Update on the Waugh-Nuts (One Week Three Days Old)

Hello Everyone!  I want to start off by saying thank you to all of you for your generosity and supportive messages that you have sent since the Waugh-Nuts were born!  You all have been amazing, and we continue to be awed by the kindness and generosity of our family, friends, and people that we do not even know!  Everything that you have done means so much to us and our families.  I cannot wait until the day the babies are able to understand the outpouring of love they received during my pregnancy and their birth.  What a beautiful gift!

If I tried to explain to you all how much the babies have changed and how much progress they have made since their birth, you would never  believe me!  We have some fighters on our hands, that is for sure.  We continue to be amazed with how quickly everyone is growing and how quickly things are changing in the NICU.  We are so proud of our little ones already.  In an effort to give each of these Waugh-Nuts their own praise and identity, here is a little bit about what has been going on with each of them:
Jackson Berkley
Jackson continues to be the biggest weighing 4lbs 6.9oz!  He is already growing out of some of his preemie clothes.  He has stayed on room air throughout his entire NICU stay.  He also is the first to graduate to an open crib from the incubator. Jackson is DRAMATIC!  He screams and wails during all of his care times (changing diapers, blood pressure, temperature, etc), but he loves to cuddle.  He pulls his feeding tube out multiple times a day and then screams like a crazy man when the nurses have to put it back in... when will he learn!  Jackson looks just like Daddy, at least as of now, and he hates bath time (cue the screaming).  He eats 34mL of fortified breastmilk at each feeding (every 3 hours), and he is doing great with the N Trainer (a binki machine that helps the babies learn how to suck, swallow, and breathe before they are able to try to bottle feed).  He sleeps with his mouth wide open (like Momma)!

Owen Daniel
Mr. Owen is the smallest of the boys weighing 3lbs 8.5oz.  He had a rough time with his breathing on the first day, but he turned it around all on his own in no time!  He is now breathing room air like a rock star!  When he was still on oxygen, he pulled his oxygen tubes out as soon as you would put them back in- he knew that he did not need it!  Owen continues to want to sleep with one arm in the air which is exactly how he was laying when he was born.  I find that hysterical.  He also loves to lay with his feet crossed which is adorable.  Owen looks the most different out of all of the Waugh-Nuts.  He has a lot fairer skin and lighter hair, and he definitely has Daddy's nose.  He is eating 25mL of fortified breastmilk with each feeding and is getting better with the N Trainer by the day.

Dylan Christopher
Dylan seemingly has the most sensitive personality of the boys.  He weighs 3lbs 12oz, so he is right in the middle!  Dylan was the last to get his oxygen and IV removed, but now he is breathing room air like a champ!  I actually think he does better on the room air than he did on the oxygen.  Dylan loves to lay on his side with his arms cuddled up by his face.  Dylan eats 25mL of breastmilk with each feeding, and they will probably make his fortified as well in the next day or two.  They didn't want to change too much on him at one time.  He does not care to participate in the N Trainer too much most of the time, but he is getting a little better with each session.

Millie Kaye
Miss Millie is still our smallest, but she has finally surpassed the 3 pound mark!  She weighs 3lbs 1.1oz.  Everyone, including all of the nurses, just adores her because she is so tiny but so mighty!  We all love to dress her up, and the nurses find new cute hats for her to wear all of the time.  Millie is extremely even-tempered.  During her care times, when all of the boys are typically screaming, Millie just looks at the nurses and doesn't make a peep!  That is not to say that the girl can't wail, because she definitely has a set of lungs on her when she wants to.  She is definitely the most alert of the babies.  She just looks at you and watches you, and if you are talking to her, she tries to stay awake to listen and interact with you.  We have gotten the most smiles out of her, too.  Girls typically do better in the NICU, so that probably explains it!  She has been on room air since the day she was born.  She only stayed on the CPAP for a couple of hours.  She gets 22mL of fortified breastmilk with each feeding, and she is a major rockstar on the N Trainer compared to her brothers.  She may be the first to try to bottle feed!

All of the babies were able to get their IVs out in the last couple of days which means they can all now wear clothes.  They look so cute!  The Waugh-Nuts also all got ultrasounds done on their heads which is done mostly to check for brain bleeds which can happen in premature babies.  They all passed and had completely normal ultrasounds- what a blessing!! We were definitely nervous for those results.  The doctors are all really pleased with how the babies are progressing.  They come and give us updates daily.  All of the nurses at the NICU (just like the nurses that I had when I was there for 10 weeks) have been exceptional!  You can just tell how much they love their jobs and enjoy the babies.  It is nice to have them there when I am there by myself during the day sometimes because they will just sit and talk to me about the babies and my plans and all sorts of things.  We have had such a good experience.  The doctors are also great, and if we have any type of question, the come immediately.  Basically, our experience at OSU has been fabulous from the start!
As far as how I am feeling goes, it is off and on!  I am still sore from my C-Section, but I think what is bothering me the most is the carpel tunnel that I developed in my hands during the pregnancy.  My hands are pretty much numb for most of the day which makes is hard to do a lot of things!  I am still not allowed to drive, so someone always has to take me to the hospital and pick me up from the hospital, but usually I don't have a problem with that because my parents love spending time with the littles!  My body is also still trying to recover from laying in bed for 10 weeks.  My muscles are extremely deconditioned which makes it a little harder to get back into the swing of things.  I still have to use the wheelchair a lot when I go to the hospital.  Things are getting easier though, and hopefully we will continue in that direction!
Funny story.  Whoever is picking me up or dropping me off usually lets me sit in the lobby then they pull up to the front doors.  Well, we are all so delirious that when my mom left me in the lobby yesterday to go get the car from the parking garage, she turned out of the garage and was about to turn on 315 to go home before she realized she forgot to swing back around to pick me up!  I thought she was taking a long time...... 
Chris went back to work this week so that he can save most of his time for when the babies come home.  He comes after work each day to the hospital, and I usually end up going home with him once I get tired.  We are trying to work on finishing up the nursery since I did not want to do too much of it before I went to the hospital because I was too nervous.  The painting is getting finished today, then we just have to place all of the furniture and organize and put things away.  I am so excited to be able to help do all of that.  We are also moving in the process of all of this, so it is all just a bit crazy to be honest.  I want to spend all of my time at the hospital, but there are things that need done here as well to prepare for the babies to come home, and I also get exhausted if I do too much.  It is a huge balancing act that is for sure!
Many people have asked about bringing a meal or helping right now, so I am going to include the information for the care calendar again.  If you login to the calendar, there are days to sign up for making a meal right now, and then once the babies come home, we will add other things to the calendar such as visits, errands, more meals, etc.  The website is www.carecalendar.org.  The login is CALENDAR ID: 189509 and SECURITY CODE: 7011.  When you go to the website, you login with this information and a calendar will pop up with things that are available.  Thank you to everyone that has already brought something or has signed up =)
We will update when we can!  Things are starting to get crazy- just a glimpse of what is to come!  Yesterday I think there were about 9 poopy diapers between all of them and at least 3 outfit changes per baby!  They send us home with at least one full bag of laundry for the babies every single day.  We are loving every single second.  Thank you all for being a part of our journey!

We are in LOVE!!!!!

What a wonderful, exciting, scary, beautiful, and all-together fun and exhausting 2 days we have had! We are just so in love with these little miracles that are in our lives.  I thought I would give a little you all a little peek into what led up to the arrival of the Waugh-Nuts, some information regarding our Care Calendar, a reminder of the "Rules and Regs" to be able to see the babies, and of course an update on the babies with some newer pictures!
On November 4, 2014, I had an all around normal day at my home away from home- the hospital.  I had mentioned to a friend that I thought I was near the end of my journey, and Chris told me that night that he had "had a feeling" it was going to be that night the morning before.  Well, after my normal morning and afternoon (Aleah even came to visit!), I started feeling some contractions around 9:00pm.  I told the nurse, and she put me on the TOCO to monitor for contractions (I did this every single night anyway).  Because there were some contractions showing up on the TOCO, they had the doctor come check my cervix.  It was the same as it had been.  I said I was feeling worse though, so they put me on some fluids through my IV and also gave me Procardia to try to relax my uterus.  This is something that they have done multiple times throughout the weeks leading up to delivery that has seemed to slow things down.  Well, after an hour of fluids and Procardia, I told them I felt worse and the contractions were getting worse, so they checked my cervix again.  I had dilated from 1cm to 2cm over that hour.  At that point, they decided to move me over to the Labor and Delivery side of my floor of the hospital for monitoring and to give me Magnesium again.  Magnesium helps each baby's brain neurologically and it can also help stop contractions.  The side effects are not the greatest, and they hit me much harder this time on Mag than they did when I was on it a couple of weeks ago!  I was completely out of it and I had never been so hot in my life!!! They kept me on the Mag until delivery.  After I was on the Mag for an hour, they checked my cervix again, and I had went from 2cm to 3cm.  At that point, they first told me that they would continue to monitor me for awhile longer, and I should tell family to wait to come up.  Next thing I know, 5-10 minutes later, the nurse comes in and says its baby time!  We called our families and our awesome photographer immediately.  Then the doctor came in and said babies in one hour or less!  Wow- talk about fast!  My family and the photographer got there.  I was shaking like a leaf and was so incredibly nervous you could not believe.  The nurses (there were people EVERYWHERE) started prepping me for my c-section, the doctors came in to talk to me, the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me, the pediatricians came in to talk to me.  Can I remember what any of them were talking about?  Not really!  I was too nervous.  Chris got on his "space alien" suit and so did the photographer, and we were off to the OR!

Me and my big belly right before we headed to the OR

Chris in his space alien suit

We took up two of the OR rooms on the L&D floor.  I was in one along with babies A and B and then the teams for babies C and D were in the next one waiting until C and D made their appearance!  There were people everywhere.  At first, I went into the OR alone while they did my spinal and hooked me up to all sorts of machines.  I was a wreck, and most of "my people" that I am used to at the hospital were not there because everything went down so quickly in the middle of the night.  Luckily, Dr. Waddell who practices with my regular OB was there and I had met her plenty of times.  She was GREAT at calming my nerves and just talking to me to keep my mind off of things.  The whole thing went so quickly.  After my spinal was done and they moved me onto the OR table (that I swore me and my big belly were not going to fit onto) and prepped me (thank you to Nikki, a nurse that talked me down when I was so nervous while they were prepping), Chris got to come in.  I was better then.  Can I just say it is the most crazy thing in the world to have half of your body numb, half not, and be mostly aware of what is going on while doctors are cutting you open?  Not to mention the nerves on top of that!! The anesthesiologist kept Chris and I informed of what was going on behind the curtain, and all of a sudden it was baby time!  The team was great.  Not only did they allow my photographer in the OR with us, but they allowed her to stand up there pretty close to the curtain to get good pictures.  They also lowered the curtain each time a baby was pulled out to allow Chris, the photographer, and I to get a better look at our miracles.
The doctors would yell, RUPTURED for each fluid sac, and we knew then that a baby was coming!  They came out Jackson, Owen, Dylan, and Millie, and as each came out Chris and I just could not believe our eyes at the precious sight.  Each baby gave us a good cry as soon as he or she was out too which was just so reassuring.  What a gift!!!!!!  As each baby came out, they were taken away to one part of the OR or another by that baby's team of pediatricians and NICU nurses.  We were so happy that a family friend, Sarah, got to be there and help take care of our little Baby C (Dylan).  All of a sudden, you could just hear four little cries coming from the room.  I've never heard anything so sweet.  Each team did what was necessary to stabilize each baby in the OR, then that baby was moved to the NICU.  Chris was allowed to go around and look at the babies during this time.  He even caught a glimpse of the placentas, although he wishes he could have skipped that part!  He wanted nothing to do with the blood and guts, so he never looked at any of that.  As the teams took the babies out of the NICU, they rolled each one by me first so I could meet them.  For Jackson, since he was the biggest and pretty stable, they laid him down beside me.  What a joy!  As each baby rolled to the NICU, they passed the lobby where our families were waiting.  Chris' family got there just 5 minutes before, so perfect timing!
During all of this, I went from having a headache and telling the anesthesiologist that I had a headache (normal, but, since you are awake during the whole surgery, every little thing feels like it is wrong and going to kill you lol), to telling her that I didn't feel well, to puking (projectile and otherwise) all over the place.  So glamorous!  Then she gave me anti-nausea medicine that I thought for sure was going to make me pass out.  I just remember trying to talk to Chris while my eyes were rolling back in my head.  Then, all too quickly, they told Chris and the photographer they could go see the babies in the NICU while they finished stitching and cleaning me up.  I was left alone!  Scared again of course.  During the whole procedure, I could feel what they were doing, but it just didn't hurt.  I could feel as each baby released, and once they took the last baby out, the pressure release from my body was insane to feel! So, they finished sewing me up, but the funniest sight to see was them trying to move me from to OR bed back to the hospital bed when I could not feel my body.  HA! 
I got rolled back to my L&D room to recover and the whole fam was there.  My tummy was so flat!  It has since become extremely swollen, and my legs, ankles, and feet are AT LEAST double their normal size.  I have been up moving around a ton because I always want to be with the babies in the NICU. Also, since I have not really sat or stood up in the past 12 weeks, my body is extremely deconditioned which doesn't help the swelling since that is all that I do now!  My tailbone is also extremely mad at me for sitting up so much.  All in all, I am doing great!  I got to take my first shower today and take the dressing off my battle wound.  Everything is looking just as it is supposed to!  During the c-section, the doctor also "sewed" some of my muscles in my stomach back together. They were not split when she opened me up, but after taking the babies out, they did split apart a little bit.  After about an hour, I went back to my regular room that I have been in for the last 10 weeks.  It was nice to be "home."  I was allowed to go to the NICU to see our little tiny ones as soon as I could feel and wiggle my toes again, and that is when we finally decided the names =)  

My "flat" belly right after I got back from the OR.  I could actually see my toes!

Little Jackson when we went back to the NICU

Jackson

Little Owen

Chris holding Jackson (we could only hold some of them that night)

My mom and Lori with little Dylan

Since then, things have been going well for the babies!  As with any preemie newborns, there have been some things that have come up, but overall the babies are all doing great.  Jackson and Millie are on room air, and Owen and Dylan are still on CPAP.  The nurses and doctors will wean them off of the CPAP machine as they learn to control their breathing a little better.  All of the babies have started their feeds.  Right now, they are all getting their nutrition via tube as babies that small cannot suck very well yet.  I believe we are starting the exercises to help them learn to suck early next week.  As of now, Jackson, Owen, and Millie are also under the lights for a little bit of jaundice.  They will re-check those numbers daily and only keep them on the lights as needed.  Each baby has lost a little bit of weight since birth which is normal.  Preemies can lose around 15% of their original weight over the first week or so of life before they start to crawl back up.  That is mostly because they are not getting the feeds the first couple of days after birth and they also have to learn to tolerate the feedings.  They have all tried binkis, and so far it seems like they like them!  The binkis are good to help them learn how to suck which prepares them for the bottle feeds =)

Me with Miss Millie the day after they were born

Mr. Jackson in his own heaven the day after they were born

Jackson again, but with me =)  At first, we were only able to hold Jackson and Millie, so they have more pictures than Owen and Dylan at this point!

Chris with little Millie- he is smitten already!

I finally got to hold Dylan for the first time this morning! I have held them all now =)  Chris has held all of the babies except for Owen.

Jackson snug in his bed sleeping just how momma does =)  Although I sleep with my mouth open and he doesn't.  Don't worry, Millie has that trait covered! =)

Another one of Dylan and I today

Owen was going to town today stretching his arms, legs, and toes out! We got so many cute pictures of him moving all around =)

Owen finally settled down into chill mode, legs crossed and all!

I just wanted to remind everyone about the "Rules and Regs" I posted in this blog post for the babies. If you guys would all be awesome and go back and read through that if you want to know more about ways you can help or if you are wondering about visiting the babies.  Also, some things (not too many yet) have been added to our Care Calendar for those of you who have been asking how you can help.  I am going to be updating and adding to that periodically over the coming months, and that is the system that we will use to schedule visits with the babies once they are home from the hospital.  You can find our calendar at www.carecalendar.org.  The login for HELPERS is CALENDAR ID: 189509 and SECURITY CODE: 7011.  As I noted in the notes on the calendar, some tasks can be signed up for by anyone (including Helpers) and some tasks can only be signed up for by Personal Helpers.  Personal Helpers have a different login.  If you feel that you would enjoy doing something that can only be signed up for by Personal Helpers, please get in contact with me for the login.  The tasks associated with Personal Helpers are primarily reserved for our family and friends that we know on a more personal basis, so that login has only been given to a couple people thus far.
Thank you ALL for the kind words you have sent us since the arrival of the Waugh-Nuts!  We are just so in love with the little ones, and I know you all have been here the whole journey with us too!  Thank you to everyone that has dropped by, dropped off a gift, or helped us out in any way at all.  We have not gotten the chance to get back to all of you because our days are filled with catching the first of a lot of things happening in our little one's lives.  We want you all to know how grateful we are for all of you and to have you all in our lives... what a blessing you are to us and to our babies who don't even know the kind of support they have behind them yet.  
I am sure I am forgetting a million things that I wanted to write in this post, so please forgive me!  I did want to mention, though, that our photographer, Sarah Shambaugh Photography, was AWESOME.  She was permitted to come into the OR during the birth (during the middle of the night I might add), and the results are amazing!  She has posted some sneak peeks on her Facebook page if anyone would like to look.
Until next time!  I am off with the fam to go visit the NICU!

The Waugh-Nut Quads have Landed!!!

Well, it was a whirlwind last night, but please help us welcome our little Waugh-Nuts to all of our lives!  This will be a short update as none of us have slept much and we are eager to go spend more time with the babies as soon as we can.
As I have mentioned before, the A, B, C, D names that we have known them as for the entire pregnancy get all jumbled during the delivery.  The doctors rename the babies A, B, C, D in the order they are delivered.  In our case, they all got jumbled!  We are not certain which C and D from before are the current B and C.  We will probably never know!
All of the babies are doing awesome.  They have their own area in the NICU and a great team working with them.  I will fill in more of the details of the delivery and the lead up to the delivery in my next post.  For now, I am just going to give you the basics, the names, and share a picture!

Baby A- Jackson Berkley
4 pounds 4 ounces 17 inches long Born at 3:16am on November 5, 2014
Baby B- Owen Daniel
3 pounds 2 ounces 15.5 inches long Born at 3:16am on November 5, 2014
Baby C- Dylan Christopher
3 pounds 9 ounces 16 inches long Born at 3:17am on November 5, 2014
Baby D- Millie Kaye
2 pounds 14 ounces 15.5 inches long Born at 3:18am on November 5, 2014
Thank you ALL for all of your thoughts and prayers over all of this time and for continuing to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as these babies continue to develop and grow!  I know many of you have asked how you can help, and I am going to share our care calendar next time after I have gotten the chance to update it and rest.  Thank you all so much!