26 Weeks - Sweet #5!

Today makes 26 weeks with our sweet baby number 5! I can’t help but compare this pregnancy week by week with my pregnancy with the quads… although at times there seems to be no comparison. This time especially, the memories come flooding back as I was approaching the tail end of my pregnancy with Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin and just weeks away from starting our long NICU journey.

I remember this day with the quads like it was yesterday. After a pretty uneventful pregnancy and at home modified bedrest, the contractions had started, I had my weekly routine check up only to find out I was starting to dilate, I failed my FFN test and was admitted for the remainder of the pregnancy. I can still recall the nurses prepping my room for a long stay, the neonatologists introducing themselves and giving me the run down on what would happen if we were to deliver in the next couple of days, the social worker and chaplain checking in on me…etc. I received my first round of steriod shots that night in hopes to strengthen the babies lungs in case delivery was necessary and started my every 3 and 4 hour rounds of procardia and turbulatine around the clock to try to keep contractions at bay. I was hooked up to 5 monitors which left me with a night of nearly no sleep….ahhh fun times, but oh so worth it. Although Bret and I knew the day was coming that things would get rough and I’d be admitted, it was hard to accept such a quick change in events after things had been going to smoothly.

It feels good this time around to be sitting here at 26 weeks with no fears, no complications and no anticipation of our baby coming anytime soon. I’m trucking right along, have a fair share of energy and over all feel pretty good! At this time with the quads I had been in a lot of pain from the ligaments stretching and this time…nothing. Major lack of abdominal muscles to help carry anything, sit up or roll over in bed, but no pain or major discomfort.

We still haven’t decided on a name for this little guy and honestly, I’m not too stressed about it just yet. We’re still throwing around a couple here and here but nothing is near set in stone. I’m super anxious to finally meet him and look forward to getting to bond with him and get to know his personality in a way that I wasn’t able to with the quads. Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin are all so different in so many ways, I’m curious to see how little man fits into the puzzle. I do already know he is SUPER DUPER ACTIVE, day and night go go go! I remember the quads moving a lot in utero…between all of them it seemed like someone was always moving and when one would shift the others would follow. This little guy moves just as much, if not more than they ever did. At my 24 week appointment, Dr. Leveno was using the doppler to check his heartbeat and the baby kicked him just a few times. They were small kicks, nothing major compared to what he had done before and Dr. Leveno said “Umm, Heather, those are some pretty big kicks for 24 weeks!”. Hearing that after seeing he was measuring big at the 20 week sono has me a little worried I may be giving birth to a toddler….we’ll see!

I don’t have another sonogram scheduled until 36 weeks…yeah 36. I had my last at 20w and will not have another until 36w. That was a hard pill to swallow! Luckily, my doc is the sweetest and has told me multiple times that if I was worried in any way we could schedule a sonogram at any time to check in on him. As long as these crazy kicks keep up, I’m not worried :)

Here is the latest belly pic. 26 weeks with a singleton…

…and below, 27 weeks with the foursome! Yes, that is me in Bret’s boxers with a room full of company in my hospital room. All modesty kind of goes out the window in that kind of situation. Little did I know I’d wake up 2 days later to find this exact picture printed on the front page of the local paper… Ay Yi Yi!

We’ll keep you posted as we continue to grow. Say a lil' prayer that my next glucose test (at 28 weeks) goes as well as my last, that I can keep the nasty stuff down and more importantly, pass with flying colors!

18 Weeks – Sweet #5!

18 weeks already, almost half way done cookin’ this lil pumpkin! It’s continued to be an easy pregnancy so far and I hope it stays that way. What little morning sickness I had at the beginning is getting better although I still depend on my zofran each night.

With the quads I didn’t really crave anything (besides ice, omg I went through a TON of ice) this baby on the other hand has been slightly different. My weakness is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Jelly, in our house anyways, is one of those items that last and last. A jar could last us 4-6 months. Between PB&Js, toast with jelly and biscuits with butter and jelly, I’m finishing a jar every few weeks! Thanks to this little addiction I’ve already gained 10lbs. My doc said he’d like to see a total weight gain of about 20lbs by the end of the pregnancy…eeek… we’ll see how I do with that :/ Regardless of how much I gain I’m praying it all just melts away as it did post delivery with the quads – I can hope, right?! Another kick I have/had going on is salads. I’ve never been a big salad person but wow, I won’t pass one up nowadays! I especially enjoyed chowing down on Ceasar salads throughout my first trimester UNTIL a few weeks ago I learned that I shouldn’t be eating them at all. Duh me, had no idea there were raw eggs in the dressing NOR did I have any clue there were SARDINES (anchovies, whatever). Are you kidding me?! Disgusting!!

Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin are starting to understand a little more about what’s going on, especially Kylee. We talk often about the new baby and how they are going to be big brothers and sisters. They’re starting to take closer looks at newborn babies we see out in public. Just the other day I left them with my mom and dad so I could run some preemie clothes to a local NICU. I told the quads I was headed the NICU to which Kylee replied “Dr. Leno (Leveno) take my baby brudder out you tummy?” Sweet girl not only putting together that the NICU is at the hospital but also talking about my OB and referring to the baby as her “brudder”, I love it! For those of you who missed my 13 week update, the sonographer feels pretty confident we’re having a boy. Our 20 week appointment should confirm!

I still haven’t felt anything movement wise. They say you feel kicks in your second pregnancy sooner than your first but I’m still waiting. I didn’t start feeling movement from the quads until about 20 weeks so I’m hoping it’s any day now that I get a few jabs from this little one. I lay super still each morning and night concentrating with all of my might trying to feel something, surely I’m just not trying hard enough to feel the baby move right?! Bret jokes that my uterus is so stretched out that the baby is not in the curled up fetal position but sprawled out with all the room in the world much like the little people in bubbles in the Wii game pictured below… LOL!

Here are the belly shots comparing 18 weeks with one baby…

 

…and 18 weeks with quadruplets! Bigger but much prettier than what I have going on now that’s for sure!

 

I took my first glucose test  (to check for gestational diabetes) a couple of weeks ago. Due to having PCOS my doctor has me take the dreaded test twice. One at 16 weeks and one at 28 weeks. I was a nervous wreck about getting sick but was able to stomach it and passed! Glad I get another two months off before having to do it again! Bret and I chose to do the 1st and 2nd trimester screenings and all tests came back perfect :) I also have HUGE peace of mind thank to Bret’s cousin’s wife, Jenn, who sent me her fetal doppler! With going a month between each doctors visit, Bret and I debated buying a doppler for ourselves to use at home. After being seen so often with the quads we both started feeling anxious after 2-3 weeks wondering if the baby was ok. Jenn’s doppler allows us to check in on our sweet little whenever we want!

I’m not the only one who checks in on my baby on a regular basis…

Above is Kylee checking in on her TWO babies. As a matter of fact all four of the quads check in on their 2 babies on a regular basis. That would make what… 9 babies making their way into the Cox household?! No thanks!

As always we’re all super excited and thankful for a healthy pregnancy thus far. We’ll do another baby update after our next appointment in 2 weeks!

Soo… We’re Having A…

You read it right! Our sweet little number 5 (and only number 5) is scheduled to appear November 1st, 2012! If you’re a long time follower of ours you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I’ve always hoped for another baby in our future and well, by the grace of God, here we are!

I will assume everyone’s first question will be “were you trying?”. Yes, we were. A little background for those of you who don’t know I conceived Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin while on Clomid, an ovulation stimulant. Shortly after their delivery my doctor wanted to test me for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and to no surprise, he was right. PCOS explains the trouble I had getting pregnant the first time and could also cause me to have trouble getting pregnant in the future. Due to my PCOS my doctor put me on a medicine called Metformin (NOT considered a fertility drug) in October in hopes that it alone would help my cycle regulate giving me a shot of getting pregnant on my own. He said it typically takes about 3 months for your body to adjust and I should be good to go in January. Bret and I went into this process with the attitude that we were going to TRY to have another baby. We didn’t quite expect it to happen this quickly!  I have complete faith in my doctor, but at the same time, I didn’t want to get my hopes up and almost expected to have trouble.

Lo and behold, February 25th I got my positive. My heart didn’t skip a beat,  I didn’t cry, I didn’t run out of the room to tell Bret, nothing. To be honest I laid eyes on that little faint line and my first thought was “A false positive. Ugh. What are the chances? I knew we shouldn’t have bought the cheapest test.” I calmly told Bret, he went to the store, bought several more tests and each one of them, positive. It couldn’t have been that easy, could it?

I made the phone call Monday morning to tell the ladies at my doctor’s office that I thought I might be pregnant. An early ultrasound showed nothing but the blood tests were done and indeed my HCG levels were where they needed to be and were rising as they should. Another follow up appointment, March 13th, I finally saw it, a little fluttering heartbeat! Finally, I let myself believe that there was a little someone inside of me!

So far I’ve felt pretty good. A little tired and a few sick days but overall a MUCH better start than I had with the quads. Dr. Leveno and his staff have been nothing short of amazing and have been super supportive in understanding that this single pregnancy is extremely foreign to me. With the quads I was seen just about weekly once I hit my second trimester so the thought of being seen just a fraction of that is a little scary. I can’t help but be a little anxious, as I’m sure many moms are early in pregnancy, but I’m trying to remember everything is in God’s hands. Some people never get to experience being pregnant and here, I get to twice. Bret and I feel super blessed and our prayer is that this pregnancy brings us a fat, healthy, full term baby!

Introducing our little number 5 (last week) at 9 weeks and 1 day!

As always, your prayers are appreciated! We’ll keep you posted!

-Bret & Heather

"Let's Have a Baby!"

"Let's have a baby!"... that's how it began. July 29th 2007, our first anniversary, we decided it was time to start our family! After a year of trying and not getting pregnant the doctor suggested we start on the lowest dose of Clomid (an ovulation stimulant) hoping that would be all it would take. Excited about the process, the doctor warned us our chance of having twins would increase by 5-8%... not thinking that would ever happen to us, we jumped right in! After my first cycle on Clomid, the doctors were amazed at my body's response to the drug. They told me the ideal progesterone level after Clomid would be between 10 and 15, mine had sky rocketed to the mid 80's. But unfortunately nothing happened that month; so we tried another round. At this point, blood work had become a routine. On Sept. 2nd, while napping, the phone rang. I saw it was my doctors office and answered casually thinking it was just another update on my progesterone levels. I'll never forget the voice on the other end of the line was not a nurse, but my doctor... she was so excited she said she had to call me herself... I was FINALLY pregnant!!! Having been woken up from a nap, I was a little out of it. I remember crying as I replied "What?! No, I'm taking a nap, I'm dreaming...". After a little convincing that I was awake, she explained to me that my levels were sky high again and I was definitely pregnant this time!

I immediately jumped in the car and headed to Bret's work to tell him the news. As I was driving, I called him to tell him I needed to meet him in the parking lot to get something out of his truck. He said "OK and casually asked me if I had heard anything from the doctor. Fighting back the tears of joy, I said "No" and hung up the phone. When I arrived at his work and he walked up to my car, I jumped out and yelled with tears in my eyes "I LIED, I LIED, the doctor did call and we're having a baby!!!". After standing in shock for a minute, he said while pointing at my stomach "That means there's a baby in there!".


Waiting to tell our parents in a special way, I had to tell my bridesmaids (they were the only ones who knew we were trying). After telling Tisha & KK on the phone, I drove straight to Bethany's. When Chris (her husband) came to the door I walked in, dropped my purse, and cried "We're having a baby!". The excitement on their faces was priceless! Knowing Anna (the last bridesmaid) was about to go to class, we rushed to the college to meet her to "show her something cute we found for her at Wal-Mart". When she pulled up we jumped out of the car and I said "Hey Aunt Banan!". She said "Hi" with a smile and a strange look on her face, then she remembered "Aunt Banan" would be what our baby would call her. As three high pitched screams echoed through the parking lot, there were a lot of stares and weird looks. We will never forget that day!


September 17th we went in for our first sonogram and I remember sitting in the waiting room with Bret praying to see one precious heartbeat. During the first few seconds of the sonogram, I noticed three little blobs on the screen and thought "Hmmm", but blew it off for the most part. I glanced over at Bret and behind him stood a nurse with her hand over her mouth, little did I know our lives were about to change forever. I thought " Aww... this is her first time to sit in on a sono" and smiled at her. Looking back at the screen the doctor said "Well... I see triplets..." he looked and sounded like he was going to hit the floor! I started breathing heavily and looked at Bret and said "It's going to be OK babe...". Then the doctor said "Wait... I think I see another one, but I don't know if there's a heartbeat...... yes there's a heartbeat." At that point Bret, having seen enough, said "OK, stop looking!". The room grew dead silent and the doctor and nurse left the room. After looking at each other like "Holy Cow" for a few minutes, I got up and got dressed. When we opened the door to the exam room we were in, the hallway was filled with the office staff looking at us in amazement. After a while of letting everything soak in, we left the office and headed straight for Edible Arrangements hoping to catch Anna at work.

Baby 1

Babies 2,3,&4

We walked in the backdoor. Holding the sonogram pictures in my hand and tears rolling down my face, I handed them to her. She didn't really know what she was looking at, but had a feeling something was up by the awkwardness of the situation. She asked "What's wrong?" thinking we had had a miscarriage. "Count them, Anna" I screamed, and I pointed out all four of my beautiful black blobs! We called Bethany and told her to come by the store. When she arrived we showed her the pictures and she was in shock too! As you can imagine, Tisha and KK, were ecstatic as well! At this point we knew we had to tell our parents ASAP. After church that night Bethany and I stayed up for hours framing the sonogram pictures for our parents. When we were done, I called my brother in law and told him "get the camera out, don't let anyone go to bed, Bret and I are coming over!" When we arrived at their house we went to the living room and handed the frame to my mom and sister. It took a minute, but they finally realized I was telling them I was pregnant and again I had to point out all four... apparently people are not used to seeing multiple black blobs ;) Within a few days we broke the news to my dad with a frame also, he was so excited! When we took the frame to Bret's parent's house, his dad's reaction was "I'm glad it's you and not me!" but we knew they were both very happy to hear that they were going to be Mamaw & Papaw! Eventually we spread the news to the rest of our family, church, & friends and the support has been overwhelming!

Bret and I want to thank everyone for their support and prayers. We would also like to thank all of our amazing doctors: Dr. Joyner, Dr. Shimer and the staff at Craig Ranch, Dr. Trimmer and his staff at Centennial Hospital, and Dr. Leveno and the wonderful ladies at Plano Medical Center. We are super excited that God has blessed us in this way. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and check back soon for more updates! The ride has just begun ;)