As the world turns...

Kami's contractions are still only about 1 or 2 an hour. She's still feeling better than early this morning, but still not 100% by any means. She is still on mag and the terb pump.

Earlier today Kami had a Doppler ultrasound done on the babies. Several hours later Dr Elliott reviewed those results and discussed them with us. A Doppler u/s measures the blood flow through the umbilical cord to the placenta. The results were that Babies A, B and C have normal bloodflows. Baby D (Jagger) has a reversed bloodflow that only effects him when Kami has a contraction - this is the cause of the decceleration that was discovered yesterday. Even though Babies B, C and D share the same placenta, only Baby D is having a problem at this time. He is not in any immediate danger so Dr Elliott has chosen to continue monitoring Baby D's heartrate around the clock. Also Baby D will have a daily Doppler ultrasound as another step in monitoring. Dr E says that he has seen a reversed bloodflow cease but there is nothing they can do to make this happen. Basically that means we could deliver tomorrow, or we can still make our goal of 34 weeks. It is truly day-to-day at this point in our journey.

Please pray that Baby's D issue will be corrected and that our babies will be delivered in God's timing.

Wednesday morning update

NOON UPDATE: Dr Hill came in and now they are monitoring Babies D and A. Good news is Kami has only had 1 contraction in the past hour!! She's also feeling a little better since they've lowered the mag.

The mag has started to settle in a little more on Kami. She is very groggy since the meds act as a strong muscle relaxer. She is still in good spirits and cracks a joke occasionally. She got sick and threw up a little around midnight but they gave her something for the nausea and she hasn't been sick since.

Drs Hill and Elliott stopped by this morning after reviewing Kami's charts from last night. All signs are good so far but still very touch-and-go. As of this morning, Kami's contractions have spread out to about 1 every 10 minutes. She does feel the contractions now - tightening in her belly and shortness or breath, but they are not painful. They are continuing to monitor several things via hookups, blood/urine tests, etc.

Dr E decreased her mag to 2.5 about 10am this morning. They've also decided to monitor 2 babies at a time just to make sure they're all doing ok. Currently they're monitoring Babies C and D and will do A and B later. The babies heartrates are down a little but that is to be expected since they're feeling some of effects of the mag as well.

I'll try to keep everyone up to date as much as possible. As always, we thank you all so much for the prayers! I've been saying prayers aloud with Kami and I can tell it makes her feel better.

- Nick

Update on Kami

While doing a routine ultrasound this morning, our resident doctor noticed a decellerated heartbeat on Baby D. She called in Dr Elliott and they decided to put Baby D on a monitor for an hour to see if it would continue or if maybe it was just a random thing. Not long after that hour passed, things started to move fast. Kami was given another steroid shot (her first one was about 3 weeks ago) and the doctors started her on magnesium sulfate and terbutaline in efforts to reduce contractions. Dr E also wanted to get Kami down to the operation room in case things progressed and they needed to move fast. I also had to scrub-in in case they decided to deliver.

After about 3 hours in the OR, Baby D's heartrate began to stabilize and Dr E made the call that Kami could go back to her room. He told us this was the first time he's sent a mom with quads to the OR and been able to send them back without delivering! We attribute that to the many prayer chains that were started on our behalf. Praise the Lord!

Kami is still feeling good and is in good spirts considering. She has been poked and prodded most of the day - but she's still joking. She's on a very high dose of Mag - 4.5 mg. The highest dose that is considered safe is 5 mg and none of the nurses can remember a patient being on that high of a dose in a long time. Baby D is doing good but Kami continues to have contractions pretty regularly. Please pray that these contractions will stop.

The nurses have taken some blood tests for her preeclampsia, levels of mag in her system and a few others I can't remember. The results should be in sometime tonight and should be very beneficial in diagnosing Kami and telling us if she can hold out a little longer before delivery. Kami's mom and I will be staying in her room tonight in case things turn.

Again I want to thank everyone for your prayers! We know that God has already got all of this planned out so we just continue to ask Him to show us His will. We also pray for our doctors and the decisions they must make. Most of all I'm praying for safety for Kami and our 4 babies!

- Nick

Kami is back in her room

As some of you may know, Kami had to go into the OR today. This is just a quick note to say that she is back in her regular room now. I'll post the details later tonight. Thank you all for the prayers!!

- Nick

Growth Ultrasound Update

It has been 3 weeks since our last growth ultrasound so we were anxious to get this one and see how are little ones have grown. After about 2 1/2 hours of laying on the bed...changing positions, we learned the babies' new measurements:

Baby A (Sloan) - 2 lbs 15 ozs
Baby B - 2 lbs 13 ozs
Baby C - 2 lbs 5 ozs
Baby D - 2 lbs 11 ozs

That's 10 lbs 12 ozs of babies! I am 29 weeks and 1 day today so we have alot more growing to do before we get to our new goal of 34 weeks (March 15th)! Also, all the babies scored 8/8 on their BPPs! We are so grateful for your prayers and we know that the Lord is protecting and keeping our babies safe! His love is so amazing.

P.S. I do not have any news about the Today Show yet, but I will keep you posted.

P.P.S. I had a surprise visit from home this weekend...stay tuned for that post!

Love,

Kami

The Today Show

Quick update: The Today Show has bumped us from tomorrow until one day next week. They warned us that this could happen. Apparently, they have an interview with someone really important that will take our segment...probably someone like Jared from Subway...we just can't compete with that! We do not know which day it will be next week but will keep you posted.

Love,
Kami

Reunited!

Nick is here for good! He arrived safe and sound Saturday evening. I am so thankful he gets to be here for the duration of the pregnancy. It has been my prayer that I wouldn't deliver before he got here....for obvious reasons and also that he wouldn't miss the birth of his precious babies. Since he has been here, he has been able to see two BPP's, both of which the babies passed! He was amazed at how big they have grown in just a month.

I missed you Nick!

He's checking out the belly!

Also this past weekend, my brother, Travis and my sister-in-law, Sissy, along with some very close friends of ours, Jeff and Heather, came all the way from BR to visit! It was so nice to visit with them and I am glad they had a good weekend here in Arizona. On Friday, they got to the hospital just in time to see the daily ultrasound. It is always so fun to watch someone see our little miracles on the screen for the first time! Thank y'all for coming....y'all are the best!

Left to Right: Travis, Sissy, big mama, Heather & Jeff

Daily ultrasound - something was funny!

Hospital update: Babies are all doing great...kicking, moving, passing tests! I am doing fine as well. Hydrotherapy seems to be working...my swellling in my legs and feet are down alot. I am on a very low dose of blood pressure medicine which is keeping it stable. I am still able to eat which is great for the babies. They told me I would get to a point where I wouldn't feel like eating anymore, well not yet...go figure! The FFN was done today and came back negative! Again, this is a predictor that I will not go into preterm labor within the next 2 weeks (90% reliabiltiy). Of course, we are still praying that the preeclampsia will not progress and the babies will continue to thrive in utero!

On a side note, there is a good chance we will be interviewed on the Today Show on Friday morning. It is supposed to be a segment on families that come from out of state for Dr. Elliott and his associates and the Banner Good Samaritan Hospital. I'm sorry I don't have all the details, but I will try to post before Friday morning to let you know for certain if we will be on! Stay tuned!

P.S. Please pray for another quad mom here, Sharmeen Musani (sp?). She is 34 weeks along and she is scheduled to deliver her babies tomorrow around 1:30. She has made it so far...way to go Sharmeen! We will continue to pray for healthy surgery and babies!

Love,
Kami