Go cervix, go!

A tad bit TMI on that title? Oh well... you must've learned by now how I operate.


But before I go any further we have a major news breaking story in the Lewandowski Family!!! Jessica and Hans had their first baby yesterday morning at 6am!!! YAHOO!! Little Avery Helga Hegge was born at almost 38 weeks (what a miracle after Jess being in the hospital and complete bed rest for MONTHS of her pregnancy - you are such a trooper, Jess!!) at a very healthy 6#13oz!!! I am FINALLY an Aunt and Jeremy an Uncle!! It's been a LONG time coming, folks - we are SO EXCITED!!! And the boys will FINALLY have a cousin to play with - double yahoo!! Mommy and baby are doing fantastic and we are SO SAD that we can't be downstate with them all celebrating with them =( We can't wait to meet baby Avery... we just can't wait... congrats Jess and Hans! You will be the best parents - so much love and compassion between the two of you... we couldn't love you more. (and our new little niece!)


And now... back in the Lew Crew life...

After making it into our 20th week and surviving our very emotional last trip downstate for the foreseeable future - we were back to the doc's office to see how that cervix was holding up... you know... that BED REST AT 20 WEEKS thingy that has been forever looming over our heads - yikes! Plus I was in my last week at work too, which was a pretty somber and emotional time for me. (as if it takes much when you have prego hormones times FOUR!)

Here are a couple of pics from our surprise shower at my parents house... Jeremy, Caleb and I opening gifts and then look how cute a pic of Aunt Kristy & Caleb !!!



At my regular OB appointment with Dr. Madion we learned that my cervix essentially hadn't MOVED!! WHAT?!?! He is so awesome, with nothing but praise and continual comments on how my body is holding up so amazing throughout this quad pregnancy - it feels so good to get all that positive energy from a professional! And he took more time looking closely at the shapes of each of the babies heads this week too - another very telling sign as to the health of the babies (says them) - and Dr. Madion thought they all looked very symmetrical and well shaped!! The ONLY down side to this appointment was when he brought up the word "hysterectomy". Uhhhhh... what? We were discussed delivery and timetables with development of the babies and he indicated that "quite a few" second/third/more-time mother's of high-order multiples actually end up having a complete hysterectomy after delivery of their babies because of hemorrhaging. Once again, WHAT? Once we talked it through, it all makes a whole lot of sense, of course. Your uterus is like a big stretched out blob and you have FOUR plactentas separating from the uterine wall at the same time.... that's a lot of blood... and dealing with a moppy uterus that isn't exactly in prime time condition to snap back into it's pre-pregnancy shape, constricting to help cut off the bleeding from where the placentas have detached. Plus my poor uterus has been through a twin and single pregnancy already - so I'm sure that doesn't help the cause - in this regard anyhow. Yep. Makes sense. It just struck me as a little odd that it had never come up at this point? NEVER heard the word prior to this appointment, no mention what so ever of the possibility of this happening. I suppose Jeremy's comments about me being stitched up (ha... ha... haa.....) wouldn't come into play so much if this was actually the case - but then again I'm no where NEAR fired up for a COMPLETE hysterectomy and to be on hormones the rest of my life!! And it's just so... so... FINAL. And sort of a loss of all that womanhood I've come to appreciate so much more over the past 4-5 years... just odd to think about.

Don't get me wrong, it is what it is. And, at this point we do not have the energy to "waste" worrying about something that we have no idea whether or not it will happen until they have safely taken all our babies out and see how my body within responds to all that bleeding. And, quite honestly, if I have to try and put myself on that operating table right now (which I can't do without tearing up) I am 110% sure that I will CARE LESS if I am having a hysterectomy - I want to see and hold my babies and make sure they are all healthy!! Do what you need to do doc, just git 'er done so that I can get moving forward focusing my attention on our precious little ones!!!

Anyhow, enough about that (although, any of you quad moms out there who know of anyone who had to have this procedure done, I'd be interested to hear more and do add'l research...).

The other sad milestone as we came into our 21st week, other than the end of my engineering career which I've already talked about, is that Wendy, our nanny, and her two daughter, Chloe and Isabelle, would no longer be working for us since I'd be home full time. As excited as I was to have that time with the boys to myself, we LOVED Wendy and her girls like family... they are the sweetest, most giving people you could possibly meet - and I know our boys will miss their play friends (Aiden & Chloe and Caleb & 'Belle are ABOUT the same age, so it works out well!). And, wouldn't you know it, on Wendy and the girl's last day Chloe fell off the back of our couch and broke her arm. No stinking joke. So they spent the whole morning at the hospital and then once we found out what was going on Jeremy came home so that Wendy could attend to little Chloe in the comfort of her own home - HOW SAD!!! That's no way to end it all!!! But, we will always hold a special place in our hearts for the Lanning family - Wendy and Brian (her hubby) are also expecting soon, they have #3 on the way this July!! We wish them all the best...




Belly pics - belly pics - belly pics -



Week 21:

So, exhaustion has set in... is it all a mental thing, or the fact that being home full time with EXTREMELY ACTIVE 2 & 4 year old boys is a tad more taxing on the system than sitting/standing at a computer and commuting for 10 hours/day? Hmmm.. you decide =) I laughed at my doc when he told me that I shouldn't be driving that far 2x/week and needed to quit... because I pretty much KNEW which of the two options would be harder on my prego self... but I understand from a safety standpoint - just kind of ironic all the way around...

And I really started to feel my growth this week too. Like, FELT IT because my skin was pulling SO TAUT that I was just waiting to look down and see stretch marks cropping up all over my belly!! Not that a belly button ring scar from days gone by would ACCENTUATE that feeling or anything... nahhhhh... I'm SURE that scar will have NO PROBLEMO holding up during the entire course of this quad pregnancy... (I give it 2-3 weeks max before it spontaneously combusts!!)

Anyhow, I am TOTALLY digging being home with the boys - for sure. It feels SO GOOD to actually be able to dedicate 100% of my time to THEM when I am here now. Even though I was "only" in the office 3 days/week and worked from home 2 days/week I always tried to help people understand that it wasn't all so easy. I mean I was SO GRATEFUL that I was able to do it!! No question about it!! But I was also constantly having to "No guys, mommy has to work. I can't read you a book." "Sorry buddy, mommy has to take a phone call - PLEASE be quiet until she is done." and so on, and so on.... and I was also handcuffed to a computer and cell at ALL TIMES. I needed to check my email at least every 1/2 hour to be available and so between that fact and actually getting anything DONE - there was a WHOLE LOT of "Mommy can't right now." going on in our house... I know how confusing it must've been for the boys that I was home... but not really because I couldn't DO much with them most of the time I was "there".

PLEASE DO NOT UNDERSTAND - I am forever grateful to Gosling Czubak for allowing me the opportunity to be home with my boys 2 days/week!!! But being HOME with them, without any other agenda, is spectacular... I love being a mommy... I love to play... I love knowing that at the end of the day I haven't missed a single smile, a single hug, or a single snuggle on the couch reading a book...

The end of our 21st week/beginning of our 22nd week we were also ON TV BABY!! I know, Jeremy already mentioned it and God bless whoever found the link on TV 7&4's website (because I still haven't!) so we can share our excitement!! It's just hilarious... I mean, they were here for about 2-1/2 HOURS filming and interviewing our family and to imagine how they possibly cut down to like 40 seconds... and yet! Aiden still managed to make his TV debut picking his nose.... of ALL the footage they had to choose from (which included some nice ripping of that baseball in the front yard!) - boogers it is. Oh well - you win some, you lose some little dude. I really want to see if I can find the full transcript - I need to dig into the website more... but check it out if you get time (see response to Jeremy's blog a while back where someone posted the link - sorry I don't remember who right now!).

Grandma Lew also came up to visit with us over Memorial Day weekend and JUST MISSED her chance at super-stardom on TV with us =) It was nice to have her up - especially dicey with her visiting since Jess and Hans were due in only a couple of short weeks (SEE ABOVE little Avery!!)!! Here's a pic of her at the campfire with the boys...

Week 22:

HOLY BELLY BATMAN!!! That's 36-3/4" around now!!!

I had the honor of being escorted to my ultrasound appointment at Munson by my friend Kris today - thank you for the shuttle and good company!! This was another one for Dr. Jelsema and so they always take a bit longer since they do the full gamut of measurements each time (LOVE IT!). In my follow up consultation with Dr. Jelsema the next day (because, again, we "compromise his schedule" on his days in Traverse City with the number of babies we have to look at so we do the ultrasound on one day and then discuss with Dr. Jelsema on a different) he was once again super optimistic with how the babies are doing!!! It's just an incredible, incredible blessing... I still can NOT believe that we have made it this far and ALL FOUR BABIES LOOK HEALTHY and are developing well!! I thank ALL of you for your heartfelt prayers - that's how we have gotten to this point - I am convinced... prayers and the grace of our good Lord for sure.

Anyhow, my cervix is still holding up like a champ - which is "miraculous" according to both Madion and Jelsema for this stage of the game. Who'd have guessed I had such a strong cervix? The beauty of the female body is so much more than skin deep... and becoming a mother, experiencing all that pregnancy, child birth, nursing, etc. I know that I have truly come to realize and APPRECIATE my body so much more. I have often told Jeremy in the past that I feel sorry for him because he will never have the opportunity to experience all that I have throughout the journey of pregnancy and birth.... keep in mind that this is NOT said in a mean way, and he's usually holding a beer looking at me (water in hand) going "Uh huh. I'm so happy for you. I'll just live it all vicariously through you, T." No hard feelings there, eh? Hee, hee... Anyhow, due to the fact that my cervix is still measuring almost that of a non-pregnant woman at 22 weeks into a quad pregnancy (go cervix, go cervix! ok, enough out of me...), Dr. Jelsema told me that he has a tremendous amount of confidence that I will not go into preterm labor in the 2-4 weeks - HUH? COME AGAIN?? That is like THE ABSOLUTE BEST, MOST ENCOURAGING WORDS EVER!!! This comment is followed up with the necessary "Of course ANYTHING can happen, and there are NO GUARANTEES, but that is my thoughts on it as of today." I'll take it!


The only thing that came up in my consult is that my iron is crazy low (but it was zero surprise due to his "diluted kool-aid" explanation from like week 10 and the fact they had to take me off iron pills because it was adding to my projectile vomiting problem...) and that the babies have begun to fall a LITTLE off their gestational age growth in terms of measurement. But, this too was expected and Dr. Jelsema was not "alarmed" by it. I have read about it in all of my multiples books and they said to typically expect the growth rate of quads to slow around week 20 due to primarily unknown factors... but they tend to all agree that it is due to the crowding problem that is beginning and the fact that my body thinks it's almost full term right now with a singleton pregnancy so it might somehow signal a slowing in the growth process?? But, as I think I mentioned earlier in a different blog, even though the babies might not MEASURE at 22 weeks exactly (and it WAS encouraging that they were all VERY CLOSE in size - (2) at 14 oz and around 21 weeks 4 days and (2) at 15oz around 21 weeks 5 days, all still measuring within a couple DAYS of their true gestational age) their bodily systems MATURE earlier due to the high number of fetus' within the uterus at the same time. So, all in all we were not too worried about being off by a couple of days in terms of their measurement. WE WERE GRATEFUL ONCE MORE FOR ALL THE GLORIOUS BLESSINGS IN OUR LIVES.


And this, my friends... FINALLY brings us up to speed as I am now 23 weeks... CAN YOU BELIEVE I FINALLY MADE IT!?!? Only took a coupla' weeks... not too shabby...

Get your belly flip books ready

Week 17 continued... with an emotional vengeance.


As if somehow on cue, over the next couple of days after our amazing ultrasound and phone consult with Dr. Jelsema went so well, we started to receive semi-mysterious phone calls and emails from some of our Tech friends. It started with Jen Wickstrom... whom, upon hearing about our quadruplet pregnancy took it upon herself to immediately spring into action doing everything she could to help our family out. And I mean EVERYTHING. She was one of the first people to call me with her heartfelt congratulations and comforting words of support that God has CHOSEN our family and that this was truly a blessing beyond words. She understood to miracle unfolding in our lives and had an amazing impact on us with her words of encouragement and enthusiasm. But it didn't stop there. Through her incredible connections and friendships at her and Ben's family church she spread the word adding us to prayer lists, as so many of you have done and thank you ALL for this as it is the greatest gift of all for our family. Then she came up with a plan to put together a "needs list" for our family and actively pursue filling in every blank she could think of to include on that list through her incredible network of friends and family.


When Jen first called me and then emailed me more specifics about this "needs list" I'm pretty sure I just sat there silent for a few minutes. I know I've said it before, but we have been so focused on the health of our babies that we honestly did not dedicate much of our prayers and/or thoughts the actual logistics of the "stuff" that we will need once we have our babies. Thank you Jen for lighting this torch and now sharing/passing the torch to Tonia Nemecek, who is now my "needs" shadow... she's awesome... and a great one for persistence (to which I stink right now).

Here's a pic I found of Tonia & her son Nicholas from 2 years ago when they were up... again... she's a mom so it was rough even finding THIS action shot of her (in which you see about zero of Tonia). And another pic from that same weekend with the dad's (Jeremy & Scott) holding Aiden and Nicholas' hands walking out in the water... MELT HEART HERE!!!

The hardest part for Jeremy and I, again, we've probably mentioned this before, is trying to push our embarrassment/pride out of the way during this incredible journey. As much as we can not BELIEVE how blessed we are with the amazing outpouring of support you have all shown, we also have a VERY TOUGH time accepting it all with our mouths closed (I don't close my mouth all that often, as most of you know!). So, when Jen and Tonia put on the "TELL US WHAT YOU NEED!!!" pressure - I clam up and have no idea how to respond. Yes, I KNOW what you girls want me to tell you and yes, we certainly have needs... but we do not want people to think that we are some sort of charity case. We are confident that we can DO IT, no matter what the obstacles financially and physically... we have each other as a family. But, yes again, the truth is that we need to get the heck over it and accept that we are in a wonderful place having this outpouring of support from all of you... so I just want to say that we're sorry for being so stinking slow to respond to ANY requests for Lew Needs info... and any talk of donations to US? Ugh. We would like to bury our heads in the sand and pretend it's not on the website it's so humbling... but please, PLEASE know how much we appreciate everything. ALL of you.


And Jen, who has spent every week since she first contacted me thinking of EVERYTHING (did I mention that already?) - I mean, the girl is even trying to find someone to donate a house/apartment to our family in Traverse City in the event that our house doesn't sell in time for the birth of our babies so we don't have to split up our family (tick, tock, tick, tock...) - UNBELIEVABLE. And it is 100% Jen, and I'm sure Ben too although he's the silent player in the back, right? (go figure the woman being the dominant one in the family... hee, hee...) We have no idea how to say thank you in a way that truly conveys how we feel, but thank you. The glory of God's work is so obvious in how you choose to live your lives and help those around you.


And then, shortly after Jen contacts us, Jeremy starts getting phone calls and emails from people like Tim Bonk, George Moeke, Nate Curell saying things like "Send me some pictures of your family and don't ask any questions." Uhhhh... what? "Email me some background info on you and T and a progression of how you got yourselves into this predicament - and don't ask any questions." "Where are you planning on living and when are you going to have the quads?" Mysterious alright. Not exactly the everyday phone call/email you expect from your old college buddies - I'm pretty sure of that. And then some mention about a weekly "conference call" where you all sit around and talk about US?? (which Jeremy is EXTREMELY jealous that he can't be a part of, by the way... he wants to drink beer over the phone with you guys too!! If only you weren't talking secret code talk about US...) At this point we still didn't know about the website and blog, and to this day we have no idea what ELSE they talk about (CLEAN that open mind here), but regardless, it's touching to know that you boys have taken the time to set up a weekly appointment with each other to talk about us. Even if your primary goal is an excuse to close yourselves into the den and drink a 6 pack of beer reliving the "glory days"... well, we're honored.





And now, Jeremy and I were officially one big pile of mush at the end of week 17. In addition to everything I mentioned above we also had friends calling and offering up their high chairs, car seats, pack n' plays, etc. - and Dana Salladay shows up for a play date with her daughters Jackie and Ava with her car completely loaded down with everything she could fit in it for us to have!! We never expected or saw any of this coming... We were at our emotional wreck limits and completely unaware of how to digest the fantastic news about the health of our babies, and the outpouring of support going on with all our friends and family. We dedicated entire nights to standing in our kitchen holding one another crying after the kids went to bed, reflecting on all the miracles taking place around us... there is just nothing we could do or say to give God and those around us enough praise. Please know the impact you have all had on our lives... we are forever changed.



OK - hush up, Tonya, and show us the goods.



BELLY PICS - BELLY PICS - BELLY PICS - BELLY PICS -


week 18 folks:






















Week 18 was the scariest week we have had to date during our quad pregnancy. OK, maybe minus those first 8-9 weeks - but it's a close call. As I just reported, week 17 went by and felt like some sort of crazy euphoric dream in retrospect. And then the DAY we hit 18 weeks it all came to a crashing halt because I got sick. And I mean S-I-C-K. I am SO VERY AWARE of how blessed we have been throughout our pregnancy in terms of my health and, even more so, the babies health. I have read about and heard horror story after horror story about how sick the mom's are throughout their pregnancies with crazy hormonal changes associated with a quad pregnancy. The only other mom to have quads in Traverse City, bless her heart, Kristin Godwin, was in the hospital on complete bedrest and an IV she was SO SICK at like week 5 of her pregnancy!! I think she lost like 30 lbs because she just could NOT keep anything in her body. Yes, LOST 30 lbs people. Pregnant with quads. Is that an oxymoron, or what? But, praise God, all four of her little girls were born healthy!! Anyhow, day 1 of week 18 began with Tonya nearly passing out in the shower. But the old "I'll be be fine - I just need to eat something - blah, blah, blah" mentality of this stubborn girl was a pretty bad call that day. I INSISTED (much to my husband's dismay) that I would be FINE and drove my arce into work (long story, but I'd been off several days the week before because our nanny and her kids had the flu! So the old work-time-off guilt thing kicked in... I know... I blow... DUMB). I discovered that I could literally not be on my feet for ANY MORE than 4-5 minutes without the black tunnel starting, light headed, starry eyes, ringing in the ears... HELLO, YOU ARE GOING TO PASS OUT, TONYA - SIT THE HECK DOWN!! I mustered through, barely, about 1/2 hour of near misses before I made it to the bathroom as quickly as possible to unload that "I'll be fine food". OK. Guess this was about the time I realized how scared I was about the whole situation. So I immediately called my doctor even though, thank GOD, I already had an ultrasound scheduled for later that day. They instructed me to "lay in bed and try to keep down any fluids possible until my appointment." and that I was in "no condition to drive a vehicle, so make sure someone brings you to your appointment." Hmmm... this just somehow didn't seem like the time to admit to them what a moron I was and had actually come into work that day. So. What did I do? Well, what any other woman would do in my condition... I locked myself in a conference room (man, I hope no one from work actually reads this blog...) for a couple hours sleeping on and off and then, gulp, drove myself to my appointment. Yes, not one of my smarter moves in life (from the word GO that day), but again, that huge TLew "I can do it" pride thingy tends to be a bother sometimes... Anyhow, I think I managed to hold down like 3 almonds and a sip of water prior to my appointment and then I tried to eat a kashi bar or something on the way over... which I promptly gave back to the system when I got there. I am pretty sure I fell asleep on the ultrasound table waiting for the doc (yeah, all 8 minutes of waiting... I was pathetic) - and then finally found out that my blood pressure was registering me like... oh yeah... DEAD it was so stinking low. Once Dr. Madion came in (and woke me up) he told me that it's typical around mid-pregnancy for your blood pressure to take a nose dive for a bit - and, like with most everything else, the more babies you have, the more severe the symptoms. And I have low blood pressure to begin with, so it didn't exactly come in handy for once. But other than that, the babies looked GREAT still and all he could say to me over and over was "You are doing so great, Tonya! I am SO encouraged by how well you are doing with this quad pregnancy and how healthy the babies look! We couldn't be happier for you!" Now, normally this type of enthusiasm is met by a bolt of YAHOO's! And high five's out of TLew. But on this particular day it was all I could do to keep my eyes open and look at him and say "Are you serious? I feel like death warmed over. Are you sure I'm going to be OK?" All the while I was saying this I honestly didn't WANT to tell him any of it either because I was SO AFRAID that this was the beginning of the end of my freedom. And I mean it. I thought FOR SURE that bedrest was INEVITABLE after how my day had went and I was petrified that I was going to have to call Jeremy and the boys and be like "Mommy's not coming home... she's in the hospital on bedrest until forever..." Ohhhhhh...I was scared... but I think deep down I knew that I'd made enough bad judgement calls over the course of that day NOT to be completely up front and honest with him about how I felt; couldn't eat, couldn't drink, couldn't stand, couldn't anything. But - he gave me the ole "Atta girl" and sent me home (no - he didn't know that I had drove myself... I didn't tell him THAT part...). He reassured me that I should try to keep down any fluids, chicken broth (HIGH SODIUM CONTENT) I could and that I would TOTALLY recover over the next couple days. Okeedokee. I was smart enough - if I can say that - given the fact that I HAD to get home - in driving. I pulled over several times just to rest my eyes (this was an effort to keep them open) and took as long as necessary to get home. Thankfully I didn't have the pass out issue so much in a sitting position, so it was fine.


Oh, and yes, I learned my lesson.


NEVER underestimate the power of a quadruplet pregnancy and the havoc it can reek on your body. You may not just "be fine" so, like Dr. Jelsema says "listen to your body and be smart."


Duh.


And wouldn't you know it? After 3-4 days in bed and doing a lot of reading books with the boys laying on the couch ("Mommy, why don't you want to play with us?" INSERT FEELING HORRIBLE HERE!!! AND NOT FROM THE SICKNESS!!!!) I felt about 90% by the end of the week! So those doctor's DO know what they are talking about.... jeeeeeesssshhhhhhhh.....



week 19:

This was a great week - still recovering a tad, but for the most part I felt like "me" again and all was well in TLew pregoland...
















week 20:
I THINK I GREW AGAIN!!! WOWEE!!!

Look at the difference from week 19 to 20!!! It's nuts!!

This was Mother's Day weekend and we made our official "last trek" downstate to see all our family for the rest of this pregnancy (with clearance from the doc). It was great to see Jeremy's sister Jess prego one last time (for us) and visit with Lew family in from all over the country (Alaska baby!!!). We had a blast - although time is ALWAYS much too short... and then my mom and Jeremy pulled off a surprise baby shower for us on Saturday evening!! It was just awesome!! I felt like it was a scaled-back version of our wedding where you want to see and talk to EVERYONE THERE for hours, but in reality you get about 10 minutes top with each of them and come away wishing for more.... I couldn't believe the friends and family that hiked over to my parents house to see us and all of the amazingly generous gifts we received!! Thank you SO MUCH to all of you- especially my mom who KNEW that I was NEVER going to give the official "green light" to have a baby shower for us... again... yeah... you're sick of hearing about the pride, I know... me too. And managed to sneak one in on me anyhow... we appreciate it so much. But more than anything, honestly, is just our friends and family who were THERE. They all came and brought their entire FAMILIES which I LOVED!!! Being together is all that matters... especially since we know that our travels will come to a screeching halt here in for the next couple years (or longer?) so it'll be more and more difficult to see anyone... unless they want to sleep in a pop up outside our double-wide once we finally land in Traverse... hee, hee... WE'D LOVE IT!!! I know that as most of us have gotten older, had our own families and careers, we all appreciate the time we get together so much more. This is SO true and telling for how we felt that weekend - we KNEW this is the last time we will probably see so many of you - possibly for YEARS - and it was so great, yet bittersweet at the same time... we love each and every one of you so much... please know that even though we may be invisible and caught up on our own very real madness for a while to come here - we will be thinking of you all constantly and praying that God shed His light on your families as you have down for ours...





I miss you all so much already....

Let the belly viewing begin

Consider yourself warned.

I have now made it to the point in our pregnancy where I FINALLY figured out that, DUH, I was getting bigger by the millisecond now that I'd POPPED and I'd better start snapping some pics soon to have some sort of baseline to compare myself to! I think I waited about 3 weeks too long, but oh well. Better late than never in my book. And, amazingly enough, I'm pretty sure that it took my research through other mother's of multiples blogs to finally have that brick clock me in the noggin.

Don't ask.

So, in my quest to show a fairly recent pre-quad pregnancy picture of myself, I discovered that I MAYBE have one to three pictures with me in them. Total. In the midst of our hundreds and hundreds of pictures taken over the years... What? You don't belive me? Then you must not be a mom (I do NOT mean that in a bad way) because almost every other mom I know has mentioned at some point that they are the ghost members of their families too. Why? Oh. That's easy. Because, for the MOST PART, mom's are the ones who are all about grabbing the camera to click a photo op. Now, I KNOW there are the exceptions to this rule out there. And, if you are one of them, keep you nice hubby to your bloody self, the rest of us like the fact that this gives us something to complain about with our otherwise awesome hubbies... hee, hee... I actually think that Melissa Kunz was the first one to bring this to my attention at our first annual Techie camping trip (is that the last one that you Kunz' have made it to? Seems you are busy have babies all the other years... hee, hee... and now who's laughing? Are we tied yet?). I think by this point her and Tyler had about 5 kids, or 9 kids... or SOMETHING like that... anyhow, Jeremy and I were the ultra-naive first-time parents with little Aiden nicely tucked in his baby bjorn for most of the trip nursing up a storm (pretty sure he put on about 12 lbs that weekend). It was a GREAT source of entertainment for us to watch our 'veteran parent' friends with 2 or more children and see how the different parenting styles struck us and influenced how we would want to be as parents. I won't go into too much detail, but we'll just say that we came away from that weekend with the entire Kunz family up on some sort of pedestal. They had kids running everywhere (within eye and ear shot - no safety concerns what so ever) half dressed, diaper only, birthday suit - you name it. And the kids were having a BLAST!! Of course. And the parents? THEY WERE TOO!!! They knew enough to know what to worry about at that point. And a little God-given dirt on a play ground or volleyball court or beach sand was NOT worth their stress. Melissa and Tyler sat back like the parenting pros they were, and still are (because 4 years later THEY AIN"T DONE! YAHOO!)with brews in hand enjoying their family and friends. They were NOT the family with the child who wasn't allowed to walk across the volleyball court ("You might get dirty!") and constantly on edge because their children had to change clothes 4x/day from the "camping dirt"... no siree. They were living it up. Jeremy and I decided right then and there WE WANTED TO BE LIKE YOU, KUNZ'!!! Wow. Feels good to get that out. I hope I didn't embarass anyone, but we feel the same way. As long as everyone is safe, being nice, and not licking the floor in a Walmart (now THAT's germs... we are talking about god-given dirt here people, DIFFERENT!) - life is good.

How did I get on that tangent? Did I warn you about those too? I hope so because there are bound to be more... Oh yeah, pictures. Melissa had brought like 5,000 pics of her family over the past few years and I began notice (around picture 1,856) that I hadn't seen but one of Melissa's finger's in a picture with her hubby and kids yet. WHAT? So she gently, and very matter-of-factly explained that she wasn't IN any of the pics because she was always the one TAKING the pics. (bless her heart - she honestly did not seem to hold any resentment) I think she might have even noted that she was nervous to die for fear that her children would think they were motherless for the first 5 years of their lives because, well, she was non-existent on film!! BUT I DID IT, Melissa!! I FOUND YOU IN A PIC... granted, you are way in the background, and there are about 30 other people in the pic, and you can't REALLY see your face or anything... buuuutttt... let's focus on the positive, right? That's Melissa, folks! Waaaaaay in the back behind the blue chair. The cutie-patootie (not that you can tell from this pic) with the short blonde hair. And, as proud as I was for finding this, look. Your hubby upstaged you again in the foreground... men.

OK, moving on... Sorry for all the skin here -WHITE skin at that. I somehow must have managed to swipe this picture from Jodi Stopyak or something (she's great for that!), because it's from that same weekend, a family photo of US, and I'm IN it!?! Figure that out. Sorry if it's a bit more than you bargained for... trust me, mama T needed a tan come July 2004 with a 3-1/2 month old baby, but it's all I could find from that whole weekend with me in it. Oh, and WITHOUT Aiden in his most-favorite nursing position (note cankles... this boy was 5lbs even at birth!!). But I guess I figured that you'd all be able to stomach our whitey selves better than any boob shots I could've shared. Opps. There I go again - too much info...

And then, fast forward, here I am (BELLY PIC - BELLY PIC - BELLY PIC) week 16 of our quadruplet pregnancy:

YIKES! Thankfully by this point I was mostly past the naseua - it was very hit or miss (although when it HIT - look the f-out!!). I decided to take all my belly pics at night right before bed. Why? Well, I suppose if you've never grown at this astronomical weight it might come as a suprise to know that I am WAY bigger at the end of the day than in the morning. Yep. It's true - I've even taken measurements to confirm. In fact on this particular day I measured 33.5" in the morning and 34" when I took this pic. SERIOUSLY!!

The next week we had our BIG ultrasound with Dr. Jelsema. It's normally what is considered the 20 week ultrasound with a singleton pregnancy (what a weird term to throw around) - but because of the number of babies in thar' a growin' - the research shows that they actually mature a bit faster. They don't have a scientific explanation for this, according to what I've read and seen anyhow, which includes the following books: 'The Multiple Pregnancy Sourcebook' and 'When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, and Quads' (thanks Tonia Nem!) as well as my 'Into the Womb - the Miracle of Multiples' DVD by National Geographic - GET THIS! It's AMAZING!! But they do know that the higher the number of multiples in the womb, the faster they mature in the earlier stages of pregnancy. This , of course, is according to God's perfect design in my book... knowing that these little miracles will be born much earlier than a single pregnancy (in most cases) and therefore NEED to mature faster to get ready to support itself outside the womb sooner!

My mom came up again (she rocks!) to be with me for the ultrasound and then Jeremy was going with me to the appointment with Dr. Jelsema the next day. Yes, our appointments with our multiples specialist are actually on two separate days (in addition to the 2 other ultrasounds/month that I get with my regular OB). We have to do this because he is only in Traverse City 2 times/month and we "Compromise too much of his schedule" to have our ultrasounds done the same day as the appointment with doc to review. I don't mean that in a bitter way - that's actually what they told us. But the truth is that (2) back-to-back trips to Traverse City are MUCH BETTER than having to tool down to Grand Rapids so we are just glad that he's up here at all!! Anyhow, Jeremy decided it would be more appropriate to be at the meeting with our doctor to find out how our babies look and address any conerns. My mom would be in the ultrasound (all 3.5 hours of it!!) for the "fun" part =)

The night before the big ultrasound was d-day for my belly pic and my mom insisted on doing them while we were outside playing with the kids (I must've looked good and prego to her?). So, they look different because: #1 - I'm not 2' away from a mirror trying to negotiate the pic myself (is that a modified 'thinker' pose? niiiiiccceeee...) and #2 - it's NOT AT NIGHT!! I'm telling you - you'll agree after comparing this pic to the 16 week one!! I think I actually look smaller because it's the middle of the day!! Or not... who knows.... oh - and the DEER IS FAKE, PEOPLE. We are hilbillies - if I forgot to mention that yet... we have fake deer in our backyard... and our children do 'ride' them on occasion... as if THAT'S not normal or something.

My ultrasound appointment went PHENOMINAL the next day! It was SO EXCITING to see how big all the babies had gotten and how well defined all their bones, organs, brain matter, etc. were!! LITTLE PEOPLE IN THERE!! And, yes, I do indeed get 3 ultrasounds/month so it shouln't have been some huge suprise to me or anything... but there is still so much comfort in seeing the ultrasound tech click "normal" or "within range" for every item on each babies checklist. After our horrible 20 week appointment with our pregnancy with Aiden & Meadow, where it was first apparent that Meadow had several severe abnormalities that could be life-threatening, each and every ultrasound holds so much weight. I get sweaty palms EVERY TIME. It just doesn't matter how many times you hear that your babies look good or are developing normally... we have the unfortunate experience of seeing it all spiral out of control in an instant in front of our eyes... so this 20- week but really 17 week ultrasound where the specialist was measuring EVERYTHING held extra stress, as it does for every mother-to-be. But all was well!! Dr. Jelsema even called me the next morning to tell us to "save our gas money" and he conducted our consultation and ultrasound review over the PHONE instead. He said that there was nothing he was concerned about at this point and therefore he didn't see the need to actually have us make the trek in to meet in person when all he had was good (no.. GREAT!) news!! It was such a relief!! Our regular OB is awesome, we love Dr. McKay and Dr. Madion.... but the truth is that seeing our specialist Dr. Jelsema, who we KNOW has so much experience in multiples, is so reassuring. He has been so supportive and encouraging offering nothing but praise about how well the babies are doing, how well I am doing, my cervix was still that of a non-pregnant woman - which is a HUGE GAUGE that they will watch throughout our quad pregnancy for signs of preterm labor. He actually said "I do not forsee any bedrest with you at this point based upon how your taking care of yourself and the babies are holding up." YAHOO!!! We went from almost GUARANTEED bedrest at the onset, simply due to the high-risk nature of a quadruplet pregnancy, to such encouraging words, by our doctor who has years and years of experience with other mom's in my shoes... Not that I have much to do with any of it - glory be to the Big Guy upstairs looking down on our family!!! I try my best to take care of myself in every pregnancy as I do in life, eat healthy, exercize regularly, stay positive... but in this sort of situation we recognize that almost EVERYTHING is out of our hands. Growing FOUR healthy babies with this pregnancy has been our number one concern from day one and continues to be to this day... we praise God every single night for the blessings he has bestowed upon us.

Back in the Saddle...

It's official, folks.

Ever since being off from work I am officially the world's WORST emailer and/or computer user. I have just been SO HAPPY to take off the handcuff's from this darned thing - they've had a pretty tight grip for the past 8-12 years - and it's liberating NOT to be bound to an electronic device all day long! But weird too... it's been my lifeline (as I'm sure it is for 99% of you) for that long too. And to go from checking email 5-8 times/day (or more... cough, cough...) to checking it ONCE EVERY 5-8 DAYS?? Yeah... opps. Sorry.

Anyhow, I'm chomping at the bit to tell you all everything that's been going on over the past week, as Jeremy has done a great job of keeping you up on, so I'm going to BREEZE through the next 10 weeks here! Plus, I can't WAIT to start posting belly pics - holy moly! If I haven't warned you yet - NO SHAME for this girl!! So, for the weak of heart, I'll warn you when you are approaching one... because they are coming up quick.

So, back in time... (insert scooby doo squiggle lines and music)... After we laid out our plan/puzzle around week 10 the next couple weeks we "coasted" through feeling so good about where we were headed. We told the boys about the quads during week 10 too - that was a hoot! OK, let's be honest - Caleb PROBABLY doesn't "get" it so much... and, well, I guess Aiden REALLY either. But here's the first thing that popped out of Aiden's mouth when we told them that mommy had FOUR little babies in her belly "CALEB! You're going to be a big brother!!!" OH-MY-GOSH!! It was the CUTEST thing ever!! And now, these little dudes of ours, they just melt our hearts daily. Caleb is my big belly kisser. He wants to "kiss babies" at least 2-3 times/day. And it can NOT be with my shirt down - HAS to be pulled up for full effect. This doesn't come in handy so much, as cute as it is to US, when we are places, like, oh, say CHURCH. Yeah, NO ONE WANTS TO SEE MOMMY'S BELLY, Caleb!!!

~Week 10 is when I found out from my doc that there was a very real chance I would be on bedrest around week 20. He also indicated that I would be "big and uncomfortable enough" that it would not only be unsafe for me to be behind the wheel at that point, but perhaps I wouldn't fit?? OK, maybe I sorta' read between my own lines with that last little bit - but that was sort of what Jeremy and I came away with. And so I needed to quit work NO LATER than 20 weeks - no questions asked - because it is over an hour commute for me each way. He talked about the concerns with blood clotting because of the enormous blood flow associated with this high level of multiples (I was instructed to start taking baby aspirin every day at week 12); again, the belly size thingy (ahhhhhh!!!!); and most importantly the "Is it worth it?" comment regarding a potential accident and air bag release while I am behind the wheel at that stage of pregnancy. There is NO arguing with that logic, because a job nor anything else is "worth it". So, 20 weeks it was.

Now, again, for those of you who know me this won't come as a big shock, but for those of you who don't so much... well... this "quitting work" thing wasn't as easy as it may have sounded. I have always had that PULL to be home with my children and my work. Yet Gosling Czubak allowed me to work from home 2 days/week once we had kids. THIS WAS UNHEARD OF AT OUR COMPANY. As my little mind justified it (because we all do in some way shape or form... that working vs. non-working mommy issue) I needed to "be a full time mother to my children more days of the week than not." Period. I was so set on this fact and how it made our lives a bit more balanced. And to do this, my boss stuck his neck so far out on that chopping block for me and never failed to stand by my side over the next 4 years of pressure from every which way on this matter. We are a smaller (50+ employees) engineering consulting firm in Northern Michigan. I am the ONLY female engineer who works (oh, worked) there at the time. You can be sure that there was a WHOLE HECK OF A LOT of resistance to the idea of me staying home 2 days to "work". Suuuuuuure she's working, right?

Anyhow, I'm not going to go on for days about this (like I could and normally would) - but I hold my former employer and boss in the highest regard. I recognize the opportunities they gave me and what they allowed me try out on them (working from home being an enormous part of that). Yes, I know this is fairly commonplace in enormous cities and large corporations. But, give us a break. We're Northern Michigan. So I knew that I wanted to tell my boss as soon as possible to give him ample time to shed my work load onto other people and wean me out of the picture. So, yes, my boss actually knew about us being pregnant with quads about 2 days before our family and all our friends. UGH! But, again - the SOLE reason we waited that last couple weeks to tell them is because we wanted to do it in PERSON!!

Anyhow, work knew, and then we traveled downstate to head to Disney (our last vaca out of state, or out of our backyard for that matter, for the next 20 years, right?) and saw all our family the day before we left. Here's the board we made so the boys could break the news to them all:

I don't know how much of that you can make out, but it was pretty darned cute (says me)! And yes, those are just four TOTALLY random baby pics around our quad ultrasound... it took them a while to catch onto what was going on... but once they did - HOLY FUN! We have the best families in the world and they were, and still are, SO suportive and so excited for us!!

Then we were off to Disney with the boys and my parents met us down there - it was a BLAST! Jeremy and I both cried putting the boys to bed on our last night... we just knew that so much was going to change for us, for them, and that, honestly, who knows if we'll ever get back to Disney again? It was bittersweet... but a fab way to spend our last family of 4 vacation (and you too Grammie and Papa!).

Here's an adorable pic of the boys at one of the little play areas/water spots at Disney... they were "cooling down" - ummmm... to say the least. (yes, this is the infamous SHOE INCIDENT for those of you who have seen their ultra-cool Disney crocs and heard the story...)

A couple of weeks after Disney World we were back downstate for my sister-in-law Jessica's baby shower (modified, since the poor thing was on bedrest and had JUST gotten out of the hospital... we love you Jess!!) and we always did the "tour de Michigan" traveling back and forth to see a TON of our friends to share the news about the quads as well!! It was a fabulous weekend and, really, the weekend that I went from being able to "hide" my belly to - oh - NOT AT ALL!!!

Here's a pic of me from that weekend, Saturday night, at the Nemecek's house playing on the foor with out lil Caleb and Will Stopyak... things had definitely started to POP by Sat. night! I was 15 weeks along... whoa.

The babies were each measuring ~4.75" - 5" long at this point! But this weekend was amazing for us... we were SO HAPPY to tell all our friends and they were all SO crazy supportive and encouraging. I don't believe we had a SINGLE "Wow. I'm so glad it's YOU and not ME." or "QUADS? What are you going to DO? That's going to be INSANE." comments... just goes to show those who know and love you know what to say in crazy times =) Thank you to everyone for the outpouring of love and support over the month or so it took us to see each of you and share our news... we love you.

The Puzzle by Lew

The Puzzle -

In recap, The Puzzle is meant to give others that may find themselves in a situation similar to ours insight on what we are doing to prepare ourselves for taking a family of 4 to a family of 8 (if that thought doesn't give you the chills...). That situation is a two income family, with two youngsters, that live a more than comfortable, yet completely normal life. Then one day, some dude with a magic wand (Dr. and his ultrasound thingy) tells you that you are pregnant with QUADRUPLETS and BOOM, life seems not so comfortable and soon to be far from normal.

The Puzzle is also meant to entertain family, friends, and others, yet keep it real, as spewed from the mouth, er fingers, of Lew. The seriousness of our situation is just that - very freakin' serious. But, we love life and I am going to have some fun with this...but this is serious shat!

Sidenote: I am planning on corning our doctor soon, so I will know what we are having. It will be the ultimate secret. But I need to know. I cannot explain why. I don't have a reason other than there are FOUR BABIES IN THERE! So...no bribes, no getting me really drunk and grilling me. I will keep this secret and I won't regret finding out. For the record, it's 3 boys and 1 girl - I am like 6 for 6 on baby predictions to this point...

Another sidenote: We LOVE where we live. BUT, Bellaire is not an option to us. It could be to someone else that lived here and was prego with quads, but not us. We need Traverse City for doctors, hospital, help, friends, etc., the list is lengthy. We will not go downstate or to a big city. No offense, but the big city life is no longer in us.

So, without further adieu, drum roll please..........Paint this on a board and cut it into pieces:

Our current house that needs to sell, a new house, a means of income in Traverse City for Lew, The Babyliner (our boat, formerly known as The Babeliner, that needs to sell), Kia for a Bus (my vehicle that needs to go for something that can accomodate 8 with all sorts of baby seats and stuff), typical baby stuff (which we have, just we need 3 more of everything), I think THE QUADS fall in around here, and most importantly, help raising Aiden, Caleb and THE QUADS.

And that's The Puzzle. It is very serious to Tonya and me. With each passing day, yeah, stress rising with belly growing!

We just recently got a bit of a corner started with The Puzzle - I start a new job in Traverse City on June 9th. In consideration of the timing and necessity of this puzzle piece, Tonya and I feel this must be a really good opportunity for me. However, I know for a fact that the tears will be flowing when I walk out the door of Sagasser & Associates, Inc. for the last time after 9 truly enjoyable years there. There are 2 people there that I owe so much too, I mean so very much, it's just gonna be one tough damn day, I'll leave it at that.

Pregnancy Update -
As I previously mentioned, Tonya has an ultrasound appointment tomorrow then we meet with Dr. Jelsema on Wednesday so expect some good bloggin' from Tonya in the next couple few days that will no doubt include some ultrasound photos, baby lengths, weights, etc., and etc., etc.

So that's that. We are really hoping for the next puzzle piece to be the sale of our house - Tonya's doctor told her she needed to be in Traverse City like 2 weeks ago and here we aren't. Plus, who the f%$k wants to move when your wife is 20whatever weeks pregnant, espcially with quads! Heck, who wants to move ever? Moving blows! Mostly, if shit goes bad, we just want to be close to the hospital and again, here we aren't. There are other options, but this would make everything a heck of a lot easier down the road.

Also, I will provide additional insight on items that relate to The Puzzle that aren't, or weren't depicted as puzzle pieces as these instances arise...for instance, our budget. Yeah, it's personal, but you know what, if someone else is in a situation like ours 10 years from now and is somewhat relieved to know that we did it, then that will make us feel real damn good.

So, from the start Tonya and I fell back on a couple sayings:

1) God would not give us more than we could handle.
2) We will figure it out.

And we now know that God wanted to bring out some traits in some people, for whatever reason we do not know yet, and probably they do not know yet either. But there are some people out there that are doing some amazing stuff. Some stuff that we do not know about beyond this website and blog. But our situation, decisions we have made, are impacting people in ways we never thought would. We underestimated the impact our situation would have on others. There are some damn good people out there and we love all of you.

Love,
Lew

Powder & Makeup by Lew

Yeah so Tonya is famous...The boys and I, well we just escorted our sorry bums outside and rubbed dirt on our faces and peed in the yard while The Pregnant Princess got all the face time...

But you know what, she's hot, she's pretty, she's smart, she's cute, oh yeah, and she has FOUR BABIES IN HER BELLY!!!!!

http://tv7-4.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=138356

There was a bit with Tonya being interviewed in our house. That was great for Toyna, she looked so hot on TV! There was s;do some neat footage of our family playing outside. Unfortunately, the bit of Aiden going yard, and Aiden swinging and missing and knocking himself upside the head with his bat were both overlooked!

Here's the deal - we don't want the press - at least that was my stance (Tonya 1, 346 Lew 4). But Tonya caved from talking to the only Mom that had Quads in Northern Michigan. Oh, I think I failed to mention she worked for.....7&4!

So, for those of you that are like us that do not watch the news because it is so gosh dang depressing...this was one cool story! I mean come on, like the cutest family ever, pregnant with quads, 4 year old on camera picking his nose...Priceless!!!!

Tonya update - Belly is confirmed as being big...and damn cute! To think back like just a couple weeks - good God man! It has become blatantly obvious to me that bed rest will happen, and it will be sooner than we expect. In fact, I am expecting some interesting news at our appointment this coming Wednesday with our specialist Dr. Jelsema...most likely a couple weeks? Daily observable growth is good, but at the same time, it is scary. Regardless, what is best for getting The Quads to 32 weeks is all that matters. Then again, Dr. Jelsema may just say what he's been saying: "Listen to your body."

So, Imma steal somma Tonya's fame here...We have Dr's appointments on Tuesday and Wednesday (as I indicated above) of this coming week. Tuesday will include an ultrasound and Wednesday will entail a meeting with Dr. Jelsema. This week is a big deal as The Quads are going on 'Roids next week. I tell ya, if these kids come out da' womb with Gotee's looking like Mr. Ed, Imma be a bit ticked off!

Steroids will be given to Tonya next week. For those not in the know....modern medicine is such that the steroids are for The Quads lungs. If a child or children is/are born before 23ish weeks, chances of survival are basically zero due to lack of lung development. However, should a child/children be born anytime after 23ish weeks, not withstanding other circumstances, their lungs are developed enough to allow modern medicine to assist with getting them to a point at which their lungs can eventually allow them to survive without assistance, God willing.

Again, heavy shat man.

I have some feelings about things that I am too afraid to talk about. They are good feelings. I hope God is feeling what I am feeling.

If you pray, or if you daydream and sometimes wish for good things for friends, family, etc., pray for our babies to handle the 'roids like it's no big thing...last thing we want is for a shot of juice to make The Quads want to get the f- outta Dodge...

Love,
Lew

Blawg Hawg by Lew

Guess who's back, back again...

Note the time of this blog and then note the title...I told you all that she would go 'blawg wild'!

Man she is talking some heavy shat eh? Well, as a matter of fact, it is heavy shat man. But it's our life and we want you all to know that we love it!

First and foremost - a clarification: when Tonya says "Jeremy is going after whitey" in a blog, She does not mean that I have an ax, or a pitch fork, or some knumb chucks with my yin-yang bandana on...she means I am going ice fishing for whitefish. See the "20 Week Update by Lew" for more information on the benefits to mothers pregnant with higher order multiples in Finland or somewhere over there who consume alotoffish (foreshadowing)

And I have no idea what she was talking about when she said something about me driving home early from the UP?

Okay, I'll get serious now - thank you for your generous responses. We love you all.

My wife is awesome! Her belly looks SOOOOOOOOOOO cute! A week ago it was kinda big and now it's well, bigger. To me, she's getting close to being the equivalent size to the final day of pregnancy #1, which was I believe 35 and 1/2 weeks! Aiden and Caleb talk to The Quads, pray for The Quads, say goodnight to The Quads. We are just so happy and are so excited!

We have picked out names and we went over them today. Kinda sorta preliminary list dealio. I seem to have an upper hand at the moment (seriousness fading...). I do not wear the pants in this house, so the upper hand deal could change. But, I have formulated a baby naming plan and TONYA TOLD ME tonight that she could be talked into my plan! That would take the overall record to Tonya - 1,345 Lew - 4.

A piece to The Puzzle has fallen in place...but I have to get to bed, the TELEVISION CREW will be here tomorrow moring at 10:30...so stay tuned for updates!!!!!

Finally, I would like to let alotoflemons know that our prayers are with them. For those of you that just thought wtf is he talking about, see the foreshadowing note above. Anyway, a very kind woman commented to our blog the other day, last name - Lemonovich - pregnant with quads - hence - blog site: www.alotoflemons.blogspot.com. Brilliant! The Lemonovich family is in like the exact same deal as we are, damn near to the day. Carrie and John and their son Luke, we have a lot of people pulling for us. I'm pretty sure I can get a couple few extra prayers for you and your family and your quads by just saying "Do It" on this blog.

As serious as I get - Lemonovich Baby D is in our prayers. Carrie, it is readily apparent that you and John are very special. God knows what is best. God Bless your family.

Love,
Lew