouths and refrain from pushing it back out to enjoy all those filling benefits - hee, hee...

I'm sad to report that little Dane had a bout with something, nobody knows or can diagnose what.... if that's not frustrating? I love this - I bring all the babies into the ped for their 6 month check up - this is a 2 hour sweat fest for those of you who have never corralled 4 babies into an 8x10 room before. THANK GOODNESS they were all so great for us while we were there (thanks mom for helping me out!) - those walls close in in a hurry when they all decide to let 'er rip! (nice double word usage there... is that legal?) Anyhow, poor Dane is screaming all night long, not eating well AT ALL, and I'm literally watching him lose weight - he lost like 1/2 a pound in one week and I am a wreck about it. These little babes go from so healthy to SO SICK, SO FAST it's just scary.

They check him out and it's not an ear infection, which they initially thought. They assure me that teething won't do that... sooooo... "Just watch him for a couple days and then we'll bring him back in. We're not sure what it could be." Love the peds - don't love the "just haul them back in" mentality.

DID YOU MISS THE FACT THAT I HAVE 6 KIDS!?!?!? "Just" coming back in is a MAJOR production in my life - I need at least 2 people, preferably 3, at the cottage to watch the other babies and big boys - unless I am lucky enough not to find any and bring them all with me.

Now there's a good time =)

Anyhow, I called twice over the course of the next couple days and thankfully Dane is now on the mend. But so skinny!! It's just weird - he was always our little porker and now I think that Summer looks bigger than him! We are just praying that nobody else catches that bug... or whatever it was. Ugh.

All in all a lot to be grateful for - our first "sickness" since bringing the babies home. I CHALK IT UP TO ALL THAT GERM-X!!! Say what you want, being a germ-phobe can't hurt the health of our family...

And on the mama T front - yep - surgery on March 9th. I don't have time to drag you all through my months of appointments, second opinions, third opinions, etc. - but it was quite the ride!! In the end I just have to say LISTEN TO YOUR GUT AND GET THAT NEXT OPINION IF YOU NEED TO!!!

With three different surgeons I got three COMPLETELY different surgery options to fix the same exact hernia!! I was blown away. I am not well versed on our medical community and how it all goes down, and being an outsider I was floored. Here were the three opinions, in order in which I received them:
#1- Open cut from rib cage to below belly button to insert mesh and contain massive umbilical hernia. Out of the question to bring ab muscles back together, can not just "fix" abs (my question - wanted to fix the root of the problem!). No laproscopy.
#2- I have three options: laproscopy to insert mesh over hernia, open cut ribs to belly button to insert mesh only, or open cut (same enormous vertical cut) to insert mesh and then bring abdominal walls back together over top... OK. Not possible to use low horizontal incision.
#3- Horizontal cut near c-section scar to insert mesh and fix abs over top.

HUH!?!??! Thank GOODNESS the second surgeon INSISTED that I get the third opinion - I really wasn't going to because I felt like I was making a mountain out of a molehill... I knew in my heart that I wanted to actually FIX my abs not just cover up the problem. We are not talking about some small hernia, folks. This puppy is HUGE and is getting worse by the week - I am going to take pics and post them - I swear. Freak you out it may - but heck! I'd be interested in what having quads can do to those abs!!

So, I called 4 days before I was going in with surgeon #2 with some reservations and last minute questions and he really did INSIST that I call surgeon #3 - I felt like a fool doing so at the time but now I couldn't be happier!!! Both docs will actually be in the surgery, #2 does mesh #3 fixes abs... interesting how it all plays out.

March 9th it is - overnight stay, what? Ugh - I hope all will be well on the homefront with mommy laid up for a while but docs encouraged me to get it fixed ASAP and my weight limit will still include holding babies since they are still pretty small... thank goodness!!

Pray for daddy? Perhaps....

Where to begin...

2009-02-10T22:38:00.002-05:00

It's been a while, folks.

Glad to be back... without pics once again. Sorry Charlie.

We have had a LOT going on in our little Lew Crew world - it's amazing how much can change in a month!

Most importantly in our lives ALL of our children are all thriving, healthy, and coming into their own more and more every day - it's an awesome experience to watch it all transpire around me daily. The quads turned SIX MONTHS OLD on January 31st - WHAT? Where in the heck did time go? And they were rewarded with their first taste of real food - that yummy mush cereal mixed with breastmilk.

How lucky can one get in life?

Talk about upping the anty at feeding time - whoa. It is all out war-fare in our house during cereal time!! Some days are better than others, but for the most part it's just nuts on wheels. Here's my thoughts on it all: babies are used to either breastmilk/formula straight from the tap or from a bottle. With either of these feeding options there is very little WAIT time involved. Hence? Impatient eaters, right?

But when you have four little mouths looking up at you from these gargantuan chairs and bibs twice the size of their bodies (that's no exaggeration - it's a coverall for cryin' out loud!) it is extremely difficult to KEEP UP! Shovel, shovel, shovel, shovel... that's all I can say about it. These babies are HUN-GRY and they are NOT in the mood to WAIT!

From the first feeding, in which approximately 89% was wasted on bibs/neck creases/shirts/the floor (sorry Julie!) there were clearly some stand out eaters.

Or eater. Singular.

Brock the Rock.

This kid is like "forget the freaking cereal - order me up a chili dog!" He's always been our best eater and this cereal stuff is no exception! We all clamour to get Brock at feeding time... hee, hee...

Oh, and just so y'all know - we had the quads in for the RSV clinic last Friday and (drum roll please) Brock is now the heavy weight of the group!! From the smallest boy quad - coming in at just 2#9oz - to the BIGGEST quad at 14#3oz!! Dane is now a sullen second placer at 13#12oz, Cam is ticked off at 12#13oz, and little SUmmer Girl is representing at 10#15oz. Brockee kept his eye on the ball chasing Dane for that title and has finally succeeded!! And, really, it's amazing even to ME and I see them every single day all day, how much they have filled out and changed over the past month.

THEY ARE BIG 'OLE, ROUNDED OUT HEALTHY BABIES!!

Hooray! And the personalities are so distinct now too. I will try to get some pics on soon that clearly display each of them - it's so cool to watch them interact now too. They LOVE checking each other out when we have "baby olympics" around the cottage (play toy, to mat, to

New Year, New Beginnings...

2009-01-14T11:24:00.005-05:00

Check out the diaper bum on little Cam... that's right -it's official.

We have went cloth folks!

My mom and dad are fairly convinced that I am going to scare off any help I have by taking on this new endeavor - but seriously - it's going great! And, thankfully, BLESS THOSE VOLUNTEERS!!! Most of them used cloth anyhow so they are being good sports about it all =)

We are about 3 weeks into the new system and, yes, there is certainly a reason I waited to write. We had our ups and DOWNS figuring it all out for the first week or so. But that Ruth from Eastfield Laundry has been AMAZING and acutally came out to the house to give us a private tutorial on how to get 'er going - wow - night and day with a bit of practice.

Let me be the first to tell you that there is nothing fun about CHANGING FOUR BABIES OUTFITS EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU CHANGE THEIR DIAPERS.

Wow. Talk about time consuming.

But now we are pros - and we are using the most simple system ever - the one that most of our mother's or at least grandmothers used. Good old fashioned prefolds with rubber pants.

Roger that.

It's ubber cheap and it works. Period.

We tried some of the super fancy stuff but honestly like this system the best!! We have some really nice handmade cloth diapers and a bunch of different brands of the fancy smancy expensive pocket/all in one/etc. ones. But when you are diapering FOUR at a time - you don't want any additional laundry with those covers and the plastic is totally LEAK PROOF.

This is key to survival.

Plus, Eastfield Laundry - whom we LOVE because they took a chance on this whole diaper laundering thing for us - actually PICKS UP and DROPS OFF the prefolds. And even gives us these big ole pails with a awesome smelling "green" solution to dump them in and they take it from there!

Whoa.

Cloth is good.

And, to add to our thrifty-save-the-world campaign we are also using washclothes instead of wipes... Jeremy isn't quite THRILLED about that one, but he's being a trooper. And it is astounding how much money we have saved by changing over to reusable resources!

I honestly believe that it is not THAT much more work for us at this point - and the babies seem perfectly fine with them. We had to bump them all up a clothes size because the cloth really do take up a LOT MORE space than disposables - but no biggie there... except mommy trying to do the clothes swap/put away again. Holy toledo!

I will say that I think this cloth diaper cover thingy has a lot of room for improvement, though. And I KNOW that everybody and their brother has come up with their own system! But, seriously... doing 4 at a time has given us a pretty good idea of what works and what clearly does NOT because we have very little tolerance for the latter. We want plastic pants with velcro closure. That's it. It'd still be super economical (these fancy ones are OUTRAGEOUS!) and work with the prefolds. I have tried looking but can not seem to find anything that is still on the market like that? It looks like their USED to be, but the products are "no longer available"? Maybe it doesn't work as great as it sounds? If you know otherwise, let me know!

Here is the problem we have found with the traditional plastic pants over prefolds:

Scenario #1: You have a really wet diaper. Pretty much HAVE to touch the wetness to get at the diaper and get that elastic cover off. If you check to see that it is ONLY wet you can test your ability to get off the prefold and cover in fell swoop - after you unhook the prefold (pins or other closure). If you don't get it off all at once? You pull off cover and then have a really wet diaper sitting on your changing table/next diaper (preloading a good idea)/outfit - ick. Granted, not the end of the world - we use a prefold under them and then can just throw it in the bucket and get a new one each time if needed - but it adds to laundry.

Scenario #2: You have a dirty diaper. No option to pull everything off at once. Why? Because you will quickly find your baby's legs and feet doused in poop, folks. It is what it is. I can't think of any other way to tell you and it's repulsive. DRAGGING a poopy diaper down their legs and off just is not in the cards. So once you get the prefold un-hooked (I always do this first by reaching inside), you have to take off the cover on it's own and try not to let the dirty diaper touch the changing table/next diaper/outfit (Double EWWW!!!). If you do not just use another prefold here you are going to go through a lot of changing pads!

Anyhow, I think I just made this cloth thing sound bad - but it's really not. I'm just walking you through the two worst scenario's that we have found after using them for a month incase you are interesting in giving 'er a go! And, let's be honest, they are NOT that bad. I totally think velcro, like with a disposable, would solve 90% of these issues!! But I have yet to find an inexpensive velcro, WATERPROOF cover.

HOOK A SISTA' UP!!!

Here's some pics of our fam... enjoy!

Jeremy and the big boys when we got out sledding!

Summer Girl fell asleep sitting up watching (guess?) football with daddy...

Smiley Cam - melt your heart!

Aiden and Caleb enjoying Miss Stephanie's jello in the tub... they heard it's good for your skin? Hmmm...

And the cannibals at the end would like to thank Miss Heidi for starting up our meals again - what an enormous blessing!!! And her chicken dish made them feel so manly - getting to eat it with their HANDS and OFF A BONE!!!

What a hero you are in our house, Heidi - thanks for everything you do for us...

Merry Christmas & Happiest of New Years!

2009-01-05T10:14:00.023-05:00

Would you look at this family picture?

WE LOVE THE HOLIDAYS!!!

Yes, it is a bit on the nutty side - BUT WE LOVE IT!

Obviously, this crew wasn't going far from home base so we are eternally grateful that our family all made the trek up north to be with us at some point over the holidays. Auntie Kristy wins first prize for longest drive, all the way from Gainsville, Florida baby!! Every single member of our immediate families were up over the course of the last 3 weeks - yahoo!

And our chitlins tried not to disappoint with mayhem as usual over here - I swear people are almost bummed when they are over and it's all Q-U-I-E-T... but it does happen now that we are on a pretty regular schedule! (all subject to change on about 5 minutes notice)

Plus, the big boys and I had a blast making all our Christmas presents this year - every single one was homemade... we have never done 100% before and we may never go back - it was so rewarding for our whole family to work together and see the boys satisfaction in what they had created ALL ON THEIR OWN! We made cookie jars, drink coozies with puffy paint personalization, wood picture frames, candy baggies, and - the monster of all cool ideas - our personalized wine and beer gifts for the adults! I would show you pics, but, seriously, Jeremy think we are the FUNNIEST people ever coming up with this idea!! Oh, and until we brew our own beer and wine we may have some copyright issues - hee, hee... but a hint? Six pack for six kids, folks. And Jeremy and I spent a date night laughing our heini's off as we came up with all the names - Cale Ale anyone? SHOOT!

Genius... simply genius around here.

Anyhow, we also set records with the coolest Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. You think this is some joke? Nuh uh. Sucker only held plastic 'indestructable' ornaments and our hand made popcorn strings... one for the string, one for us, one for the string... we didn't get TOO far on that task...and our angel at the top nearly capsized our little beauty. Truck only lights? Forget about it. This is the stuff that memories are made of.

Other awesome highlights? Our spectacular gingerbread cookie decorating contest - you wanna' talk heated competition - whoa. Auntie Jess and Auntie Kristy were squaring off something fierce - with Grammie pulling the sneak attack at the end. Thankfully Aiden, Caleb, and mama T were all about our mounds of icing to ensure maximum candy stackability.

Where it's at.

Also had the opportunity to take the big boys ice skating for the first time (uh - mommies first time as well - yikes!)! Wow. I've really tried resisting for a long time because, well, because I wasn't sure that I could handle the two of them when I couldn't keep off my arce myself, and because I was petrified they would take it as a green light to play ice hockey. Uhhhh NO. This fam does not have the time nor resources to pour into a sport like that - we have watched our friends and neighbors do it and they are NUTS. But - ice skating certainly was a huge success and we had papa here to pick up the pieces... of mommy.

We also had some huge weigh-ins over holiday at the RSV clinic - fierce competition and some restructuring of the weight line up with the quads:

Dane - 12#3oz

Brock - 11#14oz

Cam - 11#12oz

Summer - 9#6oz

WHOA! Yes, Dane is still holding his heavy weight title - but Brock has made some serious gains in his quest to over take the lead! Poor Cam - he's not so happy about relinquishing his 2nd place status... but the lil guy was sick! And Summer, well, she's just our peanut. She doesn't appear to have any interest in this race to bulk up - she throws her weight around in other arenas around here (how can dressing a little girl be SO MUCH FUN!?!?!)!!

Being home with all the kids for about 2 full weeks with just myself and papa (Grammie and Jeremy still worked except the holidays) really gave me a chance to get a GOOD schedule in order and try for some consistency. So - here it is - a typical day in the life of a Lew Quad:

5:30-6:30am -- wake up and EAT, EAT, EAT! Exhausted. Fall back asleep. (chalk one up for mommy and daddy!)

7:30-8:00am -- wake up again and SMILE, PLAY, SMILE! Another day - WOOHOO!!

9:30am -- morning snack (~2ounces) After all the playing need to refuel!

10:00am -- Exhausted. Nap...

11:00am-noon -- wake up and CHOW! Then play as hard as possible!

1:00-3:00 -- nap/play/nap/play... I just can't decide! Mostly nap...

3:30-4:00pm -- wake up and EAT! Play, smile, play!

5:00-5:30pm -- little siesta to prepare for night time fun? usually about 1/2 hour nap.

6:00-7:30pm -- No holds barred at the Lew house - all systems a-go! That "after dinner" hour: big boys are nuts, babies are lovin' the entertainment... mommy and daddy are wondering what the noise level would register?

8:30-9:00pm -- Nighty night babies! See you in your dreams...

11:30-midnight -- dream feed (refer to previous blogs for details...)

Repeat sequence.

Not too shabby, eh? We think it's going awesome! But we are getting a little nervous that we should be done with dream feeds soon so that they don't get in the HABIT of needing to eat around midnight - you know? Maybe in another week or so we'll give 'er a whirl.. start b y decreasing the amount they get at those feeds and wean them off it. It's weird because, again, we never did these "dream feeds" with our other kids and we had them sleeping through the night by 3 months (YAHOO!) - but because the quads were 2 months early we feel like they are just at that 3 month mark now anyhow... or at least that's what everybody keeps telling us to remember =) I really think that it's just tougher to get 4 little ones sleeping through the night because they really do get each other going if you allow them too much time to "figure it out" on their own before intervening. There is just a lot riding on the fact that you could quickly go from one awake to, gulp, 4 wide awake! We'll see how it goes as we transition here.

Cross fingers.

It's just so freaking fun with these little critters over here - a giggle fest now with all of them checking each other out and they LOVE watching their big brothers entertain them! Our favorite past times include dazzling the babies with our high-flying acrobatics (as performed on Grammie's bed... hey - even the Ringling Brothers had to start somewhere, right?) - we are off the freaking hook if Ifailed to mention it.

And speaking of fun - our New Years was great! Jeremy and I actually had sitters and were able to go up to Jess & Hans' house to enjoy some adult time with my girlfriend Dana, her hubby Steve, Cousin Mandy, Auntie Kristy, and my 'rents!!! How on earth did the Lews have sitters on the most coveted babysitting night all year? Well, the text message I received went a little something like this: 'Hi! Just wondering what you are doing for New Years? Bradley and I would love to come over and watch the kids if you want to go out." Uhhhh... what? Yes, it is at this point that we want to give a GI-NORMOUS shout out to our long-lost Bellaire babysitter Lauryn Alger and her fiance' Bradley. Not only did they CONTACT US about New Years, but they DROVE ALL THE WAY FROM BELLAIRE to be here! Oh, and by the way, they are in college, like 21 years old, and could probably think of a FEW OTHER PLACES they might rather hang out on New Years... FYI. But Noooooo... instead they lugged themselves over to Traverse City (about an hour away) to chill wit' a 2 & 4 year old and 4 little 5 month olds to ring in the new year!!

And I'M nutty?

I don't have ANYTHING on these two!!

No, but really, they are not nutty - they are just two of the sweetest, most mature people you could ever meet.

Alright, let's be honest... I'm SURE that Lauryn bribed Bradley - at first I honestly thought that maybe she was trying to scare him off or something? I mean, who DOES that? Poor dude didn't know what was coming, that's for darned sure =) Especially since we made it mandatory that they stayed the night too.

I know.

Do we know how to push our luck or what? But there was NO WAY that we could live with ourselves putting them back out on the road at like 2am on New Years - it was WAY too far to drive.

And yet they still agreed!

We love you Lauryn and Bradley!

Happy New Year, y'all! Our family has so much to look forward to (we think?) - this is the year that we will find our new family a home, Aiden will go to Kindergarden, Caleb will finally run the roost with Aiden gone during the day, and our beloved quadruplets will learn to walk and talk... holy smokes.

You'd better hope that we don't end up in YOUR neighborhood.

HA!

Super Human Alien Tricks and such...

2008-12-24T00:35:00.000-05:00

OK, so this post is not going to have any pics... I'm having technical difficulties here... darn it! But maybe that will help me keep this blog down to a couple of pages... or not? It's not easy putting a muzzle on this one.

Just ask my husband.

But I really wanted to write regarding a couple of things that we have going on right now. And if I'm lucky I'll find a couple of you experienced mommies and daddies out there who can teach this old dog some new tricks!

So, one day I'm noticing that, HOLY COW! I might have just about lost that quad prego belly thing going on! But - waaaaiiitttt a minute here... something is a miss. I still have this strange cavernous area between where my ab muscles come together? And - EWWW! If I lean back just right the whole darned area pops out! GROSS! Hmmm... and what is THIS? It kinda' stays hidden throughout the day untiiiilllll mama T eats and then - POOF! There she blows again! No leaning back required this time?

Yes, it's official now.

I'm a super freak.

Now, my docs had warned me long before I had the quads that my ab muscles may never come ALL the way back together again after being so stretched out with this pregnancy. So, initially I wasn't THAT suprised to feel the separation - even after all this time. But the difference was this bulging alien-like thing I had going on... just in case you were wondering: NOT SO HOT.

In fact we recently had the opportunity to take the kids to see santa at the Great Wolf Lodge (and I do mean SANTA. this is the REAL GUY, folks.) and I was contemplating being one of those chicks who wears like shorts and a t-shirt over her suit as not to alert the public to my alien-like growth. And one thing I have honestly never been is extremely self-conscious.

Ummmm... you saw the quad-prego bikini pics, right? Yeah, I'm not telling you anything new here. This sista' has more war wounds on her body to show off than a lot of road kill - so I'm over it.

Sorry if you're not and you run into me in a bathing suit. I think it was kinda' weird for Jeremy as I was calling all my girlfriends looking for a one-piece suit to wear... SOOOOO not something I would typically worry about. And I did track down a one piece (thanks Beth!) - but in the end I said "F-it" and wore my normal 2-piece. I is who I is... I was there to tear that joint up with our kids, not be all self absorbed in my stinking bathing suit.

Yet nobody went all Ghostbusters on me, so I guess it wasn't as noticable while in constant motion?

Or, more likely, they felt sorry for the odd little carney girl.

But, the point of my story (FINALLY!) is that I have since learned that I have a 'massive umbilical hernia'.

Roger that. My growth is intestines and stomach bulging out.

Hmmmm...

OK.

They tell me that I have to have surgery to correct the problem or I could cause myself a heck of a lot MORE problems (it's gross - don't ask). And because of the size of my hernia I can not have laproscopic surgery (DANG IT! I really tried for this one...) nor can they do it as out-patient (most hernia surgeries are now).

Oh, and one more small thing: I can't lift anything over ten lbs for 4 weeks.

Summer is our ONLY baby still under 10lbs - and she's 9-1/2 as of last week so by the time I have the operation I'm out of luck! I'm not so sure how we are going to figure out what to do with mommy on the down-low. As of right now I'm just banking on the fact that I will heal up fairly quickly and it won't be nearly as long of a recovery period as they initially stated.

Probably just scare tactics, right?

Or not.

Seriously - I know enough after talking to the docs and doing my own research that I can't dink around with the "rules" on this whole gig. I don't want one of those attractive bags hanging off my waist for the rest of my life - that's for sure. And, more importantly, I certainly don't want to have to listen to my parents and hubby tell me "I told you so" for the rest of my life!

I mean, I typically have volunteers or some other form of help about 3-4 times/week - usually for 2-4 hours. If I am seriously as out of commission as they are talking for as LONG as they are talking... well... hmmm... may need to reassess, eh?

The good news is that Grammie is coming out of her orientation soon at Munson and so she'll be around a bit more by the end of the month. Right now she's essentially working full time with all sorts of tests and what have you, so we don't see her much. I hope that between Grammie and Jeremy's work schedules we can somehow rotate in the volunteers, Papa, Auntie Jessica, Uncle Hans, and even a visit from Auntie Kristy & Grandma Lew to cover our heini's - whew! It is going to be nuts, but I'm sure we will be OK.

What I am REALLY hoping for by sharing my tale is that someone out there reading our blog has been through this operation, or knows someone who has, and can offer some "here is what you are REALLY in for" advice. I know that a typical hernia is somewhat different than what I am dealing with - so if any of you multiple birth mama's can help a sista' out? Thank you in advance!

Figuring it out

2008-12-21T21:21:00.006-05:00

Our little Cameron is back!

Every day we have our challenges and successes - but his pneumonia appears to be cleared up and he couldn't light up a room any brighter than when he unleashes that adorable nose-crinkle, crooked smile! Thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement.

And ever since my previous post regarding Cameron, my mind has weighed heavy with some things that I have a hard time talking about. But I am going to give it a try anyhow.

Jeremy and I are not perfect people. We do not always say the right thing. We do not always do the right thing. We are not perfect spouses. We are not perfect parents.

And, most importantly, we do not pretend to be.

It was extremely difficult for me to write about what happened to Cameron... I am sure that is no suprise... but it was more than reliving the nightmare of what he went through that day. It was acknowledging to all of you, and MYSELF, that it happened on MY watch and while I was alone. I have never felt so looked down upon in my life as when those police officers came in and were in complete bewilderment asking "Who is here to HELP you?" It was as if they had me under interrigation and I was guilty of being alone with my six children.

Oh I get it alright, six is a LOT when they are all 4 and under, folks. But up until that day, that moment, I had always brushed off the comments that we get: "You are amazing! I could never do what you do! I am just in awe of you!" As much as we are completely flattered by it all, we are also utterly embarrassed knowing it couldn't be further from the truth. Those of you who know us know that we vehemently deny any and all claims that we somehow do it better than any other parent out there would do if put in our shoes. We do not believe that because we were chosen for this role by God that we somehow transend the everyday mistakes and sometimes poor judgement that each and every one of us succumbs to on occasion.

And yet there I was, alone, doing what any mommy/daddy does, taking care of our children the best I could.

How could I possibly let this happen?

But we also believe that what happened to Cameron could have and would have happened if there would have been ten people in the house to help me that day. You just never know. I can sit here and beat myself up that I didn't catch him sooner, or count my blessings repeatedly that I found him when I did.

I choose the latter road. I am grateful to have Cameron here and healthy once again. I can not undo what happened, only try to learn from it and do whatever I can to prevent it from happening again. Our cup is half full, in fact it over floweth, with all of the amazing blessings we have in this life.

I just want you all to know that we pour our hearts and souls into this blog when we do have the opportunity to write.

Often times it is hard to convey the message I intend to. Hard to dictate on a screen what your heart is bleeding about... at least in my little non-journalism world it is. But I try my darndest to write with all that I have so each of you can begin to feel what we do. Especially for the families out there who are living a portion of the world that we are - thank you for sharing with us and now I hope you can take something of value away from what we share with you. Often times I know that I leave myself wide open and vulnerable to critcism and judgement by writing so honestly and without a filter.

Oh well.

I don't believe that sugar-coating our life does any of us any good. We are not the Waltons, we are the Lew Crew and we have good days, and bad days, and everything in between. We have our moments of euphoria and our moments of absolute chaotic meltdown. But in the end, we could not love our family and our life more than we do because we are grateful for each other. We live our lives the best we know how TODAY and if we learn something than maybe TOMORROW we will do it a little better... and the day after that... and the day after that. We have made strides in our confidence and ability to raise our family in a positive way. We have healthy 2 and 4 year olds that are finding their way as their new role of big, BIG brothers. We are so very proud of them. They have come so far with us on this journey.

Every day we get up and put one foot in front of the other and try our darndest to make good choices and show our children how much they are loved in the process.

Some days we do better than others. That is just the way it is. And I presume that most families operate in the same manner. We are no different. We just take away what we can from each day watching our children grow and learn... and melt our hearts in the process.

We love our children. We love one another. And we love our life. This much we know.

..................................................

Thank you all for calling and writing after reading about our little Cameron. It was so nice to hear from so many of you... to know we had you all out there praying for our family and to know we weren't alone. All of the positive thoughts and insights are priceless. We value every single comment we receive and we are touched that you took the time to share with us. Thank you.

Day by day we are figuring it out. Day by day we get a little better at reading the signals as to what works and what doesn't with our six children. But we have had a LOT of guidance from some DO-ers in our lives as well that I have to share.

Regarding the formula/spit up debacle - let me introduce you once again to my girlfriend Heidi. A classic-case DO-er. She was just DONE with me listening to our peds (whom we do happen to really like) and beyond frustrated that I wasn't doing more to take matters into my own hands. So about 4 days after our hospital stay with Cameron a box shows up on our doorstep. It is a formula called Neocate. This is the gold-standard in formula - there is really nothing above it on the food chain for babies (except breastmilk). I was actually told by a nurse that you can nearly inject this stuff into your veins it is so completely broken down for the babies.

Whoa.

Heidi had tremendous success with it for her son - he had crazy allergies that were making him absolutely miserable until they found this stuff. I talked to our ped about it and he said it was a "bit of a jump" from what they would have us do - which was work our way UP the formula chain of command - instead this was essentially starting at the tippy top.

Good.

I wanted to see if this was in fact a formula problem for our babies. I am well aware that I have beat this horse to a pulp. I KNOW that preemies have a horrible time with reflux/spit up and that many of you think I just want to point a finger at SOMEONE, SOMETHING for all the problems we developed after the formula was introduced.

Maybe. Maybe. I can not deny that I just wanted some freaking answers and I just wanted it all to STOP. I was scared sh*tless after what happened to Cameron and I didn't care who thought I was full of junk - I just wanted results.

Just over a week later and we have not had a single projectile vomit incidence since.

I mean it.

We introduced the Neocate slowly because Heidi warned that it tastes radically different than breastmilk and other formulas and we didn't want the babies to reject it. But I kid you not that the transformation in our babies lives is remarkable - spit up is now down to a dribble here and a little blotch there. NOTHING like the shirt and carpet soakers we were experiencing a few weeks ago. It is crazy.
And so for any of you who think that I was living in a fantasy land that I could blame the formula? Well, I don't know what to say except that I am grateful for my girlfriend Heidi taking our bull by the horns and introducing the Neocate to us. And if this is somehow, some way a case of mind over matter? Well, I'll be a monkey's you-know-what if I could manage that with a set of 5 month old quads.

And if we can try to put what happened to Cam out of our minds for a minute - we are otherwise happy to report that we are staying reasonably healthy throughout the winter - a couple trips to the ped for icky coughs with the babies - but they keep reassuring me that we are doing fine!

YAHOO (and knock on wood!)!

We have had tons of visitors for the holiday season - grandma Marge, Uncle G, Aunt Tracy, our friends the Stevens... look at the chitlins in THIS pic!! And cousin Avery had just taken off otherwise she would've been hanging with us too...
Other big news in the Lew fam? Aiden told blue blankie to take a hike to the garbage can... HUGE news here. He even told daddy that he "needed a minute alone" out there (yes, it was spur of the moment - note attire) to decide between the yellow and blue blankies. We were all shocked that blue was chosen to be deep sixed - he's had it since he was born... this kid is really growing up.

Oh, and Aiden also changed his first (of many - I HOPE!) diapers!! Lucky Summer... ummmm....

And many thanks to Aiden and Caleb for donning their helmets and helping mommy de-icicle the roof at the cottage - these boys mean BUISNESS! Too bad they weren't about 3 feet taller so they could actually REACH some of them for me... without me having to hold them up... hmmm... oh well. 'A' for effort here. It was all about the look.

Papa and Uncle G luvin' up little Summer...

Avery, Summer, and Carley Stevens... All da' ladies be chillin'.

Little Caleb - Go Lions?

Aiden and our snow fort - a meager effort this year due to the fact the boys ate all the snow as we built it.

Our beautiful quads: (clockwise from top) Cameron, Summer Girl, Brockee, and Heavy D.

Being Thankful...

2008-12-13T22:38:00.005-05:00

There are those times in our lives when we feel so helpless... so out of control...

Running on nothing but pure panic and adrenaline...

And only in retrospect can we realize the sheer magnitude of what transpired... try to piece together the details... and begin the healing process.

Last Tuesday was a beautifully snowy day - the holidays are here and the Lew family loves it! The big boys went down for their naps as usual and the babies started to wake up to eat right around the time I had finished cleaning up the PB&J lunch mess. Now, when I have help in feeding the babies we operate under the "if one wakes up, they ALL get up" rule - to keep some sort of schedule (I KNOW it seems cruel and wrong that we actually wake sleeping babies - but a schedule is better for everyone involved). However when I am alone with all the kids I try my darndest to nurse two before the other two are really ticked off and hungry too. Trust me, I have fed all four at once due to extremely upset babies on more than one occasion (nurse two with a boppy on each side with bottles for the other two) and burping becomes a SERIOUS juggling act!

So, since Summer and Brock were stirring first, I changed and then nursed them while Cam and Dane were still asleep. It is during these rare quiet times that I really, TRULY get a chance to reflect on how amazing our lives are with these gorgeously healthy and happy babies - each one of them so beautiful and precious, yet each one of them so different and unique.

Once Summer and Brock were done eating I played with them for a bit - these babies have things to say and are always full of smiles on a full belly =) Then I made the 1/2 and 1/2 bottles up for Cam and Dane and put their water in the microwave to heat up while I went to wake them and change their diaper (yes, we are painfully consistent). As I was walking out of the kitchen to get Dane, Aiden came walking down the hallway - he had woken up from his nap (or never fallen asleep) and at 4-1/2 he is only required to rest in his bed for a bit. 9 times out of 10, he totally falls asleep and naps, but when he doesn't it is no big deal. I know there are not many kids his age that still nap and he's going to school next year so he needs to start out growing it anyhow.

Since Dane and Cam were still sleeping I asked him if he wanted to read a book before I fed the babies, so we were heading into the back playroom to pick one out when Dane woke up. And Dane likes to be heard. Brotha' has a set of LUNGS on him, folks! So, when Dane talks, I typically listen - ha! So, sadly, as it goes, I turned and looked at Aiden and said "You go ahead and pick out the book, buddy. I am going to start feeding the babies and we'll read it as soon as I'm done, OK?" So, Aiden plotted back by himself and I went in to get Cameron (since I knew Dane was awake, eh?).

Cameron was sleeping on his back in his bed. We keep them all slightly elevated while they sleep and he had a couple pillows with a blanket overtop them creating a nice little nest for him. Only when I walked in I couldn't see Cameron.

He had somehow gotten his hand underneath the corner of the blanket and had flipped the corner of it just enough so that it was covering his face about over to his ear. Immediately my heart dropped and I ran up to pull it away...

Cameron had thrown up in his sleep - and whether or not this is what caused his reflexes to jump and toss the blanket over his face or not, we will never know... but what we do know is that the thick, mucusy spit up was plugging his nose and mouth and the blanket was over top it all. No airways were open, and therefore Cameron was not breathing. Cameron's face was bluish grey and his eye lids looked almost black.

To write these words now makes the event seem so... casual. Such a flippant conversation. Like I am sharing something I saw on the Discovery Health Channel or something.

Please know that this was by far one of the scariest events of my entire life.

I wish I could tell you exactly what was going through my mind and how I kept it all together - but I can not and did not. I was absolutely terrified and it's almost as if my body went numb in a state of shock in it's effort to process what was happening. There was no one else in my life but Cam, and as I grabbed him and flung him over my shoulder screaming his name I have no memory of being conscious of our other children all being in the house and watching me. For this I am sorry. All the training in the world does not prepare a mother to see her child in the state that I found Cameron.

What was my immediate thought? I honestly don't know. But I knew enough to do everything in my power to get our baby breathing. And thank God I knew enough to pick up my phone and dial '911' above everything else.

I could write pages on the phone call I had with '911' - it was such an emotional, torturous, frustrating experience. I am not saying the people who work the lines are not Saints, because clearly they are. But when you are in such a mad state of panic that you can barely breathe, the last thing you need is some overly calm gentleman telling you "M'am. I need you to calm down now. Tell me your name. And... M'am. I said you need to just calm down so I can talk to you. I am trying to help you m'am. Please calm down now..."

Repeat. Times 40.

All the while I am screaming into the phone "My baby is NOT breathing! My baby is BLUE! I need an ambulance here NOW! 204 Birchwood - 204 BIRCHWOOD! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME NOW! Oh my God, Oh my God... Did you call the ambulance? We are at 204 Birchwood! Why aren't they here yet? HELP ME!!"

And in the background this man hears Dane cry so he actually says to me "M'am! Your baby is BREATHING! I hear your baby crying! M'am! Listen to me! He is breathing!" I do not know how to express this frustration. Wrong baby, wrong baby... and that is very hard to explain when you are in a state of utter dispair and panic.

As I was walking around the house screaming Cameron's name and trying to talk to '911' I had Cameron up on my shoulder and was whacking him in an effort to clear his airways. I was a lifeguard for many years and trained in CPR, but I thought that if I tried to blow in his nose and mouth I might make the situation worse... I grabbed our CPR/FIRST AID sheet off the fridge and began reading a bit more - it was more of a panic scan - but I still thought that I was better off not administering CPR.

Around this time little Caleb came out of his room crying. I had woken him up from his nap with my cries for help. Imagine how scared our beautiful Cale was to find mommy in the state she was as he turned the corner. The poor thing...

It felt like years, and I do not know if it was 10 minutes or 40 minutes - but somewhere along the chain of events, Cameron coughed. Not an earth-shattering cough. But a meek cough, a cough that did not prove to clear much - but a cough. And no matter how small it was I knew that it meant we had break through. Air could make it's way into Cameron's lungs and our baby could breathe.

Thanks be to God.

The amount of mucus that Cameron cleared with his cough was not barely enough to keep him conscious. And unless I continued to hit him on the back he kept falling unconscious in my arms... in my arms... I was absolutely convinced that I was going to watch my baby die in my arms that day... reliving that day... these tears running down my cheeks all over again. .

At some point I ran Cameron over to the window to try and get a look into his eyes... I know they are so telling... but what I saw was so frightening. His little eyes simply could not focus - they were opened only a hair - slits - and they were darting back and forth so quickly - focusing on nothing at all - they were not focusing on anything - just rapidly bouncing left to right to left to right... and his mouth, his mouth was hanging open a bit and bubbling or foaming...

It was absolutely terrifying to witness - our baby boy appeared to be gone. His mind seemed void, on autopilot, in a scary place. It was almost seizure-like, if I had to try and explain it better. Although I have never truly seen a seizure so I can't say for sure. It was horrible. And after seeing that my gut told me that our Cam might never be coming back.

I was still on the phone with '911' and felt like I was getting no where - the ambulance was still not here and it felt like it had been hours since I found Cameron. I felt that every single second was a gift that I could keep him hanging on - I was so frustrated and, well, almost angry at this point. Just screaming into the phone "Why aren't you here yet? Did you even CALL an ambulance? I need you to help my baby!"

The phone fell to the ground as I once again felt Cameron go limp in my arms and I panicked to stimulate him into consciousness... I was able to do so and I then ran to find the FIRST AID/CPR sheet again to see if there was anything I could be doing - should be doing better to help our baby. I then laid Cameron on the ground to see him better, picked up the phone, and quickly scanned the sheet in front of me.

I believe that it was around this time that I looked up for the first time.

There stood Aiden and Caleb. They were side by side in the doorway between the back playroom and the living room... just standing... and staring... at their mommy... who had completely lost control... and though they were not crying out loud, they had tears rolling down their little cheeks... I broke inside all over again realizing what they were witnessing and how I had failed to be a brave and strong mommy for them. They were truly scared stiff - and at 2 and 4 years old I can't even imagine how devastating it was to their system.

But unfortunately I could do very little to console them at that point because I, myself, was completely unstable. I went up to them and asked them to come into the back room and mommy would put the TV on for them - usually a rare treat that they would jump at - but they barely budged. Caleb actually turned away from me and Aiden just stared. I told them that I was sorry for what they were seeing but that Cameron was having trouble breathing and mommy was very scared... very scared... because I love them all so much and don't want anything to happen to any of them.

This seemed to do little to console either of them, but I was able to lure them to the couch and put on a cartoon while the gentleman from '911' lingered on the phone. He was repeating himself over and over still "M'am - you have to calm down, m'am. I can't help you unless you calm down. Are you on Birchwood Street or Birchwood Drive? M'am. I need you to listen to me..."

Apparently, overly calm people really piss me off when I am in a state of shock.

I was back to pacing the house and shouting back at him "WHERE IS THE AMBULANCE? WHY AREN'T THEY HERE YET!?!?" Again, I don't know if this all transpired over 15 minutes or an hour... I honestly don't.

And then I hung up.

I still hadn't called Jeremy and I really needed him there with me, and most importantly, the rest of our family needed him there.

When I heard his voice on the other end of my phone I completely lost it again - it was all I could do to squeek out a "Jeremy, I need you to come home. Now." I felt bad to leave him without any more information, but I honestly couldn't get any more out. It was as if all the life was getting sucked out of me too by this point - the adrenaline was wearing thin after so long - hearing Jeremy's voice allowed me to come down knowing help was REALLY on the way? I'm not sure. But I was just weak. Exhausted. I wanted Cameron to be OK... and yet, deep, deep down I honestly thought he was gone forever. I thought that the adorable, happy, smiley, cutsie, baby-faced Cameron we have come to love over the past 4-1/2 months was gone forever. He was still floating in and out of consciousness and all I could do was begin to pray.

I dropped to my knees and began to recite 'Hail Mary, full of grace...' over and over and over and over... all while rocking our baby and trying to keep him conscious. The other babies wailed in the background. Our big boys were sitting shocked in the back room. And there we were. Praying.

We had just had the developmental assessment team from Early On over the day prior - and every single one of our babies were doing SO WELL. They are progressing beautifully and are far beyond their 'adjusted age' - yet not all quite up to their 'gestational age' - but close. We were elated not but 24 hours prior.

How quickly our lives can change. How easily we take the good news for granted until...

The ambulance was finally here. The paramedics busted through the front door as I was on my knees still with Cameron - I wonder what a sight I was. And I can still remember them looking around, hearing the other babies cry, and asking "Where is the baby?"

As if I wouldn't be HOLDING the baby. I don't know sometimes... I just don't know.

I can still remember exactly where everyone was that day - Cam in my arms, Summer and Dane both in swings, Brock asleep in the bed, and Aiden and Caleb in the back. Imagine how confusing the situation was as they walked in. They just kept walking around saying "Who is here helping you? There is another one? How many are there? Who else is here again?" And then, finally, they took Cameron from me and pretty much escorted me out of the kitchen where they had laid him saying "M'am - you need to get back. Your other babies need you."

By the way, if I am NEVER called M'AM again - it will be to freaking soon.

M'am my arce.

But I knew they were right - they needed space to evaluate Cameron and I had 4 other children that I had completely neglected at this point that needed me (remember Brockee was sleeping).

So I picked up Dane and Summer and went to the back to see how Aiden and Caleb were doing... they seemed OK at this point - just kind of zoning out in cartoon world. And then one of the paramedics, or policemen, or someone came into the back to find me. He rounded the corner and exclaimed "Wow - there are MORE back here? How many kids are in the house, m'am?" And then, catching himself said to the boys "How are you guys?" They were impressed with this dude, he was in uniform. But it certainly added to the anxiety levels.

They wouldn't allow me near Cam and I began pacing the living room with Dane and Summer still in my arms, trying to find out what was going on. Was he breathing? Was he going to be OK? I had no idea how long Cameron had been without oxygen, and I never will... and that is all that I could think about and ask over and over...

Our neighbor Val, bless her heart, showed up and asked what she could do to help and who she could call to come stay with her and watch the kids. I was a wreck and no help what so ever. I am not even sure that I answered her. But she took over and began making calls. Thank you, Val. The first familar face I saw since it happened and I took great comfort in having her there to help.

The police officers began asking questions about where Cameron was, how it happened, etc. and I did my best to tell them everything over and over. There were SO MANY officers/paramedics and detectives there. I just wanted to get our baby to the hospital and save him. Ask questions later. And I wanted Jeremy with me... but he still wasn't home.

Val assured me that she was fine until Jeremy or a friend of hers arrived, and once I knew help was on the way I could leave with the ambulance to take Cameron into the hospital. They assured me that he was getting oxygen, they had a mask on him by now, and that he "Seems OK." That was the magic phrase from every one of them. He "seems OK". That tells you nothing and that is the way they need it to be. I wasn't allowed to sit in back with him, and that was frustrating and difficult, but I was there with him and talking to him every minute... asking questions...

Jeremy was running up the drive as we were pulling out... my poor husband... he had no answers and could not even come with us... only one person can ride in the ambulance and we needed him inside with Val to take care of all the kids. I wanted him with me more than anything. And as he kissed me through the ambulance window he once again proved to be my rock as he looked me in the eye and told me "Everything will be OK, T. I love you." I love you so much, Jeremy. Thank you for being so strong... for me.. and for our family.

In the emergency room Cameron continued to float in and out - but his color started coming back as they had suctioned him out the entire way to the hospital and his airways were clear. They had him on assisted air and now I FINALLY knew our baby Cam was getting the oxygen he needed. But he wasn't our Cam yet. He was mostly just sleeping, but would occasionally open his eyes a tiny bit to protest a needle or IV or something else they were doing to him - and he was crying which was a good sign too. He did not cry once until we were in the ambulance on the way to the hospital... the silence is terrifying when you know your baby is in distress and fighting for their breath.

Jeremy made it to the hospital fairly quickly - again - I don't have any real sense of the time - but I was extremely happy to have him by my side holding Cameron's hand and talking to him. We were in the ER for a LONG time - the first thing they did (other than IV, oxygen, ad suctioning) was xray his lungs to see if Cam did indeed aspirate the spit up. They scare you to pieces about this in the NICU and stress over and over how dangerous it is for little babies to choke and aspirate because it can lead to pneumonia... they explained to us that if indeed he did asperate that there was a good chance he would be transferred downstate - to DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids - because they do not have a pediatric unit equipped to deal with this type of illness yet.

DeVos Children's... where Aiden and Meadow were born. We know the hospital well... we still consider everyone that took care of us and our twins angels... but we were not anxious to return with a critically ill child and split up our family. We tried not to get worked up until we knew something for sure - but the thought of transferring Cameron was heart breaking.

I finally got a hold of my mom, who was actually AT the hospital working when we were admitted, but I couldn't get a hold of her until she was on her way home. So she turned around and was in with us now too. Thankfully, Jeremy had called Jess & Hans to come down to help Val, her son, and another neighbor watch the kids... so we were comforted knowing there were certainly enough hands on deck to help out with the big boys and other babies while we were all with Cameron at the hospital. But we also knew that the big boys would be really comforted by Grammie being home - since she lives with us and is a source of stability for them. So she only stayed about an hour and then headed back to man the fort with Uncle Hans and Aunt Jess (and Avery!). I can't thank everyone enough for dropping whatever it was they were doing in their lives to help us that day... Val, Hans, Jess, my mom, neighbors... the list goes on... thank you all. It is amazing to realize that we are so well taken care of here in Traverse... I have often thought how different it would've been had we still been living in Bellaire. We have very few neighbors in Hawk's Eye during the winter (snow birds) and the nearest hospital takes 45 minutes to get to... much longer on snowy roads like we had that Tuesday.

Once they had results, the doctor explained to us that the xray of Cam's lungs showed that he did aspirate the spit up... they thought. The only xray of his lungs they had to compare it to was from the NICU - and if you remember - Cam had a small hole in his lung in the NICU which caused a portion of his upper lung to appear fuzzy on the xray. Just like what your xray would look like if you aspirated spit up - fuzzy. So the results were tough to decipher... great.

By the time our pediatrician came in to see us and discuss their findings we still had no idea if we were staying or going... but she was awesome. Our doctor truly calmed our fears and did a fantastic job of putting Cam's situation into perspective. She assured us that she did not feel it was necessary to transfer him down to Grand Rapids unless he took a turn for the worse overnight - but she had no reason to anticipate that happening. Not that he wasn't sick - he had surely been through h*ll and back... we were all still extremely grateful that he appeared to be recovering as he was needing less and less oxygen assistance as the night wore on - but he was not declining and that was phenominal news. I still couldn't stop reiterating the fact that I had no idea how long he laid in the bed without oxygen before I found him... and asking how we would know if there was any lasting damage? Cameron was not declining, but he also was no where near the smily, bubbly Cameron we knew and loved. He was still extremely wiped out and sleeping most of the time. But he started to respond to our voices a bit and open his eyes a little more. I did nurse him as well after I checked with our ped to make sure it was OK - since I knew it would be a good sign if he would/could eat - and he had missed 2 feedings now. He did wonderfully and we were all so happy with his progress... but the ped explained over and over that it is really a 'wait and see' game with this type of incident to determine if there are any long-term lasting effects. They were keeping us at least over night to run all sorts of tests; more xrays, ekg, eeg, etc. and try to get as much information as we could on Cameron's situation.

We were moved up into the pediatric unit that night where Cameron and I stayed so he could be closely monitored... I was even allowed clearance to have Jeremy bring another baby back up with him to stay with Cameron and I for the night (he had went home prior to our getting moved to put the big boys to bed and pack me a bag) so that it wouldn't be so hard on him and Grammie over night. But in the end the roads actually got pretty bad and it was late before they were finished feeding the other babies... so we decided it was best that he didn't come back up.

Cameron and I had date night.

All alone - for the first time he didn't have to share mommy... he deserved it and I was thankful to have this time with him. I really don't want this to come out the wrong way - but I'm sure it will... I have said to a select few that there are times I feel saddened for those mommies out there who have only experienced high order multiples. I do not mean any disrespect by this for certainly it is an extremely challenging road to mow and I applaud those who do not succumb to the pressures out there... I won't go there right now for fear of writing another 20 pages on a tangent. But if you have read earlier blogs you have an idea what I am talking about. However, there are certain things that you truly do miss out on with multiples that we are all aware of - the most difficult being time alone with each baby and enough time in the day to feel that you gave each of them as much attention and love as they could absorb. Another is feeding times. Pretty sure that I have made myself abundantly clear on my stance with regards to nursing your children. And with Aiden and Caleb - having only one child to nurse makes it an amazingly beautiful and selfish experience for mommy. I was never shy about the fact that it was one of my favorite times with our babies because I didn't have to share them with anyone... it was so comforting to them... and you are the center of their universe during that time... I often looked forward to our babies getting hungry again because it meant that I had this EXCUSE to be alone with the baby - ridiculous? I know. Maybe it sounds that way - but it's the truth and if you'd seen Aiden at about 6 months old you know that mommy LOVED to feed her baby! He was so chunky he was square and had no neck.

Anyhow, with multiples the stakes are a little higher with 4 hungry mouths to feed all at the same time. Throw in some horrible cases of reflux, some picky eaters (WE WANT NO FORMULA), and a couple prescriptions that taste like muck and you have got yourself a recipe for disaster if all the cards fall the wrong way at once. It is a crazy juggling act for one person, and even at a really good feed (which we have MANY of - don't get me wrong) it is not so much about enjoying the moment with the babies as making sure everyone is eating well, burping at the appropriate times, not barfing while burping, nobody gets so worked up waiting for their turn to eat that they REFUSE to eat or immediately barf everywhere... you get the picture.

But that night in hospital it was Cameron and me. That's it. And it felt wonderful to remember how beautiful it is to devote 100% of yourself to one gorgeous baby. And even though he was all hooked up to monitors (NICU flashbacks.. ugh) and IV's - I slept with him at my side and nursed him whenever I could to comfort him... it was just wonderful. And that next morning when I felt him stirring next to me... I opened my eyes and looked down at our beautiful baby... and he opened his eyes wide, looking up at me, and smiled.

Our Cameron was back.

It still gives me goosebumps.

That was an amazing moment for me - I don't think I will ever forget it.

Please keep in mind that up until that point Cameron still hadn't really opened his eyes all the way (we like to joke that Cameron always looks excited because he has such big, beautiful eyes!), hadn't really recognized us, definitely hadn't smiled - and oh boy - those Cameron smiles! They are priceless gems filled with dimples and crooky smiles =) I could see the life in Cam's big eyes again, I could see our baby.

Times like these there is truly nothing you can do but thank God. We honestly went to bed not knowing what the outcome would be for Cameron and if we would ever see the light in his eyes again - and I woke up with our prayers answered.

And as the tears once again rolled down my cheeks, they were happy tears this time. I hugged Cameron as tight as I could and smothered him in kisses as I praised God over and over and over again... "Thank you God, Thank you God..."

That morning Cameron endured all the testing the doctors had ordered for him; EEG (brain - to look for signs of a seizure), EKG (heart), another xray (lungs), as well as the fact they had been taking his vitals like every 3 hours or something crazy all through the night (so much for our night of undisturbed sleep together). I was by his side for all of them and he did great - that EEG prep is painful to watch! It honestly took for-EVER to get any sort of results - and that was frustrating. Yes, I was thrilled - Cameron was acting completely normal and I felt really good that the chances he had any lasting damage are not as high as I had thought. I truly thought it was inevitable not knowing how long he'd been oxygen deprived. But the doctors assured me time and time and time and time again that I must have walked in and found Cameron fairly quickly after it happened because if he had been without oxygen for any extended period of time (they can't pin-point what exactly EXTENDED is... 2 minutes? 10 minutes? 20 minutes?) his heart would have stopped and would not have been able to resesitate him by merely whacking him on the back.

The consistency of this message from them has done wonders in helping to calm my fears about Cam's future. Yet we had not seen the doctor yet nor received any test results by early afternoon and it was FRUSTRATING. When the ped finally made it into our room that day he still did not have all the answers - the EEG would take days to get back results on - but he felt that Cameron would continue to recover well. They believe that he has pneumonia due to the aspiration and so he is on medication for that. But other than that everything seemed OK.

They were searching for answers as to WHY Cameron spit up in his sleep that day - while Jeremy and I were looking for answers as to whether or not he would be OK because we feel that we KNOW why - FORMULA. Yes, it is odd that he spit up so far after a feeding, we don't normally see that amount that far after the fact... but they have been having such a hard time adapting to their 1/2 formula, 1/2 breastmilk bottles... but I promise I won't go off about it all again. I just want to say that I am no longer taking this problem as lightly - we are downright ticked off. We want solutions and we want answers - NOW. I am doing all the research I can on my own to get our babies healthy and eating well again... it nearly cost little Cam his life.

I swear I sleep with one eye open now, and I don't let any of them out of my sight at nap time for fear that history will repeat itself at our home... it is a blessing beyond words that I got to Cameron when I did.

Thank you God.

Thank you Angel Meadow.

Thank you Dane. Without his cry I would've read Aiden that book first instead of going to wake Cameron to eat and that extra 10 minutes... well... I don't want to think about it.

It has been a week now and we are starting to get back to life as "usual" - Cameron is trying to eat without being sick and Dane is hot on his case for title of most projectile vomit. It's horribly sad, but we are trying to do everything we can to help all our babies get through feeding time the best they can - especially with the meds for pneumonia and GERD. Nobody likes the meds... and trying out feeding methods, noise levels, burping intervals... we are testing it all and taking notes on what works and what clearly DOES NOT. We will get there - and in the meantime we are loving our babies up. Cameron seems to have an extra sparkle in his eye since our horrible scare last week - he has been a champ at the tummy time rollovers and reaching for his siblings! I am so happy to see him thrive - any and all reassurance that he is going to OK...

Thank you for your prayers - and please continue to pray that we find our way - I know we will - this is one tough family I am a part of ... I love each and every one of our children so very much and it is times like these that we are reminded how precious life is... we never forget, but we appreciate a little more now too.

I realize this blog became extremely long as I wrote about what happened to Cameron last week - and I feel that I could write on for another 3 hours... but please understand that it is hard to put into words what we went through.

And I hope you'll enjoy these pics of our fam:

Caleb checking Dane's heartbeat during a rigorous tummy time/rollover session... uhhh... Cale? WHERE is his heart again?

Cameron smiling in all his glory

Dane and his big baby blue eyes...

And HEEEEEEEEEERRRREEEE'SSS Brockee!

Summer Girl - did Cam just finish with a good joke, or what?The Lew Crew - and our Charlie Brown Christmas tree... yeah baby!

Gobble Gobble...

2008-12-04T22:12:00.000-05:00

Hope you all enjoyed a happy thanksgiving with your families... we sure did... and boy did we have a list when it came time to be thankful this year...

Including these two little gobblers (Caleb & Aiden)...

And this crazy brood as well (Dane, Brock, Summer, & Cam)...

We have six healthy children to celebrate in our family - our please note that HEALTHY part... every week is another victory!

Our turkies were something straight outta' your local hilbillies guide on how to throw a fan-dangled celebration dinner - fresh from this here local turkey farm - one all pinned up wit stuffing fer da' oven and the other nice en ripe fer fryin'.

Wow. Do we know how to entertain, or what?

We had so many of our family members in town for the holiday and it couldn't have been any better... unless ALL of them could've been here - WE MISSED YOU AUNTIE KRISTY!!! A huge THANK YOU once again to Buddy and Suzy - they opened up their home to us while they were downstate with their own families so that we could all enjoy a festive meal together - without literally sitting on each others laps =) I mean, we're a close knit group and all... but...

ANYHOW - it worked out amazing and we were able to get more pics of the quads with them all alert and HAPPY than we could BELIEVE!! It was rocking - these babies are blowing our minds - cooing, smiling... melting hearts every step of the way! And chillin' with cousin Avery has been a blast! She's our sneak peak into everything on our horizon being that she's only a couple months older than the quads - and she is just FULL of life these days! Love that little munchkin so much!

So thank you all for your comments, calls, and emails about my formula dilemas. I am so very aware that I must come off as a nursing nazi. Oh well - I make no apologizes - but I sure appreciate your advice and "I've been there..." stories! We are now on the GentleEase formula (except Summer... she won't drink any of this formula! Little princess... still gets nursed every single time... bumping out her bro's in the rotation! She's got it figured out, folks... got it figured out) and hoping that everyone will do well on it. Although it seems to me that they are more HUNGRY now than before? Is there some science behind the fact that if it's more easily digested than their bodies process it more quickly and, hence, they are hungry sooner? I dunno... probably just a growth spurt or something - but curious if my mad mama scientific theory held any weight.

We also started doing what my sister-in-law Jess called a "dream feed" (from one of her sleep books I think) a couple weeks ago to encourage this sleep through the night thing. They have been doing pretty darned amazing, considering there is FOUR of them... I mean, usually SOMEONE is bound to get up at night for some squaking - but not ALL of them anymore and we are seeing improvements and setbacks every week - to be expected for sure. So we feed them at like midnight or so to try and get them through to 6 or 7am. And during this feed we are extremely low key - doing our best not to wake them at ALL - no lights, talking, diaper changes, etc. Just feed and burp and put to bed. The best is when their little eyes never even open... like she says... it's all a dream ("dude, did I just eat, or not?"). I will say that there is less pacifier-popping at night when we do this and they seem to sleep more soundly - for the most part (all subject to change nightly - ha!).

Anyhow, during our action-packed holiday weekend we took the whole fam downtown TC for the big Christmas tree lighting (it only took them about 4 tries... think they would've tested that sucker first,eh?) and saw Santa from a distance (pretty sure he was lit up)... and we also baptized the quads that Saturday night... what an amazingly emotional experience. They held the baptism after mass, which was different for us. Both Aiden and Caleb were baptised in Bellaire DURING mass and it was a family-community feeling... and so we were a little unsure how we were going to feel about being at a new church holding the service after mass. But in the end, it was perfect. An intimate, family gathering (several families stayed to see us as well which was nice) that exceeded all of our expectations.

Thank you to our family for being there for us and our babies, it was a long trek for most of you and we want you all to know how much it meant to us that you could all be there with us. Especially the Godparents; my brother, Glenn, his wife, Tracy, my sister in law, Jessica, her husband, Hans, and my sister in law Kristen... the only sadness of the entire event was that Kristy could not be with us as she is studying in Florida (go Gators!) - but we know she was thinking of us as we were of her.

Thank you as well as St. Joe's on Old Mission Peninsula for opening up their hearts and making us feel at home. Thank you as well to the Schramski and Rosa families for letting us borrow their beautiful baptism gowns... no one ever needs to know that we could've fit two quads in each outfit =) It was great...

I am so thrilled that the holidays are here and the snow is flying - YAHOO!!! And being in Traverse is just awesome - Jeremy nor I are having to drive long distances in the mucky roads this year and it's SWEEEEEEEEET!! Although not so thrilled that RSV season is almost upon us and the constant threat of our babies/family getting sick this winter. It's all we can do to keep ourselves healthy (as you know - if you've been to visit - SCRUB UP AND SANITIZE PEOPLE!) - we take no chances. The stakes are too high with our precious preemies - even though they are looking HUGE and HEALTHY! As of last week: Dane: 11#0oz; Cameron: 10#6oz; Brock: 10#2oz; and Summer Girl: 8#5oz!!! WHAT!?!?! We are 4 months old and catching up on that curve the ped keeps marking our progress on - yeah baby!

And now I just wanted to shut up (HUH?) and share with you some snap shots of our babes:

Uh, Brockee? You coppin' a feel with A. Tracy? Sneaky little dude... and all smiles about it!

A progressive pic of the babes playing, and then - POOF - out (except Summer girl - she likes to party on occasion)! Too cute...

All the babies smiling - they will melt your heart in about 4 seconds flat these days!! It is just amazing how quickly they are changing... I need a time capsule to catch it all before it seems like a distant memory...

Summer Girl in her Thanksgiving Day dress glory! Mommy LOVES this dress up stuff! HOW FUN!

Dane - and those big, blue eyes - giving us one of his famous gummy smiles!

Dane (left) and Brockee (right) - light it up Brock! This kid is seriously like a party in a bottle - he is non-stop laughter and smiles!!

Can you guess which one is our adorable Cam? Our little baby face... and look at that dimple!

Big bro Cale reading stories to the babies (Dane, l, and Brock, r) in an effort to cheer them up... wow is he a cutie! Storytime lasted all of 36 seconds before he threw in the towel - but -hey! He tried!

And finally, Summer Girl snuggling up with mommy... these are the times to remember, folks... everyday...

2008-11-16T21:56:00.004-05:00

Isn't this a fun scene to walk into? No, not staged.

Dad just chillin' in the back room with Summer and Cam watchin' some... TV.

Hey - you can't win 'em all, eh?

The point being it was so stinking cute to stumble upon - arm up around them both and all =) Melt a mama's heart!

And then of course I have to share our fall leaf-jumping pics with you too! Aiden, Caleb, and I worked dilegently - in the 70 degree weather TWO WEEKS AGO (not the snow we are currently enjoying... ) to rake up the backyard and make some SWEET leaf piles for PRIME TIME LEAF JUMPING!!! We had a great time... it's so nice to have time to spend with the big boys - really. They truly are the ones who were the most affected when I was pumping - there was about zero time for them by the time the baby-cycle was complete. I am absolutely flabbergasted by how much time has freed up in my life now that I don't pump! Granted there is a bit more prep-time with bottles using formula instead of just breast milk - but not that much of a difference. It's amazing! And, as much as I'm not loving the formula in our life - we are getting by and I would say that it has been a good change for our family overall. The babies might disagree because their little bodies are still in a state of flux trying to get used to the new goods - but I have confidence that they will adjust. I just PRAY that they stay healthy this winter!! And, no, I'm not saying that formula=sick babies... I'm just worried that in an already-fragile situation less breast milk immunity can NOT be BETTER. We already went for our first round of RSV shots - yahoooooooooooooo.... more shots? Certainly no fun but certainly worth it. I just hope that the fact that the majority of the milk they drink is still breast milk will keep them safe and healthy, healthy, healthy this winter!!

Oh, and prune juice works. Prune juice works. We have a go on the poop.

But what about the excess gas issue we are having too with this formula? One of our volunteers told me to go with the concentrate vs. powder and that should help? The docs say there is a "less gassy" formula out there, but to wait a while to switch to see if thier bodies figure it out first? Let me tell you, this could be one painful waiting game for our babies! Just curious what success any of you have had with waiting it out vs. switching over for gassiness... wow... I need to hush up about things that come out of our babies bums, eh? I'm getting down right grossed out myself!

Ahhhhh... the glamourous side of being a hot mama.

In the end it all boils down to poop and gas.

Neat-o.

Although I guess I might as well freaking get used to it with 5 boys... oh, make that 6 boys with daddy, in the house. I'm sure I won't have many laugh fests over gas in my future with all these boys... nooooo...

I say that and then realize that the other night it was my sister in law Jessica and I who were consumed with the poop/gas conversation... not so much the boys... hmmm.... if I remember correctly I believe that Hans and Jeremy were solely focused on their Natty Light vs. Light Ice taste test... yeah, yeah... nothin' but the good stuff up here kids. We are a pretty high ball group.

And while I'm on the subject, a huge thank you to Jess and Hans (and Avery!) for everything they have done, and continue to do for our family. I mean, they ARE our family - and we couldn't be more grateful that they picked up and moved up north to be with us. It's SUCH a different world for Jeremy and I having FAMILY here! First my mom and now them - it's just crazy how cool it is when they just "drop by" and how we have dinner together as a family at LEAST 3-4 times/week!! Jess and I have 'girl's night' together on Thursdays with a couple other gals at yoga and then meet up with more afterwards and Jeremy and Hans take on the chitlins together!! This is my new "hall pass" night - and, yes, to ensure that daddy Lew doesn't change his mind about mama T getting out of the house once/week I do bring over 2 babysitters that night to help out.

It's all about insurance, folks.

But seriously, having Jess and Hans and my mom here is so rocking cool - our kids now see them all as part of their everyday lives instead of some rare treat (I suppose that could go either way) and we love it. Grammie was sick for the past week and a half (SHINGLES - WHAT!?!?!) and so she was downstate - the boys were beside themselves trying to figure out why she left and constantly asking when she was coming back. And the same with Jess and Hans - even though it's a little different because they have their own house and don't actually live with us. For example today, after we had already all went to church together and then went our separate ways (us to race home before feeding frenzy started in the van with the babies!), Aiden looked at me just before dinner and asked "Hey mom? Where's Aunt Jessie and Uncle Hans?" "They went home, honey." "WHY?" It's just so funny to us... a conversation that two months ago we would have never dreamed of taking place. I love that our family is HERE living life with us... it's like we have an extended immediate family now - oh - what's that? You're stopping at Target? Could you grab us some Butt Paste please? Great. See you in 20. Oh, and it'll just about be dinner time so plan on sticking around for a bit. Cool. (insert the Lew's snickers here... hopefully they enjoy dinner whilest holding babies, eh? HA!)

THIS LIFE ROCKS!

And we certainly could not do it and be as happy as we are without the help of all our family, friends, and certainly our volunteers. So many of my girlfriends kid around that they are going to have quads so that they can have volunteers too - uhhhhh... I hear that. Seriously - we are incredibly blessed to have such an amazing out pouring of support for our family. I feel like a broken record and I am... well... I guess I'm not sorry that I am. We are truly blessed in so many aspects of our lives. With the help of the volunteers I get help with about one feeding 3-5 days/week. During that time I dedicate 100% of myself to the big boys - because they need it and do not get it unless I have help. I also try to sneak in some me time at the gym when I can (if the boys are napping or at school) - this is my stress relief and keeps a mama sane! Sorry Jack. Sorry Jose'. This mama prefers to sweat her way back to level ground. Maybe I'll see you for one or two next Thursday - if you're lucky... nahh... if I'M lucky - ha!

Anyhow - these volunteers come and hold and love our babies. Thank you. Thank you all.

Gobble Gobble.

Times are a Changin'

2008-11-14T22:33:00.006-05:00

Yes - it is a very real possibility that I am the ONLY mother on the planet who has not yet shared halloween pics of her kids with the world yet... don't go there.

But DARN are we worth the wait, or what?!? The quads were... well... quads. Sounded pretty original to us - why fix it if it ain't broke, right? Yes, we are aware of how freaking pathetic we are... but thanks for reminding us anyhow.

Truth be told, the beloved quads never graced the streets of TC on halloween with all their cuteness... we had some amazing volunteers VOLUNTEER to come to our house and watch them that night so we could take the big boys out (we NEVER EVER broached the subject or had THOUGHT about it)! It honestly felt really weird to be out without the babies - but it was also really nice to dedicate 100% of ourselves to Aiden and Caleb for a couple hours... those boys sure deserve it! We had a blast - our first year where both them really "got" it and were nuts running from house to house - hello Mr. Transformer and the cutest darned Batman you ever did see... holy moly... they were on fire that night all the greater good of mommy and daddy's sweet tooth! Ha ha ha...???So - Halloween also marked a huge milestone in our babies lives - they are THREE MONTHS OLD!!! Wow - it really is hard to believe that a baby can be 7# and 3 months old... but they do seem HUGE to us! And all so healthy - we have been truly blessed. And on their 3 month birthday mama T decided that it was just about time to say "Adios" to pumping... a very, VERY hard decision for me to make - but a very necessary one for the sake of my sanity... and my marriage =) As I have remarked in previous blogs (I think) with nursing all the quads and THEN pumping I had approximately 10-12 minutes before the whole cycle started again. I found out first hand that this process will lead to the occasional meltdown if you keep it up for months on end. I am, and always have been, SO committed to nursing my children for as long as possible (or until I deem it inappropriate). Aiden was a year and Caleb was just a hair over... OK - FINE! Caleb was close to 16 months or so... I was a total closet nurser "I am SO done... like tomorrow... or next week..." But keep in mind with Caleb we honestly didn't know if we'd ever be able to have more children and so I was hanging on so tightly to that bond. Yeah - laugh it up, folks.

Have any more kids... RIGHT.

ANYHOW - I am so grateful that I have been able to nurse/provide breastmilk for our quads for three solid months. Their little bodies need all that immunity and I couldn't be more proud to say that they haven't seen a drop of formula... UNTIL 5 days ago. That's right. It had to happen. I knew it was coming as they "caught me" in production of breast milk. And then when I quit pumping and only nursing them... well... it was obviously only a matter of time before my breastmilk STASH was depleted. Those little suckers can CHOW! But it really is hard to believe that they burned through all my stored milk so quickly - I had an ENORMOUS rubbermaid container FULL when I left the hospital - ENORMOUS! Our entire deep freezer was chuck full!! I was so proud carrying that puppy outta' that NICU!! OK - so I guess it wasn't ME carrying it - but I watched my hubby do such a good job!

And now? Well - this formula stuff blows in my book. I know we'll get used to it - but it's just an extra step in the feeding process and our babies can't poop to save their lives. They get so full of sh*t that they actually can not eat. It's nuts how quickly this junk has jacked up their systems! And they only get 25% of their bottle as formula - WHEN they get a bottle! I still nurse them all in the morning and then throughout the rest of the day they each get nursed at least 3-4 times/day (and the other 2 get bottles) with the mix. So say hello to suppositories and other gross things that I never, EVER thought I'd have to do. And forget me - those poor babies! Can you honestly imagine being so chuck full of poop that you can't eat?? And when you DO get brave enough to try, you projectile barf it all up? Not fun.

Wow.

I really just sat here and ranted about poop for a long time. Sorry dudes.

Please feel free to share any stories of your own you may have or any other solutions that stinking suppositories. The docs today told me to start giving them prune juice. Aren't they too young for that? This poop talk is insane!

Onward and upward - I HAVE to share some of these baby pics with you before I run out of time here... only cutting into my sleep time - sleep??? Sleep what???

These are a little sneak peek into our babies:

From left to right: Cameron, Summer, Brock, Dane
Hey, hey - the gang's all here!! Note little Brockee - off his stinking rocker! This kid is a hoot - he is his own best company and loves to laugh!! Oh, and nevermind Dane - we woke the poor guy up about 10 nano seconds before this pic and he was having a tough time getting his game on.

Our little Summer Girl... melting hearts one at a time... wait a minute - is she POSING already?? I'll tell ya'... that girl is going to be a heartbreaker!!

Cam (left) Dane (right).
Cam "DUDES!! Someone get this kid OFF ME!!! Do you know what he WEIGHS!?!?! And he looks HUNGRY!! What if he takes a bite?? HELP!!!"

Awwwwwwwwwww... shucks, folks. Who can resist Dane's gummy smiles? He's gorgeous and those big blue eyes and long eye lashes are irresistible!

Our lives have been transformed by the recent addition of all these amazing personalities coming forth!! The smiles abound and we are (gulp) making some serious headway in the SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT department!!! (yes - consider my foot shot) The babies have started their RSV shots (that continue through APRIL) and all we can do is pray, pray, PRAY for healthy kids this winter - it's so scary having these babies so fragile during the sickness seasons...

Oh, and if anyone out there wants to volunteer to help with some adorable birth announcements... let me know. I'd love some creative help!! Love to you all -

2008-10-27T22:36:00.001-04:00

OK - so my prediction as to the quads weights on 10.16 was as follows:

Dane: 8# 6oz

Cam: 7#10oz

Brock: 7#5oz

Summer: 6#10oz

The reality (as of 10.17)?

Dane: 8#7oz

Cam: 7#9oz

Brock: 7#4oz

Summer: 6#5.5oz (yes that 1/2 and ounce counts!)

Wow mama T!! Not too shabby!! A little wishful thinking with our Summer Girl, I guess... but she is certainly holding her own against all these boys... she already has her two bigger brothers (keep in mind she was Baby A - so she is OLDER than all the quad boyzzzzzzzzz) wrapped around her little fingers. Yes, they are the ones who came up with her nickname of 'Summer Girl'... it's so freaking cute!

In the pic (left to right) that's Cam, Summer (some thumb sucking action courtesy of her biggest bro Aiden's guidance...), Heavy D - I mean Dane, and Brockee. The funniest part is that it LOOKS like Brock is crying - but no way Jose' - he's our self entertainer! He's actually laughing his heini off!! At what? Who knows?!?!? The kid is hilarious. Class clown in the making, I'll tell ya'!!

So - you wanna' know our quads? Let me tell you little sumthin about each of them - because there is no denying that they each have their very own, VERY distinct personalities these days!! It's just awesome watching them grow and become more and more alert and aware of their surroundings each day... except when they gang up on us around 11pm each night and hold a crying fest... yeah... not funny kids. We don't want to admit mommy into the psyche ward TOO soon, now do we?

Dane:

A.K.A. -Heavy D. Nickname for obvious reasons - this kid is a heffer compared to his siblings!! Healthy Heavy D is becoming extremely aware of his surroundings and his neck control seems to be at the top of the charts too! His big blue eyes (OK, they are ALL blue at this age... I know, I know...) are piercing and just melt your heart when he busts into one of his big "gummy smiles"! Dane, however, is also our SCREECHER. Not necessarily SCREAMER, but SCREECHER. Dude sounds like a total chick when he pulls out all his stops. The first time anyone hears it they are like "Oh my! Is that little Summer?" Uhhh... no. That's our big boy Heavy D. But forget the screeching - my man can belch like a 25 year old male. Think of the fun that'll bring us for years to come...

Cameron:

A.K.A. - Cam. I know - tricky. Original. Keep up, would ya'? Cam is our little thinker... always seems to be seeing something that we aren't and above the situation at hand. I can't help but wonder if he'll be the Einstein of the group - he rolled over first too - PRODIGY ON OUR HANDS. Cameron is also king barfer of the group - not a great title to hold. The poor guy has a weak sphincter or something, they say. 'Scuse me? Isn't that located.... ??? ANYHOW. Cameron has the most adorable, round, little baby face with the most baby-like features. Don't piss him off, though, or he'll piss ON you... literally. All hands on deck changing this guys diaper - you win if you come away dry (odds? 50 to 1 - NOT in your favor)

Brock:

A.K.A. - Brockee. Nickname courtesy of his biggest brothers who took to calling him this from day one. I love it! Daddy? Not so much... but oh well. You win some, you lose some dude. Brock is my little heart throb. I can't deny it. From day 1 he was always just irresistible to me! He's also ubber content - I think it goes back to that second child thingy... he was second out (even if 5th in the grand scheme of things)!! He will typically play happily by himself much more than the other quads and his smiles never stop! And Brock is a party animal for sure - brotha' can't STAND sleeping if anyone else is awake! Doesn't want to miss anything good!

Summer:

A.K.A. - Summer Girl. She is all about being a girlie girl and getting some serious lovin'. She is a cuddler and happiest in our arms for sure (but then again, what baby isn't?). Her features are so delicate... it's so WEIRD for us Lew's who see BOY-BOY-BOY-BOY-BOY!! But Summer is not one to be taken down by her bro's outbursts - she LOVES to join in on those festivities =) And she's pretty darned intense these days too... starting to gaze deeply into our eyes... and straight into our hearts... it's so much fun getting to know these little miracles! Summer is trying her hand at the party animal scene too a bit lately - I know that could pose a mild problem for her in the years to come... seeing as how between her two older and 3 younger brothers she might never get the opportunity to date, wear a skirt, leave the house without a chaperone... you know - a tad protected... perhaps??? You think??? Sometimes, it stinks to be so freaking cute. So I hear, anyhow.

I have to say that the most heart-wretching part of it all, honestly, is the simple fact that we just do not have enough arms/bodies to hold our babies all the time. Now, say what you want and judge how you want, but up until about 6 months of age we have always operated under the mentality that babies are meant to be held... and that there is NO SUCH THING as too much love for a baby!!! After 6 months? Well, then the games begin and you have to watch yourself so you don't get sucked into the baby-vortex where they completely dominate you. But at the end of the day, here in the Lew house, our babies want to know they are loved and they want to be held. And there is nothing wrong with that... except we are short a couple pairs of arms to hold them. Try that on for size when you are home alone with all 4 babies and 2 toddlers... it is really quite the juggling act for mama T. I give our big boys so much credit - and thank God every day that they have each other. I really just wish I had octopus arms to hold them all (OK- what has 12 arms?) at the same time!

So, you may hear Jeremy or I reference a bit about crying jags we endure with the babies, in the evening hours especially... and in the beginning (about a week or two after they came home - after the fog of the transition faded and they woke up!) we wondered why they seemed more "fussy" than our other two boys... is it allergies? is it the mysterious catch-all blamer COLIC? Maybe some of these things do play a part, we honestly don't know (nor do any of the ped's) but we have since grown enough to realize is that the majority of it probably just boils down to these beautiful babies wanting to be held and feel loved. Period. Our two bigger boys were permanent fixtures in the Baby Bjorn - they LOVED to be close to us at all times and with one you can DO that! So there really wasn't much of an issue with wanting to be held - because they WERE held at all times. Again, I know I'm probably getting a whole lot of head shaking from y'all out there that I've got it all wrong... but that's the way we feel. And that's why our volunteers are such an amazing blessing for our family. They are additional people to hold and love our babies... who could ask for a better gift?

Speaking of great gifts... as you know, my grandma, grandma Horner so bravely volunteered to come up and live with us once the quads were born to help us care for them. Uhhhhh... what sane person DOES THAT? And what sane person does that when they are 78?? She is so amazing - and she came - and now the time has come for her to move on. We were so sad to say goodbye to grandma Horner a few weeks ago - but we know that other grand adventures await her!! I had my very first night out on the town (or out of the house at ALL!) courtesy of Kay Schumacher & hubby. They were awesome enough to come over for a couple hours so that we could take grandma Horner out for her final night in TC with us - THANK YOU!! And thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Grandma Horner for all of your help while you were here. We will not forget all the memories we have shared... Aiden and Caleb still have you in their prayers at night and request your book reading skills during the day... we all miss you dearly... and miss those RAISINS!! HA!!

Yeah, check these babies out... grandma Horner found a recipe where you soak raisins in a "special sauce" and - voila! They help cure arthritis!! What do you know!?!?! And the coolest part is that I THINK grandma Horner also discovered that they help block out babies cries if you consume enough of those puppies as well! WHAT EVER IT TAKES, PEOPLE. WE DIDN'T JUDGE. =) Luv ya' Grandma!!!

Since I've last written we have had the opportunity to take the whole family to a Traverse City North Stars Hockey game - fun! The babies slept through most of it - and once the big boys got used to the noise level (WHAT?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!) they loosened up and played some hard-core hockey in the hall with the Endres boys and papa - good times!

We have also been SO CRAZY BLESSED having Grammie move in with us, she starts her new jobby-job at Munson hospital this week!!! And Uncle Hans, Aunt Jessie, and baby Avery moved up the peninsula YESTERDAY!!! NO JOKE!!! We just can NOT believe how amazing this journey has been for our family... and we certainly hope that our family all loves it up here as much as we do and that we don't scare them all off too quick! Aunt Jessie and Uncle Hans brought THREE doggies with them, by the way, and are insta-heroes to our big boys!! THEY LOVE DOGGIES!! It's all they can talk about night and day is going to see pab-wo, gunther ("he's a nice doggie"), and JACK-son. Thank you, thank you to all our family, but especially those who have truly made the ultimate sacrifice moving up north to be by us (or WITH us, poor Grammie!)!!! We are looking forward to all the memories to come... especially with cousin Avery!!

This is a pic of our big boys and daddy climbing one of the great trees in Uncle Hans' yard - they were "helping" put up the new dog fence and got a little distracted (our middle freaking name!). GOOD STUFF!!

As I close tonight I am just so thankful for all the help we have had with our quads. It really is exciting and NON-STOP action at our house - and without the volunteers and family members we have had to help out... well... it's just awesome I want you all to know how much we appreciate every single minute of your time. Love you all.

Taking on the world

2008-10-16T21:19:00.000-04:00

Yeah, that's us... BLUEBERRY PICKING BABY!!

Our inaugural outing with our family of 8 (not including doctor appointments -ugh) was a couple weeks ago to the Blueberry Festival - look at this freaking group of rowdies! We had a blast - and if you are suprised that blueberries were still in season and ripe for pickin' in October join the crowd, man. But it ROCKED!! Babies enjoyed the fresh air and the big boys rode horses!! Life is just too much stinking fun =) Yes, that's grammie and papa with us- they have been making the trek up north nearly every single weekend to help us out... priceless.
And, BONUS, we could finally say that we had every row in the van occupied - YEAH BABY!!! We are considering getting walkie-talkies to communicate with passengers in rows 3-4... "Uh... Houston... do you have a copy?" Nothing better than having the opportunity to YELL to your 4 year old "SPEAK UP, BOY! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!" That just doesn't happen... except in a van as big as your house.

We also reveled in our first 'shock and awe' session as we traveled in our pack. As you can see we LOVE Bjorns; Jeremy carried one baby , my mom carried one baby, and I figured out a way that I can rig up two bjorns at the same time to carry two (as opposed to buying a whole new "double" carrier - ha!). So of course everyone thinks that I had twins and that the other two are a different family... but once the full story comes out it's a hoot to see people's reactions!! When we were out again last weekend getting our pumpkins and doing corn mazes (yes, even the babies wanted to find their way through that corn!) it was almost embarrassing - I was actually photographed by two separate families/couples and asked for my name!

A tad weird.

OK. REALLY weird.

But the best part was that instead of our usual "Oh my gosh! Did you do in-vitro or something?" question (that we've made CLEAR we LOVE...) the question I heard over and over was "Are you nursing ALL of them?" Never heard that darned other word ONCE! It was SO REFRESHING!! And, of course, mama T was loving the opportunity to tout to the world that "YES! I am!! It's so awesome!!" I am going to bore you all with a blog devoted to my nursing/pumping life with quads here shortly, so be fore-warned if you want to block that one out.

Speaking of quads - look how cute!!! They are really getting SO BIG!!! They all get weighed again tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure they'll be coming in around their fighting weights. My guess?

Dane: 8#6oz Cameron: 7#10oz Brock: 7#5oz Summer: 6#10oz

I'm sure that I'm WAY off - but hey - we'll see...

Until then - much love to you all! We are lovin' life up here - and it's complete non-stop action. Right now we are busy gearing up for grandma Horner's big departure this weekend (BOO!)... Grammie starts her new job at Munson on the 27th (YEAH!)... and Uncle Hans Aunt Jessie and baby Avery move up the road on November 1st!!!

ROLL OUT THE BARRELL!!!

2008-10-16T07:43:00.001-04:00

2008-10-13T23:59:00.000-04:00

Tonight I want to dedicate my entire blog to those who have helped us through our amazing pregnancy, the birth of our quads, and continue to support our family each and every day. There are no words for how touched we have been in our lives by you.

And by you I mean YOU.

If you are taking the time to read our blog and keep tabs on our family you are supporting us through your thoughts and that in itself means so much.

The list of those whom we want to thank is so much longer than we could have ever imagined in our wildest dreams... some of you are friends from grade school... some high school... a lot of you are friends from college... co-workers, professional collegues... neighbors.... friends of friends of friends.... nearly every one of our family members are on the list - more than once... and some of you... well... we may not have had the honor of meeting you, or even talking with you... but you were there for us through your prayers... no matter which group you fall under in we are forever endebted to for all that you have done.

The birth of our four newest healthy additions to our family is a true testimate to the power of prayer.

True, most days are a blur as of late... time has never went by so quickly (I guess that happens when every single millisecond of your time is accounted for some how!)... by time has never been so precious either (especially around 3:30am!). I am so thankful to be able to stay home with our children and bear witness to each smile, belly laugh, hug, and watch in amazement as our babies grow and thrive before our very eyes.

I know that I have to start somewhere in thanking you all - the task is absolutely impossible to do it all in one sitting, or one lifetime for that matter. Please know that you are ALL in our hearts every day and every night as we give thanks for all that we have been blessed with. But there are some in particular that I want to share with you tonight. I really, truly wish that I had time to list each and every one of you by name.... but this is the best I can do for tonight.

First of all, God. We aren't shy about saying that we knew from the beginning that we were chosen by Him for rhis role in life -yet up until the day our babies were born healthy we honestly did not know what exactly this might entail for us. We vowed to love each one of our children no matter what - and we know we have God to thank for the fact that we now kiss 6 healthy, happy children goodnight in our home. And we also believe that your prayers to God for our family played a huge part in His decisions for our family... so thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Our families. We have the most amazing families - as I am sure that throughout the course of this blog you have gotten wind of that fact. And thank you Lord for giving us the sense to SEE it and be GRATEFUL for them. Too often we all get caught up in taking our family for granted. They are THERE. We don't necessarily get to CHOOSE them. And, by goly, sometimes they just get the short end of the stick for being a comfortable outlet in our lives. (read: the first ones we complain about and get irritated by) But, in the end, Jeremy and I recognize how rocking our families are... they have been here for us time after time after time through some pretty darned crazy times in our lives. The best part about family is that they just KNOW what to do. They don't wait for an invitation, they just show up without being asked (for better or worse? ha!). And they know it all already... they have lived it all with you... they know the real YOU. Thank you to our families. We started this journey with absolutely zero family with us in Northern Michigan... and by the first of November we will have at least 5 family members here with us!!! Currently we have grandma Horner living with us to help with the quads - what a blessing. She also lived with us in Bellaire during Aiden and Caleb's first year of life... we are constantly amazed at what a strong, giving, positive influence she has on our family. The boys have latched onto her 100% all over again - I am officially chopped liver in terms of my 'war' card playing ability with grandma Horner around =) And no one can read a book like her either - just ask the experts (Aiden & Caleb)! AND THIS AMAZING WOMAN IS 78 YEARS OLD!! Chalk it up to taking excellent care of yourself, exercising daily, and having a strong sense of purpose in your life. Every day that woman wakes up refreshed and ready to spread joy in some way, shape, or form... and she does.

Being here has also allowed us the opportunity to re-aquaint ourselves with Chuck (Buddy) and Suzie - Jeremy's second cousins (I think? Is that what you are considered when it's your mom's cousin?). They are some of the sweetest people we know and their daughter Julie and her husband Rick are the fantastic couple who are allowing us to stay in their cottage all winter here in Traverse (Julie is the one all the way on the left, with Chuck and Susie on the far right)... knowing now what type of social calendar these quads need to hold (read: doctor app'ts) each week I can NOT IMAGINE how we would survive if we were indeed still living in Bellaire. Thank you, thank you, THANK you Julie and Rick. Without ever having met us you opened up your home to us...

Here are some pictures of the gorgeous "cottage" of the Forzano's we are staying in on East Bay. We are so blessed to stay here - a little piece of paradise. I wake up every morning to nurse our quads to the sunrise - Aiden and Caleb climb into the big master bed with us and open the shades just enough to color the room with a rainbow of fantastic oranges and reds (Jeremy and I joke that this is our TEQUILA SUNRISE... boy, does THAT sound good or what?). I believe that Julie and Rick may start renting their cottage out next year (if they could just get those stinking Lewandowski's out, eh?) - their kids are now in high school and busy as ever so they can't make it up as much - so keep them in mind if you are looking for an amazing place to get away in TC... we only hope that by our spreading the word a bit we can help give back to this wonderful family for all they have done to provide our family a place to call home during this crazy transition in our lives.

Our friends. How do we even begin to try and write about each of you whom have touched our lives over the course of the past 10 months? It's simply impossible... please know that we appreciate each one of you. Whether we see and talk to you daily or once every two years... whether our kids know each other by name or haven't even met yet... whether you dropped us a note or simply kept us in your prayers... we treasure each of our relationships for the unique closeness they hold.

Several of you have gone so far above and beyond that we wish there was more we could do or say to let you know how much we appreciate you... someday - mark our words - someday...

To all of our Techie friends, particularly: Scott Nemecek, Dan Schultz, Tim Bonk, George Moeke, Mark Hurley, Nate Curell, Steve Loveland, Brian Stopyak, Keith Latendresse, Ben Wickstrom, and every other person who was involved in this website, blog, and particularly the Quad Open...

People ask the simple question "So, how was the golf outing?" That question in itself conjures up so many emotions for both Jeremy and I. There is no easy response. We usually end up pausing for a bit trying our darndest to come up with a good answer THIS time... but in the end something muttled and along the lines of "It was amazing. One of those events in life that you never forget and relive 100x over in your head - like your wedding or something. Everyone is there for YOU and it's all so overwhelming."

Yes, this is all true. But there are several key differences that make all the difference in setting this event apart from anything we have ever experienced in our life...

#1 - You plan your own wedding and invite people to come celebrate. We were more or less informed of this golf outing after it was already set up and the information distributed. Our friends and family THOUGHT UP THIS EVENT FOR OUR FAMILY on their own time.

#2 - People expect you to get married, they come to your wedding, you go to theirs... it's the way it works. A baby shower is one thing... but a golf outing to raise money for our family is so unfathomable...

#3 - Nobody sponsors the tables and/or the beverages at your wedding to support you and your new spouse.

#4 - I've never won a 50/50 raffle at any wedding before. You?

#5 - At the end of a wedding we usually end up in some big circle singing really bad versions of "Miss American Pie" and reliving the glory days... at the end of our golf outing it was nothing but tears... and it still is.

Please know that we spent the majority of the outing laughing and/or crying our way through each hole. We saw each and every sign, each and every face, heard each and every laugh... thank you, thank you all for everything you did to pull such an awesome event off. Jeremy and I were able to golf together knowing that the very next day our first baby would come home healthy and happy into our arms. We couldn't have thought of a more fitting way to spend our final day separated from our quads than with all of you whom we love and care about so much. If only we had more time to thank each of you personally and talk for hours...

Thank you to Jen Wickstrom, Dana Salladay, Kris Stevens, and Tonia Nemecek for all that you have done to look out for every need our family may have in bringing our babies home. You have all worked endlessly to provide our family with all the "stuff" we hadn't even thought of... on your own, through donations and other moms. Even the biggies - home, car - you continued your quest and were constantly brainstorming ideas for us and making calls. Thank you, ladies.

Thank you to Heidi Schramski for coordinating a meal schedule for us now that the babies are home. Holy Toledo - what a huge help! You thought up this amazing idea that you could come up with a schedule and find people to BRING US dinner 3x/week!!! And thank you to each one of you who volunteered to bring these meals - we have never been so fat and happy! Sorry to anyone whom we've scared off with our over-the-top noise level home... but some of you sure did get lucky and show up to a peaceful house with 4 sleeping babies and 2 toddlers playing nicely outside. Don't talk to the other group, and if you do - don't believe a WORD they say =) But it truly is a huge weight off our shoulders and a great opportunity to see so many of you that we wouldn't otherwise have the chance to (ummmm... we don't get out much anymore folks).

Thank you so Sara Hurley for volunteering to do our laundry each week... that poor woman didn't know what she was getting herself into!! The bib laundry alone is astonishing with quads - we are starting to wonder if they were all born with a dribble mechanism that we forgot to disable!!??!! Thank you Sara, what a horrible job you have so enthusiastically taken on. You wouldn't believe the amount of time it saves our family... oh, yeah you would because it is the same amount of time that we are taking AWAY from YOUR family... ugh.

Thank you to Jen Kosakowski for putting together an enormous donation package for the Munson Manor while we were staying there... we couldn't be more proud to know someone as thoughtful and caring as you. We can tell you first hand how much your generosity was appreciated by the wonderful people at the Manor. Thank you.

Thank you to every other friend out there who has written, called, sent packages - I know I sound like a broken record - but we appreciate it all. I know there are so many more of you I want to mention - please know you are all in our thoughts.

To all our volunteers. What a phenominal group of women we have assembled to help out with our quads!! We "knew" each one of them through a friend of a friend of a... you get the idea... at the end of the day it is a crazy small world and we were somehow connected to each one of you which helped us welcome you whole heartedly into our home. Thank you for holding our quads - babies need to be held and feel loved and I appreciate your arms to help do this more than anything. It also allows me a little time each day to dedicate to our older boys - which is so important. A feeding/diapering session typically takes around 2 hours for me, then pumping, and they eat about every 3-4 hours.... so we are a bit more tied to the home more than they are used to. All the things we took for granted: bike rides, walks to the park, scootering, trips to the beach (thankfully this is out our back door now!)... are very tough to do with mommy and four babies...

And our big boys deserve a huge thanks too - they have been troopers through it all. The big move from Bellaire to the Manor (whoa), mommy being in and out of the hospital, the constant flux of people coming/going, babies? what babies? mommy not being able to play or move much, mommy and daddy going to the NICU a lot, the move to the cottage, the babies coming home, starting school, volunteers in and out of the house, mommy being tied up with taking care of the babies... the list goes on and on... fairly traumatic experiences all jumbled together for a 2 and 4 year old. We couldn't be more proud of them.

Thank you to Bill Marsh Price Point for letting us "borrow" their 15 passenger van until they find us one in our price range and size to accomodate or family. Yeah. That's right - BORROW. We would not all be able to travel in one vehicle right now if it weren't for the wonderful people at Price Point - we went to see them about a week before the quads started coming home - they heard our story, took one look at the Vibe, then the Sorento and did everything in their power not to laugh at us... Uhhhh... you're not all going to fit... morons. So maybe they didn't SAY that - but they really didn't HAVE to, now did they? Anyhow, thank you so much. We are refraining from putting the flame stickers down the side until we have a van that is OURS (flames courtesy of Aunt Dana - NO JOKE).

Thank you to Eastside Laundry for STARTING A DIAPER SERVICE IN TRAVERSE CITY!!! Did I mention that there was NOT a single service when I began my quest way back when? This self-proclaimed up and coming GREEN city doesn't have a diaper service for those of us who want to use cloth diapers!! I was amazed, and a little ticked off, so I began to call laundromats in the area to see if I could convince anyone into giving it a whirl - BINGO!!! I hit the jackpot!! Not only did Eastside agree to start one up - but they are COMPLETELY GREEN and have free delivery and pickup!! THANK YOU!!

It occured to me in writing this blog that nearly everything we have in our lives right now - all the basics - have been touched in some way by one of you. Home:

Thank you to each and every staff member at GT Women's (Dr. Madion's office), West Michigan OB (Dr. Jelsema's office), and Munson Medical Center (particularly ultrasound, OB, and the NICU) whom touched our lives and helped deliver our babies safely into this world. We will never forget the love and compassion you showered our family with - thank you for all that you did in making our family feel comfortable and supporting us through the rollercoaster we experienced in your trusting medical hands.

Thanks again to the Munson Manor. We will miss you all and think of you often (as we run through the cottage yelling at the tops of our lungs!!).

And, thank you, thank you to my husband, Jeremy. I love you and our family with all that I am each and every day. We do not have much time to call our own lately but you are always on my thoughts and in my heart... I have never doubted for one second that I am the luckiest wife and mommy on the planet being paired with you... thank you for all that you are to me and our children.

I love you. Forever.

The New Life by Lew

2008-10-10T14:32:00.003-04:00

Okay, we are back in the blogosphere! Our postings will now consist of updates to the progression of The Quads and The Lewandowski Family. We, well Tonya, will do our best at posting photos of The Quads and our family and we will continue to convey to all the trials and tribulations of life with quadruplets + 2.

At the moment, one word can summarize our families new life - CRAZY!

Best part about it is, for the most part, we absolutely love it. The only thing that could be better is having a house to call our own in Traverse City. That will come, eventually...as will a van to call our own. We currently have a huge van on loan while our friends at Price Point scour the state for one for us to purchase.

I want to make everyone aware of the possibility of The Lewandowski Quadruplets website (http://www.lewandowskiquadruplets.com) possibly going down. The process is in the works and we are unsure of the future. However, the blog site will run, probably forever. It's just plain fun. So, in the event that one day ya'll should come to see what we are up to and the website is no longer available, be sure to save the link to the blog site...

http://www.lewandowskiquadruplets.com/blog.htm

Peace out

Believe It

2008-10-03T23:36:00.002-04:00

We are eight strong.

We are finally all together.

We are the LEWANDOWSKI's.

You will hear us coming every time... so best be looking the heck out.

Dude, our family ROCKS.

It's amazing how your life changes when you effectively double the size of your family overnight.

It's also amazing how durable an eardrum is... the noise level in the cottage we are staying in must surely break all sanity standards for living. It is not for the weak of heart, my friends - but we are up to the challenge.

Here our beautiful new family is as we departed from the NICU at Munson for the very last time. Our baby girl Summer was finally able to come home and join her brothers... and our whole crew couldn't be happier to be reunited once and for all!

HOW FREAKING CUTE ARE THESE KIDS!?!?!?

Here is big Dane the day of his release... weighing in at a full 6pounds!!! We were so excited to have him home ~ but it was a bitter sweet experience having to leave the others behind... I will elaborate on all that later.

Next came Brock (5#6oz) and Cameron (6#1oz)... exactly one week after Dane...

And finally, FINALLY, our little Summer (5#2oz)broke free - WE ARE ALL HOME!!!

Our babies spent a total of 7-1/2 weeks in the NICU at Munson. A long, hard, frustrating, emotionally draining and sometimes scary stay that we often thought would never end. But we made it! Every one of our babies are now home and safe in our arms (semi-safe in their big brothers Aiden & Caleb's arms... hee, hee) and HEALTHY AS CAN BE!! Glory be. We continue to thank God and every last one of you daily for our little miracles.

We have come a long way, baby. And I am sorry that I have not been on a computer since I was in the hospital to post any pictures of our little angels - Jeremy is the Master Blogger, but apparently my man has a picture posting phobia of sorts.

Our babies are absolutely gorgeous.

What?

They are!

OK, so we might be a tad biased but then again what parent isn't?

I don't have a lot of time to blog on this first night back, go figure, but I do want to share a little photo timeline of our babies with you. Our little peanuts are no longer so little (yes, Dane is now over 7#!!!) - but we certainly have that NUTS part down =) Looking back on these pictures brings tears to my eyes... putting myself back in those rooms at the NICU... but we made it through and our babies made it through unbelievealbly well. Soon it will all seem like a distant memory...

From the first night that Jeremy and I were able to hold the babies....

To the first time the boys were able to come visit their little brothers and sister...

The babies one-month birthday - we were able to hold ALL of them AT ONCE for the first time!! This was an amazing night for us - absolutely unforgetable...

And look at our little chunkers now... From left to right: Dane (7#1oz), Cameron (6#13oz), Cousin Avery, Brock (6#7oz), and Summer (5#10oz)!!! Little smittle - these babies are a-growin'!! It is already hard to believe how little and fragile they were only 8 weeks ago... now we hold arm wrestling matches nightly. These kids are just off the hook!

Now that mama T is connected once more I hope to keep you all posted on our day to day life... it is an adventure - that's for sure! So much has happened to our family that we want to share, so many amazing experiences, amazing people, amazing blessings... it has been so overwhelming on so many different levels.

Thank you all for your continued prayers of support - we couldn't love you more!!

Bring on Life by Lew

2008-09-22T09:34:00.004-04:00

Dane came home last Sunday.
Brock and Cameron came home yesterday.
Summer comes home tomorrow.

Saying they are cute doesn't do them justice - they are precious.

Life is a bitch and then you die, so get busy livin. A saying I refer to often.

I received an email from a dear friend over the weekend. My friend told me a story of how he was with some dear friends that he doesn't get to see often enough. My friend began placing money on time. He said he would give $100 if it were 9:00 pm. That was at 1:oo am. At 4:30 am, it was up to $500. These were my friends on the night of September 13, 2008 - they were gettin' busy livin'! These are my friends that banded together to do something so incredible I just don't know where to start. Thank you my friends.

Tonya and I don't know where to start with a lot of things. What took place on September 13, 2008 was more than special. We are so blessed to have come to know such a wonderful network of friends. We love you all.

Less sleep means more time awake which means you live more. Tonya and I will be sleeping less and livin more for awhile here, but we know lifes a bitch, we're just making sure we get busy livin' before we die.

Get Quads, Be Cool
Love,
Lew

The Quads Are Coming, Part II by Lew

2008-09-11T12:24:00.002-04:00

Okay, I believe I used that title, minus the Part II, on July 31, 2008 around 11:30ish am? That would have been the day they were born, duh! However, when I was typing that email, I was shaking profusely and could hardly even think! This time I am typing in pure joy!

Well, this time the title means THEY ARE COMING HOME...not as a group, but we have a very good idea when...

Dane-O ETD: Sunday!
Cameron ETD: Early-mid next week!
Summer & Brockie ETD: Late next week-weekend!

Cale and Aiden call Brock Baby Brockie - so cute!

Holy Balls!

Dane-O said he wants to golf. We told him we thought that might not be a good idea - too many germs. He was pissed but hey, he shouldn't even be born yet! So, in order to insure Dane-O's health, he will be home on Sunday. Geez, we are just so amazed at how these babies performed over the past 5-6 weeks! Just plain amazing!

Well we did it. We did it with a heck of a lot of help. We are so thankful for everything that everyone has done for us. I have to give special thanks to the staff at Munson. They kept our babies alive from the first second and we are forever indebted to them. Their care has been instrumental in the survival and ultimate health of The Quads.

Of particular note, there was a nurse named Julie that was with The Quads quite a bit during their first week or so. I do not know Julie's last name. She has not been with the staff since as she had to get surgery. When Julie left, she told us it was her job to make sure The Quads made it through the first week. They made it with flying colors and here we are! Thank you Julie and every other staff member at Munson for treating our babies as if they were one of their own. It brings tears to my eyes! I wish Julie could be here to see them off...

Feeling overwhelmed right now so I just want to say thank you.

The Lewandowski Family - Tonya, Jeremy, Aiden, Caleb, Summer, Brock, Cameron, and Dane.

Jail Break by Lew

2008-09-10T07:32:00.003-04:00

Cripe, almost forgot how to get signed in....so much for the photos. It would definitely help if we had a home so we could use our computer. We're working on getting a lap top which would allow for photo posting on a more regular basis. In the mean time, I'm going to keep my yapper shut as I just can't find enough go-juice to get into work super early to post photos.

Tonya gave birth to exactly 10 pounds, 8 ounces of babies. With 3 babies currently over 5 pounds, yes Brock broke the barrier the other day, The Quads as a whole have almost doubled there total birth weight! Cute little Summer is lagging a bit on weight, I think she's tippin' scales around 4 pounds 11 ounces or so. She's just so cute though...and she looks tough!

Relevance of the title of this blog - both Tonya and I just committed to partaking in this crazy golf outing deal this weekend. Now, after seeing how much the babies have progressed in the past couple days, we are wondering if we will be informed of a jail break release at our Staff meeting on Thursday? Seriously, these babies are amazing! Our thougths now are we might have these babies home this weekend, yikes! Most likely next week thought. We could not be any happier with their progression. It is best described as follows:

Week 1: Rollercoaster from Hell
Week 2: Stabilization with some progress
Week 3: Progress
Week 4: Slow and steady
Week 5: Progress
Week 6: Mom, Dad, would you please get us the F*$K outta here

So yeah, they want out and they are showing it. I got to feed Brock after work yesterday. He was awake from the time I got there (~5:40) until I got booted at 7 pm (for shift change charting thing). We played. Brock and I played! It was so fun! We was so alert, I held him so he was prone and he was pushing his feet off my lap. He was smiling and looking around and was intrigued by the noises from other babies. I sure wish there was a way to know what babies are thinking or saying. Like from the movies Look Whose Talking (I think). Anyway, it was cool!

Most importantly, Brock was off the sauce the whole time I was there, including through his feed, and including not needing the oxygen after his feed! That was huge! He's there!

So, I hope you can feel the excitement in my writing, because Tonya and I are very excited. Pretty scared and feeling kind of behind on where we need to be with some of our preparations, but excited nonetheless.

Van hunting has started. Going to check out a conversion van today. I'm hoping it's all black so I can paint it like the A-Team van! Give Cale a mohawk and dangle all kinds of gold from his neck!

Well, I need to work now. Tonya and I are really looking forward to seeing those that will be making the trek to Traverse City this weekend. Means more than we could try to put into words. We are hoping to somehow figure out a way to be able to convey our gratitude to everyone - this whole ride had been such an amazing experience - thank you all!

Any how, safe travels to all. Those that are leaving family behind, give them a hug from The Quads!

Drive Fast and Take Chances,
Lew

What's New by Lew

2008-09-02T10:24:00.002-04:00

Soooo much new news!

Blogging these days is tough - both Tonya and I have been scrambling to make time to get some updates to ya'll. Tonya has zero time and I need to get a schedule figured out.

By any means, holy cow are things nutty!

Dane should be over 5 pounds today and Cameron is right there with him. Brock will be there shortly and Summer, well she's cute and that's all that matters! Summer hit the 4 pound barrier on Sunday weighing in at 4 pounds 0.5 ounces!

The news with Summer reaching the 4 pound barrier is that she was able to be cool with her brothers - yeah, all The Quads are out of their isolettes! Brock is the only one with a nasal canyal thing for oxygen. It was determined that he was retaining fluids so he got a diarhetic yesterday morning and has been peeing his brains out since! The thought was that he was retaining too much water which could possibly have been accumulating in lungs, potentially inhibiting his repiratory progress. We are hoping that he will now continue to progress towards getting off the oxygen. It may take a bit yet, he had the most severe respiratory issues with his lungs and his path was more of an uphill battle compared to the other babies.

I really need to get some photos on this thing. We had a photo shoot in the NICU this weekend. It was awesome! We have some beautiful photos of our family with all 4 babies! That was monumental! First time we were able to hold all of The Quads at once!

Tonya has been able to nurse the babies and I am able to assist with bottle feeds. Dane is the big eater and Brock is better at nursing. Cameron and Summer are close behind as well. All in all, they are doing great with getting accustomed to nursing and they all seem to be progressing.

Tonya has been spending some long nights in the NICU. Her schedule, when we don't have assistance, generally see's her arriving at the hospital between 10 and 11 pm and her departure is usually sometime after 2 am! She usually takes Aiden and Cale to see the babies for a brief stint or two during the day. She is incredible. Her love for her family is profound! I am very fortunate to have Tonya as my wife and our kids are blessed to have her as a mom. She is doing whatever it takes to maximize her time with The Quads and with Aiden and Caleb.

The Quads are doing so damn well it is just mind boggling! We are simply awestruck by their health! We are still taking it day to day and week to week with when they may be released from the hospital. It has been estimated at 3 weeks for the past 3 weeks or so. It really doesn't matter. What matters is that they continue to do well and when they are ready to come home, they will come home. Not sure where home is yet, but for the moment, it will be the cottage in TC.

Sure would be nice to have a place to call home, but again, what matters is we have healthy babies, a healthy family, and we will all be together soon enough.

Our family enjoyed a lovely Labor Day Weekend in Northern Michigan! We spent the weekend at the cottage on East Bay. Aiden and Caleb were in their glory, as was the rest of our family. Aiden and Cale have taken up scuba diving - at least that's what they call it. Most of us would refer to it as snorkling - but scuba diving sounds so much cooler. Watching them swim, or flop, around in a mask and snorkle is hilarious!

We are really looking forward to seeing everyone that has been so influential in our journey! Though the golf outing may be a bit uncomfortable for Tonya and I, we will do our best to accept that there are indeed wonderful people in this world, and we truly are humbled by the fact that we were able to make people feel good about being generous to some regular old friends. Thank you all for everything, again.

Also, we continue to received gifts for The Quads and Aiden and Caleb. Our apologies for not getting thank you's out. We have a huge list and we are looking forward to lots of hugs at the golf outing.

Hopefully my next post will have a ton of photos...

Peace out,
Lew

Time, hmmm, where does it go? by Lew

2008-08-27T22:52:00.002-04:00

So, most everyone in the blogosphere would agree that kids make time go by faster. That's a given. So what does 4 at once do to time? Does it go by 4 times as fast? And how does that make a single day feel with respect to time? Beer anyone?

Yeah, time is of the essence lately.

But, I'm hear to let The Quad Fan Base know the following:

1) Dane took it back...Cam had it for one day.
2) Summer is very cute...but I think Dane might be cuter.
3) Cameron has a normal brain. That's huge - huger than huge. Down to one cyst that's basically nothing and the last brain scan measurements of his ventricle are normal! If you can picture me, picture me doing a Tiger Woods fist pump baby!
4) 3 Quads have breeched the 4 pound barrier!
5) Cameron is off the O2 - uhha, uhhhhha! Summer is trying hard, but it will take a bit longer. Brock likes it too much. In fact, he talks like he just huffed helium - so I don't blame him for wanting to stay on the sauce a bit longer.

The most important thing about the above summary is the fact that Tonya Lewandowski gave birth to quadruplets, all of which appear to be completely normal...at least to this point. Normal as in we were so freaked out about all the numbers, percentages, likelihoods, etc. and here we are - blessed as blessed can be blessed!

Oh yeah, by the way - ONE MONTH OLD TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I know is that there are a lot of people that we need to thank. Four normal babies! Freekin' unbelievable! And they are all so cute...just like their mother....No doubt all the people in our corner helped immensely. You people are very good people. People that should be recognized for doing good. You people are a dime a dozen in modern society. Real good people that our family loves.

So when I'm on the road and I see a vehicle with 2 adult bikes and 1 bike with training wheels, I can't help but think how cool our van with flames on the hood will look when we have our bikes, aiden and cale's bikes, and 4 bikes with training wheels!

Speaking of training wheels, Aiden need no stinkin' training wheels! He dominates. He should, he's over 4 years old but considering the circumstances, and where our house is, he's on par. I think he's got it. It as in not everyone has it. Like he should be good at stuff because he has it. I hope I'm right. Aiden is cool like a cat and seems to have some good skills. Dad has high expectations for Aiden.

We attempted to get Aiden and Cale on our schedule at the hospital but it's just too much to ask of them. We'll probably go for an every 3 days or so deal with them and visiting. It's tough, they want to go. But cripe, just a lot to ask of them when were there.

I'm pooped,
Peace Out -

We Have a New Champ! by Lew

2008-08-25T22:48:00.003-04:00

I don't know if it was the day to day pressure or what, but Dane-O just could not maintain his elite status...Cameron took the Heavyweight Title away from Dane-O last night! I think the numbers were Cameron in at 1881 grams and Dane-O in at 1872 grams, or there abouts, I know for fact that it was by a 9 pound margin! It's like 4 pounds, 2 ounces and some change!

That's fun stuff! Brock should bash the 4 pound barrier soon as well! Summer, she's just cute!

All of The Quads are doing great. We are hoping Summer, Brock, and Cameron will be off their nasal oxygen prong things soon. Seems like they are all past due to have that stuff done and gone. We should find out more on that at our meeting on Thursday.

Tonya has been able to nurse each of the quads. Depending on what we have going with visitors, sometimes she can get each of them one feeding in a day. They don't really get all that much from the nursing, but they are learning and seem to be getting better with their suck-swallow mechanics and make progress with each attempt. All The Quads seem to love getting bathed - that's good, we like clean kids...I got to give my first baths on Sunday to Brock and Cameron - they did awesome and it was fun! It's really neat bringing Aiden and Cale in to see the babies. They just love going to see them and they are so darn nice to all of them. They both want to see them all and touch them and talk to them! When we leave, they go around to each baby and tell them they love them and tell them goodbye and tell them they'll see them tomorrow, etc. It really makes Tonya and me proud when Aiden and Cale show their true colors, real proud. All you parents out there now that feeling we are talking about. When they just blow your socks off!

This golf outing deal - unbelievable all you people out there. We really are looking forward to seeing family and friends in a couple weeks! The Quads are doing their best to pack the weight on so they can be a part of the outing as well!

Should be something coming up in The Antrim Review...

Gosh, there are so many thank you's that we need to get out there I can't keep them all straight. In fact, I can't remember all the people that have sent us baby clothes in the past couple weeks. Again I have to give a shout to the Jen K Manor Donators - some good veggies people - thank you again! That really was an awesome donation - you all should feel good about yourselves. I'll try my best with thank you's - Kay (Moeke's Mom) and John, Glenn and Tracy, Tracy's Mom, Kosakowski's, Diegel's, Jess and Hans..if I forgot you, I drink too much...

Super special thanks to Tonya's family and my family.

Also special thanks to Craven. He took me out for my first salmon fishing trip of the season...and probably my last for the next 5 years! We caught one that was longer than Cale is tall - I'll get the photo up here soon...

Gitcha game on - Go Blue!

Quadtastic by Lew

2008-08-21T23:43:00.005-04:00

Thanks to Webmasta Nate for getting the website back in order!

So yeah that was some other dude with a hairy chest holding our babies, wasnt't me...

Vanessa left out the funny part of that story. Actually, Dane is on the right and Cameron is on the left in the photo with the hairy-chested dude. So, the funniest part of that photo is kind of telling. When you look closely at Dane, you can see he kind of has a little smirk. He's smirking because we were all laughing at him. He just got done singing this:

I'm to sexy for my shirt, to sexy for my shirt, so sexy it hurts! He was singing it to me and I think it was because the hair scratching his face kind of hurt? After that, he asked why he got sent to the zoo to be held by a chimp?

By any means, for those that aren't quite in-the-know, kangaroo care is a term that my wife and the nurses use. I want a kangaroo. I like kangaroos. I like how they hop. I like they're tails. I like how they are good boxers? But mostly, I like that they care for their new borns so well that humans, humans, have named the care that is of utmost importance to new borns after the kangaroo. Skin to win baby!

Quads were given a best estimate of being released from the hospital on September 11 - or 3 weeks from today. They were all pretty damn excited to be able to golf in the outing - they were arguing over who golfs with who and who gets to drive the cart and what not.

So, if indeed they do get released before September 13, those that will be in attendance at the golf outing may just get a chance to meet The Quads....again though, things could change.

Had our week 3 meeting today with Munson staff. Dr. St. Charles really made me smile when he said they are all doing so well! Dane is great. Summer is good. Cameron is good and issues associated with his brain don't appear to be much of an issue anymore. He gets an ultrasound of his noggin on Monday which will hopefully depict continued progress towards normal measurements. Brock is up and down on his oxygen and apnia. Him and Dane were off the caffeine and then Brock got a hefty dose tonight after he made the nurse sprint over to remind him to breath and make his heart beat. Just another night in the NICU! Summer is really trying her best to fit in with the boys - she has thunderous releases of gas! Dane will probably be at 4 pounds tomorrow or for sure Saturday! 4 pounds never looked so big, or so little! Everyone else is playing catchup with Dane-O!

Funny - the Bellaire paper, The Antrim Review, called today. They said they need some photos for a story. Also mentioned that the ones in the Record Eagle are "to graphic for us" - Funny!

So, our routine for the next few weeks will probably include spending Monday through Thursday afternoon at The Manor and then head over to the cottage for the remainder of the week until The Quads are released. Seems to work out better for our family that way.

Tonya is doing great and will be trying to get a posting up soon. She's awesome with this milk stuff! I mean, she's like a factory man! Also, please refrain from asking her when the baby is due - pisses me off more than her. Yeah, believe it, people ask her that! I think the next time someone asks her that I'm gonna go thunderous like Summer on their hand! You just don't ask if you're not sure and if you do ask and you get the response that Tonya gives, go the extra mile of being kind enough to say how great she looks and what not. Shit is still out of whack inside her and she has a cute little paunch. Might take a bit for her body to get back to normal. Regardless, she is doing great!

We are starting a search for a new vehicle. If anyone has any contacts for a pimped out bus, preferrably with flames on the hood, please let me know!

Alright, enough's enough, I gotta go to bed.

Thank you all for doing what you all do.

Special thanks to our down state friends of my side. There was a delivery made to The Manor today. Jen Kosakowski instigated a collection and she delivered on it big time! Thank you all for looking out for those that are not as fortunate as our families and for looking out for those that are going through tough times. I was talking with Brian, the manager of The Manor, yesterday and I called it home. That was how it came out. It was weird, but I said it. He said some nice things about our family. The coolest was when he said he would like to clone us for when we leave! Funny, but it meant a lot! There is no doubt in my mind that Brian and the rest of his staff are so extremely greatful for the kindness that was brought to The Manor today by the donations!

Thank you,
Right Said Lew

We're Back....by Lew

2008-08-19T12:35:00.002-04:00

So, as you all are aware, we haven't been too bloggy lately. Sorry, life has been pretty much a whirlwind for the past week or so.

The Quads are growing! When I walked into the NICU last night Dane was walking around drinking coffee, he said if he's going to get caffeine, he wants to drink it, not have it shot through his nose! Cameron was carrying Brocks legs while he was doing his best impression of a preemie wheelbarrow! Summer was jumping from isolette isolette practicing gymnastics - she said the olympics have given her motivation! It was just nuts and the nurses were all sitting around laughing!

For real though, The Quads got moved to another quadrant in the NICU. It is much more intimate, they are closer together, and it is out of the higher traffic areas so it is quieter. We are very pleased for the move.

Dane and Cameron are locked in a serious battle for the heavyweight title. Dane still holds a slight edge and they are both weighing over 3.5 pounds! Brock is making his case to get involved in the competition as well and little Summer is nearing the 3 pound mark.

Summer, Brock, and Cameron are on-again off-again with their nasal canyall things. Oxygen that is added is minimal, but they just can't quite do it completely on their own yet. They try, but just get to darn tired.

They all seem to poop a lot. The nurses say that is good. But I'll tell you, imagine sleeping in a clear box with walls like a foot away from your body with minimal ventilation after a night of consuming a couple few PBRs- yeah! You get a wiff of stink when you open their isolettes and then it's apparent why they can't keep their oxygen levels up or breath easy on their own!

So, all in all, The Quads are doing just as good as they were since the last post. Cameron's issues with his brain remain under close watch. We really won't know much about anything with regard to that until additional ultra sounds or an MRI is completed. I don't recall when the next round of either of those will occur.

Our absence from the blogosphere is a culmination of being on our own with Aiden and Cale and having a family event this past weekend. Life has been pretty hectic, and we can only imagine that this state of hecticness is just the tip of the iceberg....

There was a commercial promoting the golf outing on WTCM, a Traverse City country music station...my coworker informed me of that this morning. Crazy people you!

There should be an article in The Record Eagle this Thursday summarizing our escapades!

To summarize how Tonya and I are doing - we are starting to feel a bit overwhelmed...again. The reality of The Quads coming home soon has created a sense of urgency, especially with me. Tonya will be following up on some "calls for help" that she initiated.

This is what I have to offer:

If there are any kind ladies or gents out there in the Traverse City Area that would love to spend time with two extremely well behaved boys (2 and 4 years old), a wonderful, chatty mom, and four beautiful babies that never cry, and me, you can contact me. Feel free to spread the word if you know someone that would be interested. I think if you write a response to the blog I can email you back from our blog email, provided you have a yahoo or blog email?

Fun stuff we will be looking into in the very near future is a new vehicle. So anyone out there that knows of a vehicle that could accomodate our family, let me know...

Also, the plans for us at the cottage are somewhat up in the air. We were there this past weekend and the boys love it. I kind of jumped the gun on when we might get over there. We will probably continue at The Manor until all the quads are released. The ease of walking to the hospital out weighs the luxury of the cottage. Again, Julie and family and Chuck and Suzy, you are the best!

Our family is looking forward to seeing ya'll soon. There is a chance that we may have a little one or more tagging along with us at the golf outing....

As always, thank you all for your support!

The Lewandowski Family

Big Brothers Meet The Quads!

2008-08-13T22:38:00.003-04:00

So, as everyone out there with kids knows, there are times when they listen and behave as you would expect, sometimes even exceeding expectations...and there are times when you wish you could string them up by their toes...

...And then there are times like we experienced tonight.

As a parent, you could not ask for anything more from a 2 and 4 year old. Tonya and I were so damn proud of Aiden and Caleb tonight!

Aiden and Cale met Summer, Brock, Cameron, and Dane tonight. Seriously, they were awesome! They brought some new blankets with them for gifts. They said hi, they waved, they said I love you, they inquired about the babies coming home so they could play with them, they asked when they would be able to hold the babies, they asked about their huts, their monitor screens and what everything on them meant, their sensors. They event got to see Summer get her diaper changed. They saw all that and then some and asked about all that and then some. It was great.

They did so well that when we got back to The Manor, we sat in the rocking chairs on the porch and had ice cream cones with the ice cream the Moeke Family brought for Tonya all the way from Cinncinnatti! George and Rebecca, we voted the Raspberry Chocolate Chip tops!

Man what a night! Just love them boys!

So, Quad Update:

Summer remains tapped with an IV for her antibiotics. She had a positive test for a different staff infection a few days back so she has to have the IV thing in for another few days. She is breathing on her own. Brock is doing great. Cam is doing great. Though Cam did have to get the nasal cannyal thing in last night but it was out today. That is common for preemies like ours - sometimes they just need a little assistance. Dane is great. They are all feeding great.

Tonya has started the nursing process. Summer has yet to get a chance as she can't be taken out of her hut yet. Cameron and Dane seemed down with the deal and Brock seemed to just be happy to be out of his hut. By any means, Tonya was very happy to get that ship out of the harbor and it seems as though nursing will be just fine for the babies.

The Heavyweight Title: Dane currently has a 35 gram lead over Cameron. Dane coming in at 1430 grams (3# 2 oz) and Cam coming in at 1395 grams which I think is 3# 1 oz.

Shit, it's all good man! That could change, but these rugrats are pretty tough and we are keeping on them to stay strong.

Tonya is in the process of getting a post together with photos. As you all are aware, she just can't post photos with a simple caption or post a blog that is anything short of a novel. So, by the time she gets that post blog-worthy, the kids will probably be home. I don't do photos - just not part of this cowboys routine.

We have tons of photos, I mean tons. Maybe I should start posting photos?

Interview with The Record Eagle went down yesterday. It went very well. Vanessa was very nice. I hope she puts a nice article together. It will be in the August 21 edition of The Record Eagle in the Well Being section. Thank you George and Kay for getting a nice story for the news...

We have so many thank you's, and we are sorry if we have missed out giving special notice to anyone. Karl and Jen, thanks for the cute clothes - the preemie clothes from Carter's you sent are for sure the smallest we have seen and should result in a good fit. Kris and Jeff and Kris's mom, thank you for the cute hats - loved the "little" and "little bigger" sizing system!

Again, I have to thank the Konieczny family - just good people!

I don't know about anyone else out there in the blogosphere, but I am really anxious for college football season to start - just can't wait to see the "new" Michigan Wolverine squad this year...

Finally, I would like to remind everyone to be thankful for everyday and to live each day like it is your last. Always kiss your wife and kids goodnight. This place, I swear, it really has made me more appreciative of damn near everything. I have a story to share with you all. It is sad. Our neighbors at The Manor left the other day. They were here before we were. They are grandparents. We hit it off as their daughter had triplets. The Mrs.'s chatted with Tonya and me extensively on what to expect at the NICU and when we get to bring The Quads home. She was a great resource, one of the best we have come across. She helped her daughter raise the triplets and I believe they are around a year old. She got to see them the other weekend and was just tickled by their visit. I'm not sure how long they had been at The Manor before we got here. They were at The Manor to spend time with their son who was in hospice. Their son was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 15. He died the other day at the age of 31. She said he defied all odds by living longer than the year or so the doctors gave him at the young age of 15. That's cruel. That's life. That makes me cry and makes me want to go hug my wife and kids.

Be Thankful,
Lew

Whirlwind by Lew

2008-08-11T14:34:00.002-04:00

It is becoming readily apparent that 24 hours is not enough time in a day for The Lewandowski Family!

I think we might need to hire an agent. I have designated Aiden as the voice of the family. Aiden is The Agent. Please direct all public relations requests to Aiden. He has a cell phone, but it is not activated - he's old school, said he only carries it for show. Aiden is interested in sports, he especially likes to play rough and tackle other people or kids, he will mix it up with toddlers or adults alike - he said he fears no one, he has a strong affection for construction trucks and equipment, he speaks very well for a four year old, he can count to 20, and he can hit the snot out of a baseball and he said he doesn't need no stinkin' tee! He doesn't have a PDA, said he keeps it all in his head.

There is some breaking news on the front for The Lewandowski Family - but I have to be short here - again, not enough time in a day. Hopefully we can find some time to sit down and post photos and fill everyone in detail on the progression of things.

We will be moving from The Manor to a cottage on East Bay. The Konieczny Family - we just don't know what to say. Thank you Suzie, Chuck, Julie and the rest! Speechless.

The people at The Manor haven't been made aware of this yet, and we will probably shed a tear when we leave. The people that work and volunteer at The Manor are special, very special people and they will always be remembered by Tonya, Aiden, Caleb, and me.

The Post Family, The Wickstrom Family, The Moeke Family and The Schumaker's, and The Endres Family - Thank you. You made a difference in our life this past week.

Update on The Quads: They are awesome!

So we think Dane-O is destined to be a class clown type of kid. Perma grin with a huge smile that is all gums!

Dane-O and Brock are off their nasal canyal things and Summer and Cam should be off within a day. Dane has actually been off his for a few days now and Brock got off his this morning.

I think they are all on full feeds with the possible exception of Summer. Full feeds meaning they all get like 26 mL's of breast milk, dispersed directly to their bellies over the course of about a half an hour, 8 times per day. Yeah, that's like 2 big gulps of milk for us!

If Summer's last blood draw was negative from the organisms that were creeping around in her blood, they will take her IV thing off, that as of last night, was stuck in her head! Poor thing. It should be off today.

Now that The Quads are out of the critical stage, we can hold them more. So I take my shirt off and do a quick "Truffle Shuffle" and we fall asleep with babies laying on us. It's awesome. They just lay there and love life and we lay there and love them.

Anyhow, a little birdy told me you might want to get a copy of the August 21st edition of The Record Eagle...might be something in the Well Being section about some crazy family that recently gave birth to quads...

Little Birdy Lew

Reaquainted by Lew

2008-08-09T14:09:00.002-04:00

The Place: NICU - Munson Hospital

The Time: ~11:30 pm and ~midnight

The Scene: Not a person in the NICU except for nursing staff and The Quad Mom and Dad, of course a bunch of babies as well. Why was it good that no one else was there? Quad Dad had his shirt off! No, he was not showing his boys how to flex! He was preparing for....

THE REAQUAINTANCE!

Cameron and Dane were reaquainted on Dad's chest last night. Summer and Brock were reaquainted on Mom's chest last night. It was the perfect night. It was just perfect, absolutely no other way to describe it. And it turns out the nurses that coordinated it probably got reprimanded today. But they know. They saw the babies. What the nurses saw was something you can't describe. The doctor may not know, but they know what that meant to not only us, but to our babies. The first real touch from mom an dad. Each one was so content to be with their brother or sister and their mom or their dad. You could feel it. That is so important. That was so important. Barely an alarm went off. Which was better than how they were doing in their huts prior.

Thank you nurses, that was a moment!

Well, no real news to report other than how awesome the quads are doing. The Quads are just plugging along. Honestly, things could not be any better. Really, they are just so perfect.

Thanks ya'll,
Lew

Bring on the World by Lew

2008-08-07T11:29:00.002-04:00

Bring on the world! That is what The Quads yelled this morning once Cam got his Cpap off.

Bring it on!

I just walked out of Munson - with a smile on my face that went from ear to ear, and I gave a little fist pump. Just a little one, I'm a bit reserved...but I wanted to throw both hands up in the air, fists clenched, and just scream.

Our quads, 1 week old today (for those of you that just tuned in), are doing awesome!

The Quads reached the first peak. They had a few stumbles and setbacks along the way, but they persevered, and together they fed off each others will to conquer and got to the top of that first peak - together. Now they have a steady ascent on their way to the Summit, and they have each other for support. Now doubt there will be a few stumbles or setbacks along this stretch. But that Summit is looks like pie from here....the Summit being their release from the hospital.

What a sight it was to be able to go from hut to hut and look at each of their beautiful faces.

Here is a summary of our meeting. The meeting basically consisted of a sit down session with The Quads Doc (Dr. St. Charles), his resident (not sure of his name), Steve who is an awesome dude that has been keeping a watchful eye over The Quads, the lactation lady who Tonya shot some milk at (yeah, we definitely don't need any recommendations from her...Mrs. Moomer has a huge bank going), and two other ladies that I'm not sure what they do but they are nice. All the news was good to great:

All of The Quads are increasing on their feedings. Brock is the only one that is at his maximum which is why his IV is out. Brocks lungs are coming along, still a bit to go. His lungs were the most premature of The Quads. Everyone but Summer is on the nasal prong thing and are getting anywhere from 40 to 50 percent oxygen which amounts to breathing air with oxygen content on the order of 26 percent or so. If that doesn't make sense, sorry, all these acronyms, meds, supplements and what not are tough to keep track of for an amateur. Summer is completely breathing on her own! Summer has probably about a week to just under a week left on the IV and antibiotics from her infection (some sort of Staff Homono ordeal, again pardon the incompetence there). Dane is a pig of an eater but he has to stay on the IV for a couple days or so. He had some goofy platelet numbers and is on some anitbiotics like Summer. Also, the hole in Danes lung may or may not have been a hole and it may or may not have been some minor pneumonia. Regardless, he beat that issue down. Overall, Dane is probably doing the best of The Quads, which is unique in that he was Baby D or Baby 4, and typically the further down the line you go the more susceptible to issues the baby is.

It appears that Cam fixed his leaky valve and his slightly enlarged ventricles did not increase from the previous scan. The cyst is nothing to worry about. That is a quote. The enlarged ventricles are not a sign of hydrocephalus. We are very familiar with hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus originates from bleeding/clotting in the brain which results in a lack of fluid circulation and ultimately leads to severe conditions/abnormalities. There is no evidence of current or previous bleeding/clotting in Cams brain. That is very good news. The ventricles may not be circulating fluid as they should, most likely attributed to some degree of prematurity, and the doctors expect over the course of the next week or so that we should see the size of the ventricles approach normal. Should is the key word. Cam is not in the clear, but he, like his brothers and sister, is a fighter.

I had my first sit down talk with Cameron last night. I told Cameron I was there with him and that I will be there with him every step of the way. I gave Cameron a pep talk. I told Cameron to dig deep, to keep fighting, and to keep his chin up. Cameron responded by squeezing my finger. Cameron fixed his leaky valve. Cameron will get those ventricles in order.

This first week grueling, but The Quads did it and Tonya and I hung in there. You just can't imagine the relief we felt after that meeting today.

We received a very nice card(s) today from some friends. It brought some emotions out. There were some very sincere statements in the card. The card was dated August 4th. The card finished with a statement that said I hope or I am sure that Cameron and Dane will be better by the time you get this card. Cameron and Dane are better since August 4th. All of The Quads are better since August 4th.

We can't thank everyone enough for everything. We are so thankful for so many things since we informed all of our family and friends of the pregnancy. This event has changed Tonya and me in so many ways. We are so thankful that we were chosen to command such a life changing event. We knew that we could handle this, from the moment we first found out. A doubt or two lingered, but only for a moment. We love our children. I have said this before, this pregnancy has opened our eyes, especially mine, to so many different things. I truly have a new appreciation for life. We are honored to have been able to welcome so many different people to our situation. We know that we have had a positive influence on people that may not have had an appreciation for life like they should have. All of this, this pregnancy, the warmth and kindness of family, friends, and strangers, it just makes you appreciate what you have, and makes you appreciate what others don't have. Love is a powerful thing. We love to love and so should everyone else.

I need a beer.

Party on,
Lew

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy by Lew

2008-08-06T23:41:00.002-04:00

It makes it soooo much easier to leave the babies when they are all doing so well and are so content!

Summer has rebounded! Thank you Munson nurses for your loving touch. Seeing the nurses treat Summer as they did was amazing. Nurses were calling in when they were off to see how she was doing, just amazing! Treating her as if she was their own. Thank you, we can't ask for any more than that. It means more than you can imagine.

Summer, Brock, and Dane are off the Cpaps - Cameron is still huffing on his.

Brock has his Cpap off and also has his IV out. No, he didn't rip them out, he just doesn't need that crap anymore! It is so nice to see his beautiful face! But boy, when he gets pissed, look out!

Cameron, our little Cameron. Taking his sweet old time with this breathing thing. I think Cameron might be our lazy one? Just really seems to like to have that extra bit of oxygen. Maybe his is like candy flavored or something. The Cpap could come off tomorrow, possibly a day longer. Cam and Summer had their noggins scanned today. We have yet to find out why Summer got scanned. The size of Cams ventricle has remained constant. That is good. Haven't heard any word on the cyst.

Dane-O. Though he is the little brother, he seems to be the watch dawg of the litter. Tonight he was sleeping pretty close to the side of his hut, as though he was trying to keep an eye on his siblings. He did have his eyes open for a bit tonight. Dane is cool. I think he'll be the lady killer of the group.

So, Tonya and I have our first staff meeting tomorrow. We are excited. Mostly because the kids are doing so well, which suggests the meeting should have mostly positive topics. But also because we will be able to sit down and talk with the doctors and whoever else in an environment outside of the NICU.

Again, we aren't getting too up - we are sort of riding a good wave right now, if you will. We are well aware that something could take a turn for the worse, but damn, they all look great right now!

We should be able to provide a pretty informative blog update tomorrow, time permitted.

Alright, bedtime, goodnight.

Love,
Lew

The Power of a Parent's Loving Touch

2008-08-05T22:15:00.001-04:00

I want to share my story with all of you... a story about a mother and father's love for their children... and their persistence in sharing that love the only way they knows how with their newborn babies... little babies that are growing and healing inside isolette's in the NICU...

In the months and weeks leading up to the birth of our quadruplets, I had read numerous books, researched online, and corresponded with doctor's as well as other quad moms in regards many of the challenges we may face with our babies in the NICU.

The births of our other children were all quite a bit different than that we knew we were going to be faced with. Yes, our beautiful daughter Meadow spent all 5 of her days with us in the NICU down at Spectrum in Grand Rapids... but we were a special story and were therefore allowed special priveledges with our daughter during that time. The first night we were able to see Meadow, they allowed us to leave a small CD player with her & Aiden's Enya CD so she would not feel alone at night and the other times we were not able to be with her. And when we came back in the middle of the night, the wonderful NICU nurses had labeled her CD player "Meadow's Music" and were leaning over her playing it to softly as we walked in.... The second morning after Aiden & Meadow's birth, we were allowed to paint our little girl's toenails - I wanted her to feel 'Pretty in Pink' - because she was. After only 2-1/2 days Aiden was allowed to lay with his sister in her bed so they could once again feel each other's closeness... as they had done for nearly 36 weeks inside me. And after 3 days we were able to pick our daughter up and hold her in our arms. By the 4th day we were able to rock with Meadow and Aiden together, outside the confines of her bed, as every parent dreams of doing with their babies. And on the 5th day, as our baby girl Meadow was baptized, each of our family members that were with us were able to hold their granddaugther/niece and rock with her as well... Jeremy and I spent hours with our Meadow and Aiden in our arms together that day... We are so grateful for these time we had with our daughter... these precious memories and her amazing spirit are all that we have and we cherish them so close to our hearts. Remembering is hard, as the tears running down my face remind me... Ultimately, Jeremy and I knew why we were given these special "priviledges" with our Meadow Anne... and as estatic as we were to have them, a small piece of or hearts broke each time... knowing.... but the comfort in knowing that God had a better plan for our little girl and that she is with Him looking down on us and smiling... we do not question God's Plan for our Angel Meadow...

And now, here we are with our fragile little ones in the NICU again. But God has a much different plan for our family this time... our four babies are in this very special place to grow, to get healthy, and, above all, to rest until that day we are able to bring them all home with us. We are given no special priviledges because our babies are so delicate and therefore we must follow what the doctor's and nurse's tell us is best for each of them on any particular day. And it does change, day by day, sometimes hour by hour. The reality of having to hear "Today has been a rough day for... So we are leaving them alone as much as possible." (Read: Do your best not to disturb this baby at all right now. This includes whispering only and absolutely no touching.) is very tough to process when a mere 4 hours ago this baby might have been the one doing the best. We often want to ask "BUT WHAT HAPPENED?" but we know the answer, time and time again, is nothing specific. Through our tears, as we watch our babies take a step back, then a step forward, then 3 steps back, then... we are told time and time again that "This is to be expected for preemies. It is not out of the ordinary and we fully expect they will rebound within 24-48 hours once..." It rarely stops the tears, but we appreciate the sincere compassion in which our doctor's and nurse's address us with. I, as you may know, am a hugger... and so upon meeting each one of our children's doctor's or nurse's... well, I hug them. I know exactly how important their relationship and gentleness with our babies matters. We have seen both sides of the spectrum in the NICU. And my hope is that by opening up that door to our hearts and allowing myself to open up to them, they, in turn, will treat our babies a little more like their own... I truly believe it matters and building this relationship is absolutely critical with each and every one of our babies caregivers. And now, Jeremy and I both feel that the majority of them respond to us as if we have known them for years... not days. The hugs flow freely... we ask how each other are doing... and we MEAN it when we ask... on occasion, I have actually been followed out of the NICU by a nurse so that she could try to quiet my heartbroken tears with a hug... followed out of the NICU by a nurse so that she could tell me it really, truly IS going to be OK.

These people are a very special breed and Jeremy and I are eternally grateful they have been chosen to enter our lives as caregivers for our babies...

One of the hardest parts of our rollercoaster is feeling so completely void of any control with our babies health and happiness. I can barely stand to type the words... it is the hardest thing imaginable to watch your perfect little babies suffer... and not be able to do a single thing about it. On the good days, we now have the amazing pleasure of cradling our babies heads and bodies with our hands... and the occasional holding of their precious little hand... several times we have now been asked to help change their diapers... and, as of yesterday, help change their bedding - which is the ultimate emotional experience because we actually get to hold our babies above their beds while the nurse's do their work... granted, we are "holding" (more like suspending) them above their beds, and not in our arms or on our chests.... but we take so much pleasure in these times and each new experience.

We have been known to bend over to sing lull-a-byes to our children through the tiny isolette access holes for hours on end before we have to leave them at night... and one time, just one so far, I was actually able to smell one of our babies heads as I cradled it during his echo... please remember as you read this the first time you held your baby and leaned down to smell their little head... again, it is one of a parent's guilty pleasure's that we all take for granted until the day it is taken away from you. Is there many smells we experience as pure and heavenly as a newborn babies skin?

I think not.

All Jeremy and I have to soothe our babies is our voice, our smell, and our gentle touch from a far through two openings in these isolette's. And we long for the moment's we are allowed to share these precious times with our babies.

My last night in the hospital was a night that I will never forget. I walked into the NICU late at night to spend time with my babies... I knew these ultra-late night excursions were going to become much more difficult once I was released. And on this night upon entering our "quad corner" (that's our section of the NICU) I was horrified to find all three of our boys crying. Imagine this little cry... it's absolutely heartbreaking... you look at their little bodies writhing around... you look at all the tubes and cords attached to them and KNOW how uncomfortable they must be... these beautiful little things only know to cry when something isn't right... they are suffering... and my heart was absolutely shattered. As hard as the nurse's were trying, none of them were able to console our little boys that night.

I felt so helpless.

So empty inside.

But instead of standing back and continuing to watch in horror, I decided that I was going to do whatever I could (read: whatever they would let me do) to soothe our baby boys and let them know how much mommy loves them.

I started with Dane, our baby D. I approached the nurse and asked if I could try and she was so sweet to encourage me with a "Only a mommy can help these boys tonight. I know he'll respond to you."

Sometimes, it's the little things people say and do that have the biggest impact. And those words, maybe not so memorable to her, gave me the confidence and strength I needed that night to gently cradle each of my boys heads and feet and sing to them each until they were calmed and sound asleep again.

I was able to spend time with Dane, then Cameron, and then, suprisingly even little, fragile Brock, whom they had been very reluctant to let us touch for days... and they each responded so well to my touch and the sound of my voice... for once, I had an ounce of control and had been allowed to soothe my babies... thank you, thank you, thank you to each of their nurse's that night. Thank you for allowing me to have that time with each of them and reassure myself that as their mommy I DO have the ability to let them know they are loved... let them know they are not alone... let them know I am there with them... and sing them to sleep.

I understand that there are certain dangers in allowing too much stimulation to our delicate babies. But on this night, the power of my touch and the sound of my voice was the only way to their hearts... praise God for these memories... and for these four little miracles in our lives.

Never under estimate your own power to heal and love through touch...

Thank you all for your continued prayers for our beloved Summer, Brock, Cameron, and Dane. Today was a great day with all of them... today was a day of no tears, only smiles... I know we have the good Lord and each of you to thank for their health and our own strength to make it to this point.

Good night.

I hope you smile as you see this last picture of our beautiful Summer... before she had to go bad on the CPAP... how we enjoyed watching her gorgeous eyes on us... and we will again soon when she feels a little better.

Happy, Happy by Lew

2008-08-05T13:00:00.003-04:00

These kids, I tell ya', they are gonna push their parents to the limit!

So we leave the hospital last night all shook up. Summer is sick and probably doing the worst of The Quads, Brock is fussing and trying to rip out any tube or wire he can get his hands on, Cam is fidgety and fussy and has us worried in general, and then there's Dane. Dane-O. Laying on his back sawing logs with not a worry in the world. Dane-O. Pushing the "Feed Me Now Button". Dane-O. Sawing logs with his mouth wide open! It never fails, at least one of these little buggers is doing something that makes us laugh.

I just left the hospital, and dammit, all four of those little buggers are doing good. All four made Tonya and I laugh. All four are doing better than when we left last night, and when I saw them this morning! What a difference a blood transfusion and some lipids makes. I don't know what any of that shit is or means, but The Quads sure seem to love that stuff! Just kidding, I know Summer got a blood transfusion to get her platelets up and lipids are broken down fats and what not that get to the kids through their UVCs...

I have learned so much about myself (and doctor talk), my wife, and how strong a 2 to 3 pound person is in these past few days. Mostly, you need to take this NICU ride one day at a time. Well, maybe only one half day or less at a time. One moment, they all look like they are struggling. The next moment, alls well in the world of laying on your back OR belly and whining whenver you are hungry...and vice versa.

Also, Cams little noggin has been consistent with measurements and they put a different Cpap harness on and his little noggin just looks better. That is all we have to go on right now with Cam. So we will use that as a positive.

One thing is for sure, Dane-O looks like he is growing. Oh yeah, and Summer, Brock and Cam are all nice and tan after being under the tanning light for a day (jahndus/billy rubin stuff, however you spell those things). I couldn't tell for sure, but I think they have coon eyes from the foam shades they had to wear!

All in all, Tonya and I couldn't be any happier right now! But, we are not getting too happy as we have seen first hand that things can change at the drop of a dime...

Now we just need to get our schedules adjusted to balancing the wild banches at The Manor and the little munchkins in the NICU! Tonya's mom is back at The Manor, continuing to sacrifice her life for us. Again, speechless.

I think Aidens prayers and Meadows oversight is really helping The Quads dig deep. That, in addition with all of your prayers, thoughts, and words of encouragement.

Some final thoughts. I seem to be starting to compare the past few days in the NICU to football. Not sure why, probably something to do with how I played it and how much I love it. But, life in the NICU is like football. You have to pick yourself up, put the last play behind you, get back in the huddle, and get ready for the next play. The Quads are doing just that. They are making their dad proud.

I also have found myself coming up with thought-provoking statements, for instance:

If you don't have faith, then when you are dead you are dead.

That is deep. I mean real deep. Tonya and I have never had so much faith. Seeing our little ones struggling for life makes you think about things that you don't like to think about, and things that you don't want to think about.

Thank you all for all of the encouraging thoughts and words - you are all helping us through this wonderful ride!

Also, the staff at Munson, they are keeping our kids alive. How do you thank someone for that. We owe the staff at Munson so much. Thank you.

Peace out,
Lew

4 Days Old...by Lew

2008-08-04T15:32:00.002-04:00

4 days old and chugging away!

Tonya got released from the hospital today. That is both good and bad. It's good that she is doing good, physically. However, we both could not be any sadder leaving the hospital without our little ones. It was a very difficult good bye for me today. I took Aiden and Cale back to The Manor and Tonya is saying her goodbyes...

We have been told numerous times from the nurses that these first 10 days are crucial. We are seeing progress and regress on a daily basis.

All in all, I think The Three Amigos and The Pricess are doing good. Summer is getting too damn comfortable and sometimes forgets to breath...that got her back on some oxygen...silly little girl forgetting to breath like that.

Brock, my main temper tantrum throwing man, has himself on the Cpap! Brock has been improving since he was put on the Soothtilator and he continues to improve with the Cpap. By far the biggest menace for the nurses that Brock.

Tonya and I are starting to worry more and more about Cameron. The leaky valve is expected to fix itself, but his little noggin has us aching. Cam will be getting a second brain scan on Thursday or Friday. We are praying hard for progress.

Dane and Cam are neck and neck for 2nd place in The Biggest Temper Tantrum Race. Summer is just to high brow to stoop to such a level - atta girl!

The staff expects Dane's Holy Lung to fix itself. His latest chest x-rays indicate the hole is stable to shrinking.

The Three Amigos, and possibly Summer, get chest x-rays each morning. If warranted, additional x-rays are completed as needed. The x-rays are evaluated for lung development. The nurses do quite a bit of blood work, primarily to check oxygen levels. Due to the inability of their lungs to do a majority of the work on their own, monitoring the oxygen levels in their blood is essential to verify adequate levels are provided to their brains and elsewhere.

So, that's about all I have for now. Just not feeling real bloggy today.

Qauddy Daddy

The Road of Life by Lew

2008-08-03T15:22:00.007-04:00

You get the news. You don't know how to process it. You cry, you smile, you hold your loved one in your arms. You listen to your heart. You pray. You ask God for guidance. You are pregnant with quads. You ask God to look over your little ones. You do everything in your power to make it right. You bring four beautiful babies into this world. You pray. You smile. You cry. You smile. You cry. You pray.

The day comes and you look at four of the most delicate and fragile forms of life you have ever seen. They are your babies. You smile. You cry. Your babies are fighting. They are fighting to breath. They are fighting to grow. They are breathing and they are growing. They are your children.

If the road were straight and narrow, how would it be? How would this world be if there weren't unexpected turns? If there weren't up and downs? How would life be? Life is not easy, that is for sure. It is not easy for anyone, no matter who you are.

Tonya and I are able to handle whatever life can throw at us. We learned a lot about life from Meadow Anne. We learned more from Meadow than any other person we have come in contact with.

Right now, we are praying extra prayers for Cameron. Cameron has a cyst in his noggin. Though the cyst may go away, right now it is there. Although the cyst may be in an area of the brain that might not affect Cameron's future, the cyst is there. Cameron has a larger than normal ventricle in his noggin. The situation with the ventricle may just go away. Or it may not. Our Baby C. Cameron. I am praying that he has his mothers strength. His mother will. He has our love. He has angels looking down on him. He has people praying for him. No matter what, Cameron will be the man.

Dane. Baby D. Dane is situated in his cute little bed in a way that will hopefully expedite the healing of a hole that was discovered in Dane's lung. I'm thinking Dane will run a marathon one day. He will run a marathon, motivated by a hole in his lung at the age of 3...3 days old. That is motivation to me, to us.

If life were easy, how would it be? These obstacles will no doubt make Cameron and Dane assets to our society. Cameron and Dane will remain strong, they will be strong, they will stare you in the eye and say "I can do it". We know they will.

Cameron and Dane need an extra prayer or two, they need motivation to overcome these obstacles. We know they will find the motivation. We pray they will conquer their obstacles.

"He's a wild one"! That is how the doctors and nurses describe Brock. We love it! He wants no part of anything. Brock grabs tubes, wires, whatever he can get his hands on and he rips them out! Brock Hunter is tough. Don't mess with him. Mess with the bull and you get the horns baby! All signs point to Brock getting off the Soothtilator in a day or so. I'll quote Brock's doctor: "He has a temper". I love that. I love a temper. You need a temper. Aiden has a temper. I love Aiden's temper. Aiden is very competitive. I can't wait to watch Aiden and Brock go head to head.

Summer. The name says it all. We all love summer time. Summer is all smiles. When those eyes look at you, you can't help but cry. She's one of a kind.

These are The Lewandowski Quadruplets. They are a blessing.

Each one of them is fighting. Summer is fighting for her brothers and her brothers are fighting to get where she is.

The news of Cameron and Dane came after thorough examination and review of today's chest x-rays (Dane's Holy lung) and yesterday's noggin scan (Cameron's cyst and ventricle). One moment, we are smiling. The next we are crying.

Life's a bitch. Each one of these kids will tell you that...one day. A lot of people we have met in the last 5 weeks will tell you that.

Get busy living people.

Love,
Lew

Our Quads Birthday in Review...

2008-08-02T16:14:00.000-04:00

So how DID it all happen? Why DID we have our babies a week prior to our expected delivery date?

You want details, I've got 'em, folks. And it was a crazy ride for us all...

12:25am - I suddenly find myself awake, after "falling asleep" a mere 1/2 hour prior. No big surprise at this stage of the game. I have been logging about one bathroom break per 90 minutes throughout the night, in addition to 10-400 belly adjustments/restless leg issues/just plain uncomfortable wake ups per night for about 2 weeks now. I believe that this is God's way of preparing us mommies for the sleep deprivation to come once the baby/babies arrive... so it's not really note-worthy or something to complain about, just part of the master plan.

However this wake felt different.

I visited my bathroom friend and, as usual, I was not disappointed by my kidney function at any hour.

I readjusted my 8 pillows (no exaggeration) about a dozen times, much to my hubby's sleeping pleasure.

Leg under the covers. Leg out of the covers.

Socks on. Socks off.

Move legs. Move legs again.

Rotate ankles.

Roll to right side. Lay on back. Back to the left side.

And it wasn't just the usual "uncomfortable" feeling that makes you drive yourself nuts... why did I feel so sick? Was it something I had ate? Great - girl's night gone bad! OK, I'll get some Tums.

And might as well use the restroom while I'm up, eh? Potentially save myself a trip in 20 minutes. Only I accidentally wake Caleb when I get up - and he wakes up Aiden... so I end up taking both of THEM to the bathroom too.

Yikes. Pretty sure that wasn't the best idea. But they are out again in 2 seconds.

Hmmmmm... back to bed, but tums having zero effect. Am I going to barf? What the heck??

OK. Maybe I'm HUNGRY? I did have a salad... and those babies must be growing!!

Get a cereal bar, open and eat as quietly as possible. Not quiet enough because then JEREMY is up in the restroom.

Well... that didn't help.

Man oh man... it's going on 1:45am now and this MUST be food poisoning because the pain is going NO WHERE... in fact, it feels like it's getting WORSE. Ugh.

Wait a minute. My stomach is no where near my abdomen now-a-days... it's up under my rib cage... and THAT'S not where the pain is coming from... it's my whole BELLY... and, hmmm... now that I think about it... why is my stomach so HARD? And the babies have been going NUTS since I woke up...

IS THIS A CONTRACTION???

How am I supposed to freaking know?!?! I've never HAD THEM!!! OK, breathe.

Get up and go into the hallway to read the 'Preterm Labor' chapter out of one of my Multiples books. Not that I haven't read it 20 times by now, but it takes on a whole different light when you are thinking you may be in the midst of it!!! I agree with... uhhhh... myself I guess after reading it that ANYTHING COULD BE PRETERM LABOR.

Great.

That's clear as mud, folks. WHY DIDN'T I WRITE THIS BOOK!!! MORONS!!! (I don't think that NOW, but at the time... yeah... I wasn't impressed in the heat of the moment.)

Go back into the room to guzzle a lot of water and lay back down on my left side to see if the pain/hardening/going to vomit feeling go away.

5 minutes.... nope.

10 minutes.... nope.

15 minutes.... OK.... I'm calling the d*mn hospital.

No playing tough girl, Tonya. Because if this IS something we have a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE TO ASSEMBLE to make this go smoothly... so don't jack it up with your tough girl pride.

I call maternity and, go figure, I need to come in so they can check us out. Alright. Breathe. No going back now because they are EXPECTING us... what did I just do? AHHHH!!!!!

2:30am - Time to wakie up Jeremy. Wow - I feel bad. Poor guy is actually sleeping, and if I am being a big horn blower over nothing he's going to have to go to WORK tomorrow (in the field no less).

It really was hard to wake up Jeremy this morning... not that I thought he'd be mad or anything, but because I really was afraid that it was nothing and I HATE the thought of dragging him out in the middle of the night for his wife being a big baby. But I knew what I had to do, my stomach was a rock and the waves of nausea were getting intense.

He was so sweet when I gently shook him and said "Baby, I need to go to the hospital. I'm sorry to wake you... but I think I might be having contractions." He bounded up and was like all in motion - not bad for 2:30am - add the panicked deer in the headlights look.

Long story short, Jeremy told you the rest of that story. Yes, I was having contractions, but they were 8-10 minutes apart still. This was VERY HARD for me to decipher being as big as I was at that point... I couldn't differentiate really well. But the biggest thing, according to Dr. Danz, was the fact that when she checked me I was not dialated at ALL and my cervix still hadn't budged (steel cervix). So the initial course of action, per Dr. Danz, was to "hold tight", stay in the hospital until our 8am doppler (only about 3 hours away at this point) and see what transpires.

I believe she even said that if the contractions stop and the doppler looked good, she guessed I would go "home" (to the Manor) later that morning. This sounded like a decent plan to me - and I was a bit relieved to know that I now knew what a contraction felt like ... a really minor contraction compared to those you natural birth women get to experience... no comparison I'm sure!!

Next thing you know, our doppler goes GREAT, probably one of the better ones for Brock (formerly known as Baby B... hee, hee) and I'm thinking I am SO outta' there!!

9:30am - Untiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllll... on our way out of the door from ultrasound we run into Dr. St. Charles, the Neonatologist... and he wants to give me a "heads up" that he's talked to Dr. Madion, who has talked to Dr. Jelsema, in regards to the fact that I should deliver these babies soon. The primary concern is now my C-section scar, having TWO previous sections, and now that I am having some decent contractions (his words, not mine ladies!!) the chance for rupturing that scar is much higher... which would be, as we all know, catostrophic.

That was my "heads up" - the first indication that our team of doctor's for our quads wanted us to deliver earlier than our goal date.

My mom and the boys were with me through the doppler as Jeremy was in the field for work, so once we got back to my room I asked my mom to take the boys out to play somewhere while I cleared my head (read: freaked out) and immediately called Jeremy to relay the "heads up" information.

11:15am - I finally get visited by Dr. Madion (not that I'm complaining, just noting that I was in complete limbo for almost 2 hours wondering what was up!! He's a busy dude, I get it!). and by the end of our discussion at 11:30am the entire crew is in full swing QUAD MODE prepping me for delivery at 1pm. Before he came to see me he wanted to make sure that they could assemble the entire Quad Team, consisting of around 24 people, and make it all happen so quickly. But Dr. Madion said that there was no question in any of their minds that the contractions would cause far too much stress on my exisiting scar - already stretched to the max. Right at that minute we knew we had 4 healthy babies to deliver, so let's not take any chances testing fate and get them out of there while we know we can.

That's right: I said 1pm. A mere 1-1/2 hours away... and I can't get a hold of Jeremy on his cell phone to save my life... knowing he's north of Elk Rapids still... yikes!!!

I called my mom next to let her know what was going on and she began assembling the boys to take them over to Heidi's house so that she could try to be there for the birth. THANK YOU AGAIN, HEIDI!!! Our boys really DO love going over to her house and her sister Katy's house to play - kids eveywhere! But still, it's great to know that we have friends we can call on in the blink of an eye.

11:45am - Finally get a hold of Jeremy... I love that man so much... he's on his way...... I feel better already.

12:05pm: Dory is going to be one of my delivery nurses... that's right, the SAME nurse Dory that I forced into calling security on me... she doesn't appear to be holding a grudge?

12:07pm: Picture time!! Dory is forced into being my little photographer since I have no hubby yet. FINAL QUAD PREGNANCY BELLY PIC!!!

12:10pm: I saw this on one of the other quad blogs I had found waaaaay back when I was working (prior to 20 weeks) - they labeled where on the mom's belly each baby had resided and took a pic. I think Dory got WAY down unda' to make sure we got a good look at Summer's position (formerly known as Baby A) - that plus the LEAAAAAAAN I'm putting into it make me look a little odd - but you get the idea =)

12:30pm: WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!?!?!?!?!!

12:35pm: I tell Dory that "I am not going through with this without my husband here by my side." She chuckles and says "Of course your not."

12:38pm: Does she know I'm serious?

12:42pm: HE'S HERE!!!!! I started to feel like I was going to be left at the altar or something!! Cold feet, honey?? Juuuuuuuuusssssssssst kiiiiiiiiidddddddddddiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggggggggggg....... my blood pressure returns to normal.

12:45pm: Anasteseologist Sean is here. NOW we are getting down to bidness, peeps. This man is GREAT. Seriously - we had him with Caleb too... he's so easy going, laid back, yet dynomite at what he does and in being 120% thorough in explaining every single detail and answering any questions you might have.

12:50pm: Grammie comes racing in the door. WE HAVE LIFT OFF. ALL SYSTEMS A-GO.

12:57pm: Dr. Sean finishes his preliminary work with us and it now officially GO TIME. Let's get this party started. You ever seen such a cute yet dorky looking couple? I think Jeremy would make one hot doc...

And just like that we are in the operating room, with a whole lot of doctor's, nurse's, and others... Dr. Madion gave one final "Who's on Baby A?", "Who's on Baby B?", "Who's on Baby C?", and "Who's on Baby D?" shout out to each of the teams standing guard at their labeled incubators. It felt extremely well orchestrated and I knew that we, and our babies, were in very good hands. Organized chaos for sure - but for crowding so many people into one room I never once felt the chaos part of the equation... what an amazingly smooth, focused team we had delivering our babies... thank you to each and every one of you for your part in ensuring their safe delivery. And as they whisked Jeremy in to be by my side at the very last second (why do they like to stress us out like that? I kept saying "Where is my prince charming?") I held his hand for support and looked deep into those eyes who have carried me through so much and said "Let's give one last prayer for four healthy babies... please God...."

And here they come:

These are some of the very first pictures we have of our babies... they may be a little tough to see for any of you who have lived the NICU experience as we are now in the midst of... so I want to forewarn you. But we feel comfortable sharing these pictures with those of you who have been so kind in following our pregnancy, praying for each of our babies every step of the way... and I hope you will all remember in looking at our babies how beautiful they truly are without all the medical equipment they have to hide behind right now....

1:15pm~Baby A: Summer Anne, 2#4oz

1:16pm~Baby B: Brock Hunter, 2#9oz

1:17pm~Baby C: Cameron Thomas, 2#13oz

1:18pm~Baby D: Dane Taylor, 2#14oz

And then here's poor Grammie... stuck in the room and pacing the hallway (before she got kicked out of the hallway - is that legal to do that to a Grammie in waiting?) for nearly FOUR HOURS before she was able to see me... thank goodness my girlfriend Dana came up for the delivery too (YOU ROCK, Aunt Dana!!) and was able to distract her for a little bit... before she went off shopping for our little ones (opps!! A girl's gotta' do, what a girl's gotta' do though.. hee, hee..)!!

And now, as Jeremy has been sharing, we are the proud parents to all six of our children... four of them in the NICU trying to get healthy enough to come home to us... and the two older brother's who are anxious to see these babies that have magically come out of mommies belly... it's been a confusing, hard road for our two big guys as well and I want to let them know how proud we are of them for doing the best they possibly can to understand everything that is going on around them right now. It has been excrutiatingly tough to be away from them for as long as I have and I once again want to thank my parents for being here to ease this time as much as they can by being a constant in our boys life in this time of constant flux with Jeremy and I gone most of the day and all night with the quads....

I know that this blog may seem a little off the beaten path with everything we have going on with our little ones, but I wanted to share the WHOLE STORY on how our babies destinies were determined this past week... and perhaps provide a little break or comic relief for myself with all that we have going on in the NICU. Thank you for your continued prayers for our babies... and our whole family, as we embark on this journey together.

Healthy Hearts!

2008-08-02T14:29:00.006-04:00

Wow, great nights sleep for both of us! Emotion makes you tired!

So we got into the NICU around 8ish this morning and The Quads were getting the scans completed on their little noggins! Haven't heard from anyone regarding results, but Dr. St. Charles did not expect any anomalies. I'll follow up with that when we get word.

Brock had a rough night. He seems to get rather worked up if he needs to be moved or poked for blood. I guess I would too...

Summer continues to amaze and Cam and Dane are chugging along.

The doctors decided to complete the cardio echograms on all three boys. How can we not start calling The Quad Boys The Three Amigos?! I love it!

Could Brock possibly be the amigo the healthiest heart? That's what the preliminary echo results suggest! Gosh dang trouble maker! Dr. Schneider, the Neonatal Cardiologist from Spectrum will be looking over the results today. The "Echo Marathoner" from Munson, Kelly, did a fabulous job with all the boys. She was on the clock due to the length of available tape at Spectrum, and she did a wonderful job with time to spare. Most importantly, The Three Amigos remained cool, calm, and relatively collected which enabled her to do her job well. Prelim suggests Cam has a small PDA. Don't recall what the doctor terms for the acronym are, but I call it a leaky valve. Dr. Schneider will make a decision on whether or not to let Cam close that valve on his own or provide some assistance with medicine.

They threw some other acronyms around, but this brought tears to our eyes: Dr. Schneider asked Kelly if there were any abnormalities, Kelly said No. Dr. Schneider asked is the hearts appeared normal. Kelly said Yes. Tears, relief, a couple huge ass sighs, and then smiles!

I think what we are looking at is some little ones that need some TLC to help them get their acts together. Summer continues to lead by example, she just needs to pull her brothers on board.

Let it flow! Tonya seems to have struck liquid gold! That is such good news and such a relief. These babies need breast milk, and we are so fortunate to have Mrs. Moomer back in the saddle!

Brock remains on the Soothtilator and Cam and Dane have their Cpaps going. I know we have an angel helping us. The Three Amigos will pull through.

We can't wait to be able to hold them! Dane had a white-knuckled grip on my finger during his heart scan - it was so cute. They all grab and hold your finger as soon as your finger touches their hand. It totally melts you and makes you want to cry.

So, I want to talk about some stuff. I need to chat with Tonya first before I go over the top. I would like to go "in depth" on what we are going through. Seeing your children as The Quads are now is extremely difficult. Thinking about significant issues that could arise with one or more is even more difficult. We can handle this, not everyone can. We, as in our whole family, are being pushed to our limits, but we are hanging tough. The Quads are way tougher than the rest of us, by far. There are so many more factors that need to be considered before someone just jumps into fertility treatments. Factors that aren't really brought to your attention. I'm telling you, seeing your children as The Quads are now is not for everyone. This experience is eye opening. What I mean by that is it has made me look at a controversial "topic" from different angles, or all sides. The topic is fertility treatments, it's presence in our society, how the church feels about it, why we do it, to name a few. But, I'm going to pull the reins in until I talk more with Tonya. But I seriously want to go nuts with this. We made a decision and I will punch anyone in the face if they call us out for any decision we made.

Anyway, sorry about that, must just be the most popular question that is posed to us has finally caught up with me. I know it caught up with Tonya awhile back, but now I have the bug and the bug is bugging me.

We aren't sure when Tonya will be released from the hospital. There was talk of possibly tomorrow, but it seems like Monday would be more likely.

Again, thank you all for your postings, phone calls, emails, etc. that include nothing but the nicest comments to our family- it all means so much to us.

Summer is so cute, I mean she is just so cute!

Lastly, I Love Munson! The Quads are in good hands. Heck, I get all choked up trying to explain how amazing the birth was, the organized chaos, it tears me up. The nurses that are caring for The Quads, I start to think about them, and I get all teared up. There really are some amazing people in this world.

Thank you,
Lew

Breath Babies Breath!

2008-08-02T00:39:00.002-04:00

Tonight was a tough goodnight. It seems as though saying goodnight to The Quads will continue to get harder. It breaks your heart when a hand that small reacts so strongly to your finger as it's placed gently in their palms...

But, let me tell you, this chick Summer, yeah, she is cute, she is content, and she does not need any help breathing...if only her brothers would catch up soon...Honestly, amazing doesn't do her justice. Seriously, she breaths on her own, no help whatsoever! Both Tonya and I got to change a Summer diaper today - it was great! I'm sure that attitude will eventually fade...Yeah, these diapers, they call them wimpee's. For lack of comparison to anything else, they look about the size of a small maxipad. Basically you look at them and can't believe what you are looking at.

Cameron and Dane, these two are something else. We walked into the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) tonight to see a pile of Cameron Dung! Awesome! The Great Dane breaths really fast, maybe that means he'll run fast on the ball field? Also, Dane packed on 2 ounces, got himself up to an even 3 pounds! Cameron and Dane remain on the Cpap (pardon the lack of technical jargon). The Cpap provides a certain percentage of forced oxygen into their lungs via a mask that covers only their noses. Cam and Dane have been near 21 percent oxygen - that is what we breath, that's good. I think Dane may have creept up a bit this evening, but they are both doing well. When I say crept up, what I mean is they increase the percentage of oxygen in the provided air to increase the oxygen content in their blood. Cam and Dane have one step before they get to where Summer is. Their next step is forced regular air, then no help at all. These two both had a shot of surfactant. Dane had his yesterday and Cam had his today (Ithink that's how it went). Anyway, surfactant helps the lungs do their thing. I don't think Summer had a dose. Based on their day, it doesn't appear as though they will need any more surfactant.

That brings us to Mr. Brock. You all know about him, our little trouble maker. Well Mr. Brock decided to relax too much today and not work his lungs hard enough. So what did Brock get? He got a vibrating ventilator! Sounds better than a regular ventilator, right? Yes, this puppy has been dubbed the "Soothtilator" by me. It generates a soothing sort of burring noise/motion. It was tough being with Brock tonight. Tears were shed. He's tough, gotta be if your name is Brock. Brock is having a difficult time keeping his oxygen levels up. He needs a bit more help than Cam and Dane. He will pull through, he just needs a little more time. Brock gets a cardio echogram tomorrow to verify the closing of a particular valve in his heart. Basically an ultra sound of the heart. Some valve is supposed to close after about a day or so after birth. If it doesn't close, it kind of jacks up blood flow and results in depleted oxygen levels in the blood stream. Broch had required about 40% oxygen this morning - that got him his FIRST does of surfactant. Yes, he didn't need one yesterday, but things got a bit more difficult for Brock through the night. Anyhow, our cardio doctor that we had at Devos for Meadow will be watching the echogram real time down in Grand Rapids. We have a lot of respect for the cardio doctor at Devos. Dr. Schneider said some things to us down there that will never be forgotten. Hopefully he'll have good news for us tomorrow. If not, stuff can be done to close the valve and get Mr. Brocks ticker running properly. Dr. St. Charles came in tonight to check out Brock. He got a second surfactant dose and the nurses worked hard to stabilize his breathing and oxygen. When we said goodnight, he was calm, content, and on his way off the Soothtilator.

The time we spent in the NICU tonight brought back a lot of memories from our time with Meadow. Tonight was very difficult. Especially since earlier today I had told Tonya how different the NICU was this time around since the conditions were so different. It's just a tough place to be in. It's just tough. I couldn't keep the tears off my face, especially when standing over Brock. We know The Quads will pull through, it's just tough when you relate back to what we went through with Meadow. Brock was getting a lot of TLC when we were there tonight. I got to assist with some stuff, and having that little bugger grab my hand did me in.

We are really thankful for all the little things the nurses do for our babies and we are reassured by the presence of Dr. St. Charles. We know The Quad Boys will pull through.

We just can't wait to be able to hold these little buggers. I tucked Aiden and Cale in at the Manor tonight. Aiden had a special prayer for Brock tonight - he asked God to make sure that Brock starts breathing better. Hopefully Aidens little angel can get that message in the right hands...that was some prayer.

We had some visitors today - Mike and Debbie Schafer, Carol from Hawk's Eye, and George Moeke's Mom, Kay. Thank you. Also, My mom, sister Jessica, and neice Avery were in attendance along with Tonya's brother Glenn, sister in-law Tracy, and of course her mom and dad. Good stuff to have family with us. Couldn't do this without their help.

We are remaining optimistic that The Quad Boys will get their act together like their big sis. I decided that since Summer is the older, she decided to lead by example and kick that oxygen to the curb. She is pulling for her brothers, as are we.

We got to spend a lot of time with The Quads today. Assisting the nurses with little diaper changes and shifting the babies. It is a big deal when they ask us to help, I don't think they realize how much it means, especially to Tonya.

Tonya is doing great. As everyone probably has imagined, she is up and around less than 24 hours after her C-section. Can't hold her back. She sat by Brock and pumped tonight and was able to touch him while pumping. That resulted in her biggest output to date. She was able to bank maybe 5 cc of breast milk - that's huge. Getting flow this early from a premature birth is very difficult. Tonya will pull through, and I have decided to term her "Moomer". Since she love Moomers Ice Cream so much, I thought it was appropriate. We are praying she is able to product like a cow...

We got pictures of each baby getting their first dose of breast milk today. It is fed to them through a tube that is inserted either through their nose or mouth into their stomach. Yeah, not exactly like eating pizza, but that's how it has to be. They each got 1 cc pushed through the tube by a syringe. Which reminds me, these poor little babies have quite a few sensors and wires and tubes stuck to them and stuffed in them. All part of the deal, but it is tough to look at. Cam crapped his out like 4 hours of so after getting it!

All in all it was a very emotional day Lots of smiles and quite a few tears. We are remaining optimistic that The Quad Boys will pull through. Regardless, they will get every damn bit of love we can muster. And my man Aiden sent words for Brock to his angel tonight. For those of you that don't know, Aiden is connected. Brock will be fine. In fact, he ripped his traich tube out a bit tonight. We took that as a good thing, the one nurse yelled "We got a wild man here"!

Thanks again for all of your support. Also, many thanks to the staff at Munson. The birthing process was an incredible display of teamwork and the staff has been so kind to our family and The Quads. They have made this a wonderful experience and we are so fortunate to have our Quads in their care.

Sweet dreams,
Lew

sorry if the post is patchy, too tired to go back through it...

Roll Out The Red Carpet........

2008-07-31T15:07:00.002-04:00

I am proud to introduce the Lewandowski Quadruplets!

Baby A, born at 1:15 pm, weighing in at a not to be outdone 2#4oz, drum roll please, the one and only Lewandowski girl......Summer Anne.

Baby B, born at 1:16 pm, weighing in at a pesky 2#9oz, the problem child of the group.....Brock Hunter.

Baby C, born at 1:17 pm, coming out swinging at 2#13oz, the fiesty one according to the doctors.....Cameron Thomas.

Baby D, born at 1:18 pm, the heffer of the litter, weighing in at an astounding 2#14oz.....Dane Taylor.

Tonya could not have done any better and she is recovering well.

They grade the kids, it's called the arg something, after 5 minutes, two were graded 8 and two were graded 9. That is awesome!

We could not be happier, we could not feel luckier, someone was watching over us today.

The decision to deliver today was the correct one. Tonya's uterus was estimated at 4 cells thick, or paper thin, and broke open at the touch of the scalpel.

The Quads are all in the NICU. They are all doing good. One of the doctors came to give us an update. The x-rays of their chests aren't back yet, but they are doing good. One quad is on the respirator and the remaining 3 require assisted breathing. That is amazing! The doctor expects the babies to be feeding on breast milk within a day or two.

The baby naming formulat....huh, pretty neat eh! The clause was if there was only one of one sex, that babies name did not have to follow the first names starting with the corresponding letter from the womb, hence Summer. Come on, give it up, you all love the naming formula!

Finally, again, thank you all for everything you have said and done for us. We were very scared going into the operating room. Our team of doctors and nurses did an amazing job. There were on or around 23 doctors and nurses in the delivery room. It was poetry in motion. We are very fortunate for the team here at Munson.

We are praying that the babies stabilize and start to breath on their own. We have not had the chance to see them since birth. We will get to see them shortly. It will surely be difficult to see the assistance that they currently require. But again, we could not be any more grateful with how well they are doing and how well everything went.

One things for sure, that Summer is going to be well protected.....

All of our love and thanks,
The Lewandowski Family

Quad Day Has Arrived!!!!!

2008-07-31T12:09:00.001-04:00

Today is the day.

1 pm.

I gotta go.

Thank you all. We never would have made it this far without all of your support!

Amen.

God Bless.

The Lewandowski Family

And the good stuff continues...

2008-07-31T11:14:00.002-04:00

Good omens carry lots of good suprises... for instance, a positive doppler reading on all our babies... my mother being able to be up to help us... mama T getting released.... and then there are the ones like this: you and your hubby are discussing the fact that, duh, we haven't brought over a SINGLE preemie outfit for our babies yet and, DUH, they could be born anyday, so, DUH, we'd better get on that. And low and behold, that night (I kid you not) Bob & Katie Verschaeve stop by the MANOR with little Avery (that's right... back, back at the Manor) bearing gifts of boy and girl preemie outfits for us!! It came out of NO WHERE and we were so touched by their visit. Being that Bob & Katie spent time in the NICU here with Avery they had lots of insight to share with us... very sweet. Thank you V-fam, one of the chosen few to see where the Lew Crew is holed up these days =)

And then, the next day - KAPOW! T takes an exhausted turn for the worse. I'm not complaining, but I am GOING to be honest because up until this point I could literally count on one hand the number of times I would really classify myself as feeling EXHAUSTED ALL DAY. For example, even though I was out on release, I chose to LAY ON THE CURLY SLIDE at the park instead of even attempting to sit on a bench or push my kids on the swings. And I'm pretty sure several times I might have even dozed off... had Caleb not slid down on top of me and starting laughing hysterically... that little cutie. But this is not the mama T most of you know, and that's why I want to paint the true picture... didn't my hubby say that every dog has it's day? Maybe different context, but same principle. And, room confinement or not, I can't STAND being a boring parent, or parenting from a chair, or not interacting with my kids! Yet there I was, at the park, one of "those moms" in my own head. Ugh. I told Jeremy that I was either feeling the effects of our iffy doppler readings that morning (mind over matter EXISTS in my book) OR the babies were having a HUGE GROWTH SPURT and sucking all the energy outta' mommy!!

We like the latter explanation better ourselves too.

Wed. was a new day and a fresh start!! Great doppler that morning and so: Back to da' beach, BABY!

What, you wanna' see my boys muscles? Which way TO da' beach? Let them show you...

Buoyant mama T, ahhhh... playing in the water on a gorgeous summer day... it's LIKE I'm laying down because my belly is essentially weightless like this, right?

We had a blast.... a little motor boat, motor boat, anyone? C'mon - live a little!!! This would be about the same time nurse Carol had a Tonya sighting, go figure (all that luck I'm having with poor timing and nurses, eh?). Nurse Carol is GREAT, she's the one that was on the day of my big ESCAPE, I mean, RELEASE!!!

Look how cute we all are!!! I love my family so much... I only wish that Jeremy could be here with us everyday enjoying every second with our boys... it's been so amazing to have this time. Iwill cherish it forever.

Last night was pretty cool - my mom and I decided to have "Girl's Night" and so we headed to the deck at North Peak for some tunes and good food (LOVE THAT PLACE!)... plus we love to share our story with the WORLD nowadays (go figure) because I know we are down to our final week!!! It's always fun to see the shock value when they first "get" that we're not kidding... SUCKA'S!!! So, here's us chillin' - I partied hard with water, on the rocks, with lemon... oh - and a shot of club soda for that restless leg thingy at night... it helps!! Last night my mom got a separate room for us too so that we could watch The Notebook (thanks, Jen!) and cry in our own little girlie world... how fun is that!!!

And wouldn't you know when we got back, check out this awesome helicopter action... we haven't seen one of these yet:

Jeremy and the boys were PUMPED for the U of M helicopter - it was pretty slick.... too bad U of M came in behind Munson on some award dealy recently... otherwise maybe we'd wanna' deliver there, you know? HA! Just kidding...

And then, of course, our exciting night of contractions...

What is a Contraction? by Lew

2008-07-31T08:05:00.005-04:00

As we were told at 3 o'clock this morning from the nurses and doctor at Munson, contractions are what Tonya is having every 10 minutes or so since around 1 am...

Yes, I took Tonya to the hospital last night. She was concerned. She had pressure around her belly and was scared.

She tried to eat a breakfast bar thinking that would help - no.

She read her pregnancy book, specifically the chapter on pre-term labor, and that didn't help.

Both of those between like 1:30 and 2 am.

So after 2.5 hours or so of tossing and turning and worrying, she woke me up at 2:23 and said "Jeremy, I need to go to the hospital".

Horror! Not panic, just horror. Thinking about tired doctors having to do all this stuff brought a sense of horror over me. I know we don't have to worry, but geez.

In the end, I think we were both calm, actually pretty peppy for 2:30 in the morning...

Tonya just had sensations of pressure around her belly. I think it ultimately scared her thinking something could be happening to her scar. She has been concerned about that for a bit now after hearing of some horror stories from other pregnancies we've heard about at our time at The Manor.

Oh, if you haven't figured it out, I'm at work so everything is cool.

The Quads were all doing just as great as ever - I think the contractions were fun for them?

Tonya has Quadopplers right now and I'm on my way out to look for water...

We are not sure if Tonya will be back at The Manor after the Quadopplers or not. Tonya may update you all today, we'll just have to see what gives. If not, I'll get on it tonight.

The main thing is The Quads are fine and Tonya is too. Now she knows what a real contraction is. The Dr., who is the nicest lady every, especially at 4 am, told Tonya to use what she is feeling as a baseline for comparison to potential future contractions.

Also, Tonya's cervix is solid as ever, that is very good news, sort of expected, you now "La Cervexia" or whatever I called it awhile back...

Peace out,
Lew

Oh, I put that counter thing on the blog last night around 10:30 or so. I was responsible for 2 hits and have since removed by IP from the tracker. 137 hits when I got on here at 8 am - you people are nuts...

Quadopplers by Lew

2008-07-29T21:03:00.010-04:00

Okay, so by now everyone knows that we rely heavily on the results of the Cord Dopplers for Baby B. I'm thinking about referring to our daily ritual as "Doppler Days" or "Quadopplers"? To me, Doppler Days seems like a party where we all get drunk...so we'll go with Quadopplers. They tend to look at you funny when you're pushing a pregnant lady around the hospital with a can of PBR in your hand...

So, ya'll should basically know the ins and outs of the Quadopplers. This is what you don't know:

I push Tonya from The Manor to the hospital in a wheel chair. In route to the hospital I tend to push Tonya at a faster pace than I should, she doens't mind, and it's fun for me to pretend I'm winning the race.

When you are pushing a lady that has a pregnant belly the size of Tonya's around the hospital in a wheel chair, most people stare at you and they have to be thinking this: "Is she gonna have that baby before she get's to maternity? Why is he smiling like that? Is he smiling like that because she has a watermelon stuffed up her shirt"

So we laugh and say something like "if they only knew" and we get to ultrasound and check in. The ladies at checkin are typically enthralled by us. Mind you of the "us", it's Tonya they are enthralled by. When Tonya was at the hospital, I could wheel her into the back door to ultrasound, mitigating any wait. However, those privileges are gone know that we are back at The Manor. Don't take that the wrong way, we still have pull, just not as much.

Speaking of The Manor, my song of the day when Tonya got released was a spin-off of that gangsta song that went "Back to the Hotel, back, back to the Hotel." I couldn't stop singing "Back to The Manor, back, back to The Manor." I loved it.

Anyway, so the nurse that does the ultrasound eventually peaks through the door and brings us back to the ultrasound room. We do the small talk thing and Tonya peels off belly bands and what not and lays on the chair, we'll use lounge chair instead. Then the nurse spews ultrasound lube all over Tonya's belly, maybe I'll get to do that one day, uh hu-uh hu, and gets down to business (the nurse, not me). Again, we dig the ultrasound crew, they are fun to talk too and tolerate us amateur doctors.

The first thing each nurse does is to try and figure out where The Quads are, actually were might be the better description as of late. I'm sure Tonya has mentioned that they have a big white board with a Quadiagram (notta typo) that depicts the location of the quads from the previous days scan (Tonya should be getting a photo of that soon). For the past couple weeks, Baby B and Baby C have been flopping around in there like a couple twister junkies. Baby A had been the doormat of the litter from the start. Baby A actually made a move for the better last night and got it's self situated in more of a breeched position. At least I think it's breeched, I have a hard time keeping all that stuff straight. Baby B and Baby C are all over the place on a daily basis. When I say all over the place I mean they flop around, but remain in the same general quadrant. Baby D is all sprawled out on the left side of Tony'a belly, D is the "womb hawg." So yeah, Baby B and Baby C have been making it a bit difficult on the nurses lately, but they have done a great job nonetheless.

Quadopplers always start with Baby A and work in alphabetical progression. The Quadopplers include a heart rate scan, the doppler scans (usually 3 per baby, sometimes more on Baby B), and a vertical measurement of the maximum fluid sack (amniotic fluid, you know, the babies food). Sometimes, Baby B or Baby C will be difficult, and the nurse will move onto Baby D and come back and get the other one. Also, sometimes the nurse will go back and do additional scans on Baby B. Like today for instance.

Typically we joke around when she's doing Baby A. Generally I say dumb stuff and what not like "yeah Baby A, that's text book flow" and the nurse will look at me funny and I'll say "yeah, because I know." Then she's done with Baby A and we hold our breath. The initial scan on Baby B almost always results in Baby B moving and causing a scary looking reading. We are still holding our breath. Then, typically on the second or third attempt, with the exception of last Monday, we can breath. I tend to talk more openly while the nurse is doing the scans on all the Baby's, including Baby B. Tonya tends to react to me, or not say anything and think not quite as positively as me. Which is weird, because normally it's the other way around with us, sort of, she is more positive and I am more of a realist (Tonya isn't a realist at the scans, she's scared). I am most always saying some sort of jackass like comment trying to be a doctor. Most of the time the nurse takes it accordingly, though sometimes I think they wish I would shut it. Anyway, then we go onto Baby C and Baby D and we joke and laugh and all that stuff.

At the conclusion, the nurse typically pulls up all the data on the screen for each baby and we can compare the results. We always say something positive about Baby B at the conclusion. Dr. M is supposed to call Tonya to discuss the results. That didn't happen today or yesterday. I believe he was a bit upset that he didn't get a call from ultrasound either day. Anyway, I think he told Tonya to do whatever it was that she did last week when Baby B's numbers "normalized" the day after the "quirky" numbers. And, amazingly, that is what Dr. Lew said too.

Then we bolt, I go to work, and Tonya goes to eat.

So today Baby B was all over the board. Some scans displayed a moment of no flow while some scans displayed good flow. The numbers for Baby B today ranged from the low 4's to 13.5. All over the place.

I should note that the location of the scan on the umbilical cord affects the readings. What I mean is the flow typically has a lower bottom end if the scan is taken at the insertion point (point where the cord connects to the baby). Whereas the further from the insertion point, the more "normal" the numbers typically look. This is particularly evident for Baby B. Though, I should note that the nurses typically try to get a scan of the insertion point for Baby B, and they don't typically do that for the other babies.

Whew, so there you go. Like you are all right there with us! Honestly, we love Quadopplers. We get to see our babies every day! It is wonderful. It's also amazing how much those babies move. Really, I mean there is like zero room in there and these kids are all over the place.

I must say, I felt some pressure with this blog. Tonya is to blame. She wanted me to "blog something funny" with regard to her release from the hospital. She put the pressure on and I failed to perform. Heck, a lot of you didn't even know she was released after reading my blog. Every dawg has his bad day, right...

I am going to attempt to get a tracker on this thing, never would have thought we would garner a following from people in New Zealand and Germany!

One last thing. Brian, the manager at The Manor, brought it to my attention a bit ago about someone calling to ask him what would be good items to donate to The Manor. Like I said, those are the ultimate donations...thank you.

Dr. Quadopplerwannabe

The Whole Story...

2008-07-28T21:28:00.005-04:00

For those of you who have asked "Who did you pay to get released?" I want to be VERY CLEAR that TLew had no part in her escape... opps... I mean RELEASE from Munson hospital. Like I wrote on the blog last week, after our appointment with Dr. Jelsema on Friday I was truly resolved that I was staying.

So here's how it ALL WENT DOWN, kids.

As Jeremy wrote, we had a visit Saturday morning from our friends Ben & Jen Wickstrom and their two little cuties on their way up north. For the record, there was really nothing "on the way" about it - we were at least a 1-1/2 hour detour for them, so thank you for coming!!

Here is Jeremy and Ben - then my camera battery went - argh!

Our doppler results that morning were not 100% clear to us or Dr. Madion when we met with him just prior to the Wickstrom families visit. Baby B's graph looked like shark fins with a low, flat line just above the zero mark. Typically, anything ABOVE this zero line indicates that there IS diastolic flow, but the graph looked really odd because it had these low flat plateau's that stretched for quite a while separating the "fins". (I hope you can follow me) Dr. Madion's concern, was that the plateau's were actually an indication of no diastolic flow but the graph was showing it above that zero barrier due to a calibration issue. Dr. Madion wanted to discuss the results further with the radiologist and then reconvene with us when he had a better understanding of what we were looking at.

OK.

Then, as Jeremy indicated, in the midst of our visit with the Wickstrom's, I received a call from my nurse (this is how they kept track of me when I was able to resume my outdoor visits.... never lose this lady again!) stating that Dr. Madion wanted to talk to Jeremy and I ALONE in our room regarding our doppler that morning. He had talked to radiology and wanted to discuss some options with us. That's all she told me. But she was very clear about the ALONE part and the NOW part.

OK.

Panic sets in once again.

Poor Ben and Jen caught the drift right away, how comfortable is that... and we all said our goodbyes. Thankfully my parents were there with us too and were able to take the kids. We had no idea what to expect... but as you can imagine, we were nervous and playing through every scenario (we thought) possible on our way back to my chamber... I mean, room.

This is where things get nutty and don't make sense (you thought my doppler talk was bad?). Dr. Madion walks in and proceeds to talk to us about some options that he's been thinking about after discussing our results with radiology. Apparently those plateaus, as weird and scary as they looked to us, were actually exactly what they looked like. Diastolic flow. And the reason for the long stretches between the shark fins was due more to Baby B's lower heart rate on that particular morning.

OK. Resume breathing.

But... options for what then?

Dr. Madion then tells us that after reviewing our doppler's from the entire week, after being admitted to the hospital, he's not sure that the potential benefits of the reduced activity level is out weighing the stress of my being in the hospital away from my family. He MIGHT'VE thrown in something about the strain he sees developing between myself and the nursing staff trying to "keep me grounded"... or something... but TOTALLY a side note =) Cough, cough... So DR. MADION tells US that he is OK with my being discharged THAT DAY to resume life at the Manor with my family.

Huh?

PLEASE NOTE THAT NO WHERE IN THIS DISCUSSION DID I OFFER UP THE OPTION OF LEAVING. THIS WAS 100% DR. MADION'S DOING!!! (although I know that I will never fully convince some of you that I honestly had nothing to do with it!!)

I am pretty sure that wanted to jump off the bed and hug him. Maybe I did? Can't actually remember due to the ADRENALINE RUSH BABY!! Hello good endorphins!!

Of course there are conditions to my release:

1)I HAVE to have someone with me 100% of the time to help with the boys.

2)I am allowed to travel within my directed "triangle" as established by Dr. Madion to ensure I keep a close proximity to the hospital in the event something were to happen. (hospital, manor, west end beach (what? what?))

3)I NEED TO MAKE A SOLID EFFORT to stay off my feet way more than I was prior to being admitted and let those around me help.

4)I have to use a wheelchair when traveling any sort of distance without a car (ie - when we "walk" to the hospital for my dopplers everyday... I ride. It's so pathetic.)

Dr. Madion assured me that he did not want to hear about "Tonya sightings" in Kalkaska (he honestly said Kalkaska... cracked me up... cause that's TOTALLY where I would go if I had a free pass for the day, right?) or at the Film Festival or anything... because he is very aware that he will take a lot of sh*t for releasing the crazy quad lady. But, HE DID IT ANYWAYS!!!

That's why we love that man. He KNOWS us well enough to really FEEL for our family and he tried his best to understand where we are coming from and what we are going through... he sat and talked with us for quite some time about how his wife and I are very similar in that we do not like to sit around or be cooped up and we can't stand to be kept away from our children... and I think he just related and followed his heart.

Of course, his parting words were like "You are leaving realizing that you may be back in here tomorrow. There are NO guarantees, Tonya. But I feel that this is the smartest thing for you, your babies, and your family right now. We will still see you every day and monitor your babies closely. So don't eat before your doppler's in case we need to deliver that day."

Huh? Deliver? Don't EAT? OK, OK.... I get it. We are SO CLOSE and every single day is a blessing. More so now that I get to enjoy them with my family again!!

Here is me with my mom and dad the night of my RELEASE at the park!! This may become one of my new favorite pics with them... look at my dad all holding my belly and stuff - HOW CUTE IS HE??

Here is our family on my first night of freedom picnicing at the park!! It was so odd to be so grateful for the little things that I had done whenever I wanted just one short week prior... every experience holds a purpose... and absence surely makes the heart grow fonder =) I've never enjoyed bedtime with my little guys so much, and never savored the sound of their little voices saying their prayers quite like that night. And, daddy had taught the boys that they have a "special prayer" for Baby B each night now while I was in the hospital... it melted my heart. We have always done "special prayers" for loved ones, friends, each other, Angel Meadow.... whom ever we feel compelled to say one for.... but this was so sweet to me... particularly because Aiden was like "Is it Baby D? No, Baby C? Oh. I think it's Baby B, right?" Couldn't remember which letter... it was the cutest thing.

Sunday brought another ultrasound - in which we learned that Baby B has some FRO', man!! That's right - we had a hair spotting!! It was hilarious!! Now I have a good excuse for all this acid indigestion, right? C'mon... you've heard the same thing... And a good doppler reading as well, no more crazy plateau's for Baby B!!! And clear diastolic flow!!! Then we wasted no time in getting mama T back to the beach!!! While daddy and papa were golfing we tore that West End UP!!

Check out that belly!! It's getting very torpedo-like!! The growth is nuts, eh? I have to admit that after only a week of hospital rest I can definitely notice the difference in the size and HEAVINESS of my belly. It's actually pretty odd. I wear all of my protective gear nearly all the time, but to walk or stand for more than 5 minutes I really feel the need to put my hands down under the belly and help support that rocket!! How quickly things grow at this stage - I hope we are approaching those 3#ers we are hoping for!!! This is me being SO GOOD laying down to help bury the boys and to lay some storm sewer pipe in the trench.

What? Our kids know every single piece of construction equipment used within a 50 mile radius of us - as well as the fact that there is storm sewer pipe, sanitary sewer pipe, water main... all of which are made from different types of materials depending on the application....

OK, I'll stop. But they are AWESOME!! Well versed in the world of engineering...(just ask my new friends: Stretch Mark 1 and Stretch Mark 2.... arrrrrggggghhhhhh) Which, by the way, actually HURT when they grow on my belly. Talk about adding insult to injury. NICE constant reminder of the permanent scars you are acquiring. Again, who talked me into those belly rings? That scar tissue just won't give another INCH!! I blame my buddy Jose'.

How come I didn't remember them looking so darned cute when they were swimming BEFORE I went into the hospital? I mean, I KNOW they are cuties, but I think I snapped about 400 pics of them that day... unstoppable.

And there's Grammie swimming with the boys - mommy is on shore ticked that she can't swim too!! But, Day Numero Uno. Follow rules. There could be spies at every turn!!!

And then today. Our doppler went great for Baby B, as Jeremy told you already. I was really nervous for some reason today too, just had this odd feeling like someone was going to try and spite me and be like "you thought you were better off on your own, eh? not so fast, smarty pants." And I was really jittery and, OK, emotional. At first I thought that I was just SO HAPPY to be out yesterday... but what is with the emotional out bursts?? I CRIED yesterday describing how good the boys were to Jeremy when they were gone golfing. That's right. CRIED. And in the ultrasound room today, yeah, sissy T CRIED when she saw how good Baby B's doppler was. CRIED AGAIN.

Hormones, anyone? Did anyone else find that it kicks into over-drive the closer you get to the finish line? I honestly don't remember this with either our twin or single pregnancy... and they WARNED ME that high muliples carry (among other things) HIGH HORMONES. But I am SO EVEN STEVEN, right?

Bueller?

Never mind that comment. But I do need to get a freaking grip all the sudden.

Anyhow, after our radical results (I just liked the sound of that!) we had to say our good byes to Papa who headed home today. Please say a little prayer for him as he tries to get things in place to support our family up north. And, we've stolen Grammie for a second week... sorry Papa! The boys were sad to see him go- the ADORE this man!

We quickly headed to the beach for a SOCIAL GATHERING (my first in a week!!!) afterwards!! FIRE UP MAMA T!!! We met up with Heidi, Beth, and Katie (and all the chitlins) as well as a drop in visit by Lisa and her girlfriend - HOW FUN!! Not everyone made it in this pic - especially the boys of the group - but you know the LADIES were all about representing!!

And here's Heidi, Beth, and I... we have been known to do some damage in a little town called Curtis, MI... or Vegas... but that seems like it might've been in a different lifetime right about now... I'll just REMEMBER how good those concoctions were...

So, until tomorrow... here's the 31 week belly pics - again - not that you need them now that I show you my belly in every stinking picture =) I have only 10 days to savor this pregnancy and all the miracles surrounding it... each night I lay and rub my belly enjoying the movements from our babies within... it's SUCH A CRAZY COOL CIRCUS in there... and I know that there is a very real chance this is our last pregnancy.... so it honestly makes me sad... OK, makes me cry, lately (see above issues). I truly do LOVE being pregnant... and as little sleep as I get, and as heavy as this belly is, and as much as I miss my gym and rough housing with our boys (and other un-mentionables that I am not allowed to do too in this "condition"... cough, cough...) - nothing compares to the ultimate gift of growing God's precious creations within me. I feel so honored to have been chosen for this role of mother of 7 - and pray that I remember this special time of pregnancy in my life forever.

And so, in closing tonight (FINALLY, I know...) I'd just like to re-iterate our thanks to the Wickstrom family for being the catalysts in this continued string of crazy good news. It's not by chance or luck - we know that God sent your family that day to touch our lives once again and begin the whirlwind of continual blessings, beginning with our called meeting with Dr. Madion that day. Thank you.

Good night, all. Please pray for continued health of all our babies and a healthy delivery on August 7th!!!

She is Out

2008-07-28T15:12:00.003-04:00

Just to clarify something:

Tonya is out. She is out of the hospital. She is most likely at West End Beach.

If not at the beach, check the kitchen at The Manor...

This Omen Thing by Lew

2008-07-28T11:29:00.005-04:00

Maybe I'm nuts, but I believe it. Maybe a bit over the top. Maybe yeah. But I'm telling all you, all our prayers, your prayers, all that stuff - it works. I mean it. Yes, if The Quads were born today could they all be fine, developmentally wise? Yes. But, chances of that are greater the longer they are in the womb. So, to me, to Tonya, to us, these last 10 days are priceless.

Baby B displayed very good readings at today's Doppler. Well, very good compared to previous. Although Tonya and I are only pretending to be doctors, we think the flow in Baby B is looking really good. In fact, Baby B's number were right in there with Baby A's!

I honestly believe that Tonya is better off out of the hospital. Does that make sense? No. Is Tonya normal? Absolutely not. I'm telling you, if you haven't seen her, I mean it when I say she is a freak of nature! She is approaching 12 pounds of baby in her belly! She goes to the damn beach! It's nuts! It makes some people whoosy for crying out loud - both the sight of her at the beach and the fact that she has almost 12 pounds of baby in her and she is at the beach!

I think Baby B is pumped up as all gettup to be out of that damn hospital. The f'er told me so. See, me and Baby B have this thing. I won't reveal why until after they are born (that has nothing to do with potential gender). I'm thinking Baby B may be the runt of the litter, but a scrapy little runt. So, I have kind of taken to talking to Baby B, just in my head, which may or may not confirm my nuttiness. But since decisions of late have been hinging on Baby B, I've just kind of been chatting, maybe coaching would be more descript, to take some of the pressure of Baby B. I mean shit, poor kid isn't even 0 yet. That's zero as in age...Anyway, so Baby B got one dose of that hospital shit and got it's shit back together. Bingo.

So, life is back to normal at The Manor, for the most part.

Tonya's freedom does come with some stipulations. She has an "area" that she is confined to. That area includes The Manor, the hospital, and West End Beach. We'll call it The Munson Triangle. Yeah, I know, she negotiated herself to the beach. It's Tonya, she could practically sell a thermometer to a theromostat. Anyway, also, she cannot care for the boys. That's a no brainer. Tonya's mom continues to sacrifice her life for us. Amazing. Dr. M asked to be sure that there aren't any "Tonya sightings" anywere...that has us laughing!

Tonya has identified two positives from the hospital - ability to take a super long shower without the boys interfering and huge ass chicken salads!

So, I will be going to GFS today to buy pounds and pounds of chicken for Tonya to put in her salads. I'm telling you, that broad can eat an acre of salad a day! I will be doing all that I can to keep Tonya eating. We want The Quads to get to 3 pounds. That is a personal goal. Actually, I think I just made that personal goal, but it sounds like a good goal. Tonya will tell everyone that eating more will not necessarily make the babies bigger, but at this point, I don't give a crap about what anyone else says, she's gonna eat and she's gonna eat lots!

Finally, the Dopplers have been getting a bit more difficult for the ultrasound staff. They do such a wonderful job and they are all so nice. We love going in to get these Doppler things done - it's fun to us! Heck, we get to see The Quads everyday, which is awesome and we get to evaluate the data and give our interpretations, basically a remedial doctor, if you will, which too is awesome. Remedial as in like slow upstairs. So today, I was commenting on flow or something, probably sounding like more of a jackass than anything else, and the nurse looks at me and sort of gestures handing the probe to me and says "here, you want to do this, you want to try and keep all these babies in here straight", or something to that effect. She was joking, of course. Of course, my first thought was "gimme that thing, I'll do some ultrasounding!"

So let's all pray for Jeremy in the hopes of him sitting in the ultrasound chair this week.

Dr. Lew