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Thursday, October 23, 2014

We Made it to 30 Weeks... Is this Real Life?!

Hey All!

We made it to 30 weeks!! What a miracle and answer to our prayers! We couldn't have done it without the thoughts, prayers, and support from you all. What a joy- we are very happy today :) such great news for our babies and the progress they have been able to make on the inside instead of out is great. Happy happy day!!

Since my last post, things have been pretty uneventful. My contractions have pretty much stopped and I have had more just laying around. My hormones have been a littttttle wacky (I can't help it!), but Chris, my mom, and my nurses are very understanding. I won't be able to get away with it in just a few short weeks! Crazy to think that we will definitely be meeting our babies sometime within the next 4 weeks! It is so exciting yet so scary. Going from parents of none to parents of four all within less than 10 minutes is just crazy to think about. We can't wait to meet these littles!

We got another growth scan today as well! Baby A and Baby D have the most accurate measurements and Baby C has the least accurate just because everyone is laying in front of him. Baby A measured 3lbs 10oz. Baby B was 2lbs 15oz. Baby C measured 2lbs 9oz. Baby D weighed 3lbs 6oz. All are growing great and right on track- especially for quads! My skin on my stomach can definitely feel it, let me tell you!

Sorry I haven't been able to add pictures to these posts! It won't allow me to add pictures on my phone. I have added some on my facebook and Instagram though if you would like to check there!  Again thank you all for your support! Keep thinking of us and sending your prayers out way... These babies could come any day now :)


Saturday, October 18, 2014

29 Weeks and Counting!

Hello everyone!!

We can't believe it (tell that to my body), but we have made it to 29 Weeks 2 Days as of today! What a blessing for us and for the Waugh-Nuts who continue to have the opportunity to grow and develop inside my belly. It is so much better and so much healthier and less risky for them to stay inside to grow. We are really hoping to push to 30 Weeks which now does not seem too far off!

I have been hospitalized for 7 Weeks tomorrow! Can you imagine? The days can be long, but overall it has gone by relatively quickly. I just have to keep reminding myself that this is just a short period of my life, and it will be over soon! Hospital life is definitely getting harder not mentally, but just physically. Although I think my body would be protesting no matter if I was here or at home. My belly is just feeling so big! All good news for the babies because it means they are growing, but it makes it harder for Momma to breathe, eat, sit up, walk, sleep, get comfortable, etc. I pretty much feel like a giant whale flopping around whose skin feels like it's about to rip in two. I have to get all of this down so I can remind those little ones (and myself) what hospital life was like. Oh and the food is horrid. Thankfully, I have some marvelous family members and friends that have supplied me with "normal" food more and more recently. The babies and I thank you more than we can express. It is not easy eating an extra 1200-1500 calories a day, let me tell you. 

As far as what has been going on- it has been a little more exciting around here lately. I have finally felt my first contractions, and I had a couple of rough nights trying to get them to stop. The first night, the doctors gave me IV fluids and a medicine called procardia to try to stop the contractions. Didn't get much sleep that night! It seemed to work, but as soon as the medicine wore off the next day, the contractions were back and stronger than ever. At that point, they moved me to the Labor & Delivery side of the floor for closer monitoring. We did some Non Stress Tests on the babies, and I was put on s liquid diet in case babies were coming. They started me on a medicine called Magnesium through my IV. Mag can have some pretty horrible side effects, but luckily my body did not mind it. I got a little dizzy at first, but that was it. The Mag helps stop contractions and it is also good for the bsbies neurologically, but you can't be on it indefinitely really. I kept the Mag on for about 12 hours and stayed the night in L&D for closer monitoring (meaning they wake you each hour). So again, not much sleep! So, luckily, by the next morning my contractions were back down to normal, so they did another NST on the babies before sending me back to my regular room. I hadn't I had anything to eat for 24 hours, so I pretty much ate and slept the whole day. The next morning, I woke up with some contractions again, so they sent me back over to L&D.  They monitored me there and gave me procardia, but I didn't have any more contractions once I got there. I also went on a long field trip in my hospital bed to the Ross Heart Hospital (still at OSU but different building). They did an ultrasound on my legs to make sure I didn't have any blood clots. Glamorous life I tell you! Once I got back from that, I was allowed to go back to my regular room again, and I've been here since then. Catching up on sleep and eating. 

Pretty much, the plan is to stop anything that we can so long as the babies look fine (up to this point they always have). My "final date" is November 19. So, in some way or another, those babies will be here sometime in the next month! Exciting and scary all at the same time. I was able to get my second round of steroids, so that is also good news! Hopefully another growth scan this week showing 3lbs or more. The whole hospital seems to be on alert that the babies could be here in the next 4 hours, 4 days, or 4 weeks depending on how things progress, and I feel like I am in great hands. There is a plan that will be put in action no matter what happens, and I am thankful for my doctors as well as all the others doctors for taking such great care of us!

Thank you all for continuing to follow our journey. We love you all and thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully these little tiny ones can stay put for awhile longer, but no matter when they come we hope for an easy and non-complicated delivery (as much as that can happen with 50+ people in the OR) and for 4 healthy babies who will need help but who will be little troopers and survivors in this world! You all are the best. Thank you again for reading, and GO BUCKS! I am pretty much prohibited from having any symptoms on game days, so I think today will be great!


Friday, October 10, 2014

28 Weeks- We Made It!!


Hello Everyone!

Well it was a FAB day in room 684 yesterday! First, we reached 28 Weeks of keeping these bambinos growing on the inside! What a happy day. This was the original goal when we first found out about the Quads, and it is crazy to know that as of today we have surpassed that goal! Woohoo!  Also, yesterday we had a growth scan to see how the babies are growing. Would you believe me if I told you that the little girl grew 1lb 2oz since our last scan?! Believe it! Baby A weighed in at 2lb 10oz. Baby B (girl) weighed 2lb 8oz. Baby C weighed 2lb 3oz. Baby D weighed 2lb 7oz. Of all of the babies, Baby Cs measurement is the least accurate because it is getting so hard to see him during the ultrasounds. We also got to chat with my regular OB doctor which was great. Both of my doctors are thrilled I have made it to 28 Weeks, and they are also thrilled about the weights. Of course, every single day counts in this pregnancy, but our next big goal will be 30 Weeks! 13 days to go! 

At 30 Weeks, if we make it there, we will start having biophysicals for each baby twice a week. Also, unless something happens before, we will get our second round of steroids at 30 weeks. Until then, we will keep doing the contraction monitor twice a day, and we are upping the ultrasounds for heartbeats to twice a day as well. Exciting times. We could meet these little ones any day now which is both amazing and crazy and scary at the same time. It always seemed so far away, but we are here! 

I have been hospitalized on bed rest for almost 6 weeks now! Can you believe it? The days are long sometimes, but the weeks have gone by quickly! Chris and my family have been great about visiting and bringing me food. Can I just say one of the worst things about being in the hospital this long is the food! I can hardly get it down anymore, so I look forward to the times when Chris or my family bring me something! The hospital is not horrible, and my nurses are great. As I get further along, it is getting harder. I have good days and bad, but the good outweigh the bad. I have only left my room 6 times total since I've been here, and 3 of those times were to go to my ultrasounds! I am missing lots in the outside world including my favorite fall weather, but it is worth it! Also, this weekend I am missing my mom's 50th birthday (today) and my princess Aleah's 4th birthday and her party (Sunday). 

Well that is about all that is going on in the world of the Waugh-Nuts! Thank you all for keeping up with our journey and for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! We love receiving all of the cards and gifts, and we thank you all for your generosity. I can only write this from my phone because it is hard for me to type on my computer (the t-rex arms may be accurate), so I can't add any pictures! Maybe next time. 

Have a great weekend everyone!


Sunday, October 5, 2014

27 Weeks and Counting...

Hello everyone!  The blog this week is being written by Chris.  I (Chris) am typing/posting because Kacie can't reach her arms past her belly at this point (kind of like T-Rex).  Today marked 27 weeks and 3 days that the babes have been incubating.   Thankfully, there hasn't been much drama since the last post, which is about as much as we could ask for.  The biggest change I have noticed is Kacie seems to be more tired than usual, which according to the doctors is a result of the babies starting to grow and develop at a faster pace, and therefore using more resources.  

One neat thing Kacie and Karla (Kacie's mom) got to observe this week, was baby B (the princess of the bunch) doing practice breathing.  The fact that B is practice breathing is a great sign because she is the smallest baby.  This will help them be able to breath on their own easier when they are born.  I had no idea we (human beings) have to practice breathing in the womb, so I thought this was really cool.  Speaking of Karla, she has seemed to improve quite a bit over the last week and a half or so and for that, we are very thankful.  She has been, and is always, a tremendous help (brownie points :)).  Karlas doctor gave her the "go ahead" to visit Kacie more often but she still needs to be careful to continue her recovery.  Kacie and Karla also got to tour the NICU last week so they got to see where we'll be spending a lot of time once the little ones are born.  It also gave them an opportunity to ask questions to give us a better idea of what to expect.  If you've ever been around Karla, you probably know she always has lots of questions.  I can't say for sure but I think the NICU might have had to kick Karla out so they could get back to work ;).

On a different note, my parents came into town last weekend and I was able to go out to dinner with them and my older brother.  We had a great time but it just made us sick to have to eat without Kacie ;).  My parents, my older brother, and Chris Roach (father-in-law) went to the football game last weekend but not before I got to tailgate with them and eat Adriaticos pizza before they walked over to the stadium.

Other than the above mentioned, this last week has been fairly calm which is how we like it.  We are anticipating this coming week being a good week, because we will have another growth ultrasound on Wednesday and get to find out what the babies weigh in at.  We are fortunate in that the babies have so far maintained a great growth pace.  We always look forward to these detailed ultrasounds.  This coming Thursday will mark 28 weeks, which is a huge milestone for quad pregnancies, and the doctors will be thrilled if and when we get there.

We appreciate everyone's love, support and good thoughts being sent our way.  Since this is my first time writing on the blog, I want to make sure I let everyone know that I sincerely and deeply appreciate the love and support everyone has shown us, especially Kacie.  We could not ask for better family, friends, and supporters.  It has definitely helped keep us calm throughout the process.  For everyone that has sent us cards and/or gifts, we are running behind on sending out thank you notes, but we are very appreciative and please know it hasn't gone unnoticed.