In case you were wondering...

So, I get asked lots of questions about my quad pregnancy and I thought that I would create a post and answer the most commonly asked questions.

• When will I go on bedrest?  The answer is nobody knows. It depends on a lot of things. The biggest concern is my cervical fortitude. If my cervix stays nice and long and closed up tight that will delay bedrest. If I am able to evade pre-eclampsia that will help also. I fully expect to be on bedrest at some point and in the hospital for monitoring at the end.
•  What is my due date?   My due date is December 23, but is pretty irrelevant in terms of when the babies will come. Average gestation for quads is 30 weeks. That puts me middle of October. We are hoping to make it to Halloween.
• Will the babies be in the NICU?  Absolutely! The longer they stay in me the shorter their NICU stay will be. If we can make it to 32 weeks hopefully they will be home in about a month. It all depends on what complications they may have and how long it takes for them to be able to eat on their own and not have breathing issues.
• How big will the babies be?  Quads average 3.5 pounds at birth. I believe that is at 30 weeks gestation. If they can make it to 32+ weeks, hopefully they will be closer to 4+ pounds. 

I hope this answers some of your questions. Thanks for caring enough to ask!  :P

Katie

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Week 14 Update

Hi all! I am officially in the second trimester now! I am 14 weeks along and had my OB appointment this morning. First off, let me say that between Saturday, when I hit 14 weeks, and Sunday I grew! It is insane to see the growth over the last few weeks. Just in the growth overnight, I have to retire several pairs of my comfy pants cause they aren't comfy anymore! :(  I guess I need to buy some bigger pants!


At my appointment this morning, all went well! The babies are looking good. They were all moving around and had heartbeats! My OB also measured the length of my cervix and it was excellent! A common problem with multiples pregnancies is the cervix begins to shorten and the risk of pre-term labor and incompetent cervix issues are increased. My blood pressure was great, which is a relief considering it was so high just 2 weeks ago. The biggest shocker came when the doc measured the size of my uterus, which has now come up above my belly button. My uterus is measuring 27 weeks (for a singleton)! That is crazy to me! I know I will measure bigger since there are four babies in there, but WOW! At 8 weeks I was measuring 13 weeks. That is 14 weeks of growth in 6 weeks!

Anyways, we are set for our first anatomy scan on July 11th with the specialist and we can hardly wait! I love seeing these squirmy little babies on the monitor! It makes this whole adventure seem real and helps me to cope with the major changes going on with my body.

I'll be updating again soon, so keep an eye out! :P

Katie

Need to update blog...

So, I'm looking for some ideas for updating my blog. The address will stay the same, but I want to change the title and probably the background as well. Do you all have any clever ideas for a new title? :P

Katie

An Update...Finally!

So, I'm a slacker. I meant to write this post last week!

Last Monday I went for my 2nd appointment with the specialist. We had our NT scan. An NT scan (Nuchal Translucency) is used to check for signs of chromosomal abnormalities like Down's Syndrome. They measure the fluid on the back of the baby's neck. Usually the NT scan is accompanied by some blood work, but with multiples the blood work is not a useful indicator. Yay for one less needle stick!

Anyways, all four babies looked GREAT! The NT scan is 70% accurate and I am happy with those odds!

They also tried to take some other measurements and looked at their heart rates. Everything looked just fine! Two of the babies were measuring 2 days ahead, one was measuring on time, and one was measuring 2 days behind. The doctor was happy with everything. It all looked so good we don't go back for a month!

At our next appointment we will start doing anatomy scans during which they start measuring all of the limbs and organs and try to determine the babies' sexes! We can't wait to find out what we have in there!

We also had a check-up with the OB last week, and my blood pressure was up some. Aside from that, everything looks good for me. All of my blood work from 8-9 weeks was normal! Woohoo!  I go back to the OB again next week. With singleton pregnancies, they normally just check for a heartbeat with the doppler, but since there are four in there, we will be getting an ultrasound at EVERY appointment to check on my little litter! It is so reassuring.

Other than medically, I'm feeling a little blah still. And still really tired. I'm trying to still do as much as I can, but I feel like that list of things I can/feel good enough to do is shrinking rapidly. It is really frustrating, but I know that when these babies are born it will have all been worth it!

I will make an effort to update more often! :P

Katie