Carrying Grand Multiples is...

     Reflecting back on the week, it feels like more than five days have passed since I have last sat down to write.  26 weeks decided to be a week of big change, I hit a growth spurt, I am assuming that means the babies are now bigger as well; however, I will not find out their weights until this Friday.  We also had our story appear on WSB new's(in ATL)website and Facebook page.  I now understand why celebrities never read about themselves online or in magazines, granted I am not in any shape, way, or form declaring myself a "celebrity," but just from one simple article, that wasn't even broadcast on television, I received a flood of both positive and negative comments from people.  It was interesting on the Facebook feed to sit and watch people have comment wars.  I have and always will give the glory to God, for He is the author of life.  Yes, we received help from doctors, I have never tried to hide that.  So it was interesting when people would comment things like "It's not God...it's called science"  or "I don't know why she's surprised she got multiples with being artificially inseminated, everyone knows you get multiples with that."
 Then believers would argue right back quoting scripture or saying "it's God who gave the scientists their brains to use."  Reading through the comments was a blessing and a curse.  I found myself smiling and then I found times where my face would get hot and I was growing angry. The one comment that lit me up was a man saying "wow, that will be one expensive abortion!"  I just couldn't believe his nerve, I anticipated the battle of believing publicly, God has been preparing my heart for it; after all,  I am called to spread His word and live according to His purpose and scripture is clear that "believing publicly" often leads to persecution.  ~~~I have to interrupt myself here and say how grateful I am that the "persecution" I face is on a surface level.  There are men and women all over the world sharing the gospel of Christ and endangering or losing their lives because of it. They are the true "celebrities" that we should seek to model because Christ is the ultimate "celebrity" through time.  That is not an opinion, that is straight up fact! ~~~~ It was the abortion comment however, that I wasn't prepared for, and the thought of ending these babies made me turn from anger to nausea.  That man needs some Jesus!  I "liked" the comments that were positive and didn't comment on any of the negative...although, I wanted to comment "thank you to those who are sending well wishes and prayers for our family, the world is a better place when people show kindness to others.  For those who do not believe what I do, that is ok, and for those who are "all about the science" you are clearly intelligent enough not to ignore the math! I had a 15% chance to get one baby and I got four!"
        The rest of the week ticked by like normal, Matt brought the boys down Friday, which always makes me feel better! We don't do much when they are here, but the time is precious to me anyway! We did make our way to Target to pick up a few things, I of course drove the motorized cart and Matt had a regular buggy. I am amazed at how many a "few things" at Target turns out to be.  We are in unique period of our lives right now and for all intents and purposes are functioning out of two homes! The bigger and further along I get, the more time I spend in my room with my feet up, which means, although the RMH offers guests all their necessities, for convience sake, we have purchased an extra shelving unit, groceries, and other house hold items to keep in my room.  We will be donating the shelving unit and house hold items back to the house once we are home. I think Matt likes to reorganize my room every time he is here, it gives him something to do!
     This Valentine's day was definitely different.  My valentine brought me chocolate covered strawberries(my fave) and that is actually pretty standard for Valentine's day, but we tried to go to dinner at 5pm as a family and OH MY, I guess there is only one strip of road in Augusta that has restaurants on it, because everywhere was packed...stupid packed! Like brand new restaurant opening packed! So we sat in the parking lot and ordered ToGo!  Good thing the boys were able to watch a movie while we sat, because we waited for an hour and 15minutes.  By the time we got back to the house to eat, we enjoyed our cold food together as a family, and that's all that mattered to me! Although it did help to finish the meal with chocolate covered strawberries!
      I woke up Sunday having some contractions, not baby producing contractions, but just enough to be very annoying and uncomfortable.  Plus now that my belly is bigger, when I sit straight, it rests on my lap!  I hate that feeling!  Anyway, we hang out for the day and the boys headed home before 2pm.  Matt told me to take it easy, he could tell I was battling with contractions, but I wasn't about to let that interrupt my family time!  Around 2:30pm, I was lying on my bed and I was finding it hard to breathe. Not hard enough to cause panic, but I was struggling enough to warrant my attention.  I decided to monitor my bp every 15min for an hour.  All the results were high for me so I called my doctor.  I told him the results are very high for me pre-pregnancy, but I wasn't sure for quad pregnancy.  He said for carrying "grand multiples" an elevated bp is expected, but it was just high enough that he wanted me to go into L&D(labor and delivery) to get monitored and some fluids.  For the first time yet, the nurse was able to get all four babies on a monitor, plus my contraction monitor.  As a result, I had 5 monitors and 9 bands on my belly.  We had to use extra bands to tilt or adjust certain monitors to maintain the babies' heart rate.  My blood pressure was stable while I was in the hospital, but I was still having contractions, some of which were very intense! Several hours later I was stable enough to go back to the house.  I am now taking Procardia 4 times a day to keep my contractions under control and as a side effect, it also lowers bp! Two birds, one stone!  When I went in for my appointment the  Friday previous, my doctor was telling me that he was surprised I hadn't been back in the hospital.  He went on to explain that with grand multiples woman typically are in and out of the hospital frequently as the pregnancy progresses.  He said now it's a race between pre-eclampsia and pre-term labor, one will inevitably win out and cause me to deliver.  In the meantime I will remain here on my bed deciphering which symptoms are "call" worthy.  I have my doctor's cell number and the number to L&D, both of which have told me to call for any reason.  And they have both told me that they expect me to be back multiple times before I deliver.  I really just like getting IV's, wearing  hospital gowns, getting cervical checks, and having goo and monitors placed all over my belly! ;)