Father's Day Fun: Hope that all of the past, present, and future fathers had a wonderful Father's Day on Sunday! We decided to share the sexes of our babies on Facebook on Father's Day. Everyone is VERY excited and can't get over the fact that we're really getting 2 of each. We had a very jam-packed Father's Day weekend - with a good mix of productivity and fun. Friday night we visited with my sister's family and then went to Home Depot to pick out paint colors for our soon-to-be guest room (formerly known as the office). Saturday we headed to Troy to see a couple of our nephews' baseball games and visit with some of my husband's high school friends that we haven't seen in awhile. Sunday we wished Pastor Casey and Matthew well (as they head off to new adventures at their new church) and then went out to lunch for Father's Day. My parents showed up in the afternoon with a U-Haul truck full of boxes/furniture that they are moving out of their house to help stage it to be sold. So proud of them and how much work they've done to get their house ready for sale. We put the majority of the stuff in my sister's basement - but have a few things in our basement as well. My sister and I felt pretty helpless since we couldn't help carry anything to help. Normally we are pretty good work horses. My favorite father-to-be also painted the guest room on Sunday - too bad he had to work so hard on Father's Day, but I'm guessing next year won't be much different. ;) The room looks great and I'm anxious to get the guest bedroom furniture moved into that room - so that we can start getting things set-up in the nursery (which is the ex-guest room). We are so lucky that my friend, Elphie, is an AMAZEBALLS interior designer. She's going to help us with our nursery design and I already love a lot of the ideas she's been sharing with us. They are WAY better than what I was thinking.
Wow! What an amazing and exciting morning we had at Riverside Hospital! :) As you may have concluded from the above picture, we are in fact having two boys and two girls. It's what we wanted - but definitely not what we were expecting to find out this morning. Carol was our sonographer (with 20+ years of experience) and we all really loved her! Of course, we had to take some time to explain our crazy situation - but she was absolutely in love with our story. She explained that not only would we find out the gender today - but more importantly, she would be checking out the anatomy of all of the babies. Making sure that everyone has all of their limbs and vital organs. The ultrasounds were done in 2-D, she said that 3-D really doesn't give them that much more at this stage of the development.
Typically, we've been scheduling my appointments first for our back-to-back appointments. But since these ultrasounds seemed to be a lengthy appointment and I wasn't sure about my sister's work schedule, I decided to let her go first - in case she needed to leave for work. She let me know earlier this week that there was NO WAY she was leaving before my appointment was done, too. ;) We still stuck with the original appointments and had her go first for a change. Aunt Chrissy's Ultrasound: We were happy to find that both babies inside my sister had hearts beating and they were also quite active. Carol pointed out that both babies were actually breach at this point - but said that they still have plenty of time to move around and get in a better position. For the first baby (which she referred to as Baby A, but we all refer to as Baby C), she started with the head/brain and then moved her way down the body. When she was looking down on the head/brain and we could see a little hand moving around - I got a few tears in my eyes. So crazy to think that this was our baby moving around!! We asked lots of questions and she would explain what she was measuring. She checked to make sure the baby had eyes, ears, mouth, and nose - which were easier for us all to see. I was having a little trouble following as she was looking at the cross-section of the baby at their stomach, kidneys, etc.... We could see the spine pretty clearly and also the legs/feet and arms/hands. She also checked the umbilical cord to make sure that things were flowing in/out as expected. We could see the heart beating on the screen and she also measured the heart-rate, which I believe was at 152. So amazing to see the baby moving around on the screen! I forget exactly when, but I think it was towards the end of the checking for Baby C - but at one point I think she stumbled across the genitals and stopped to ask us if anyone saw anything. The other 3 responded quite quickly - but I wasn't as sure what angle we were viewing the baby from. But when I realized it was a view from the bottom (as if the baby were sitting on a glass table) - I definitely saw a penis on the screen - no doubt about that. We knew we had a son! :) It was pretty exciting and I think my husband's first statement was something to the effect of, "Okay - we have a boy - it's NOT going to be all 4 girls." I don't think anyone was shocked that we had a boy - since there's so many nephews on both sides of the family. But it was exciting to just know! When Carol moved to the second baby in my sister (Baby B to her, but Baby D to us) - she went through the anatomy a little quicker, since she had give us all the detailed tour on the first baby. We were all able to follow along for the most part and asked questions along the way! My brother-in-law's favorite part of the ultrasound was the measuring of the heart-rates - this little guy's heart-rate was about 150. This baby was definitely even a little more active than his/her brother! And again, not sure exactly when - but she stumbled across the genitals and we found yet ANOTHER penis. So we were up to 2 sons! :) :) My sister was not surprised as she's been pretty adamant that there would only be boys inside of her. :) Although we were most anxious to find out the sexes, the great news is that both of our baby boys are developing well. One of them measured in at 9 oz (Baby C) and the other measured at 10 oz (Baby D). Mid-Morning Updates! In-between the ultrasounds, Carol wanted to check my sister's cervix to see how long it was and make sure that both ends were nice and tight. Although we are a close-knit bunch, we aren't THAT close - so my husband and I stepped out for that part of the appointment. While we waited - my husband sent a group text message to his immediate family and we called my parents. Everyone of course was very happy of the news of two boys! At that point, my husband said he would be fine if the rest were girls - but I was pretty convinced that I was going to have 4 sons! I know my mom was hoping for a girl - so she was also pretty convinced that we were going to end up with all boys. We also sent a few texts to some anxious friends that had been texting us throughout the morning - the Blickhans definitely win the award for most anxious with their aggressive texting (but we know it all comes out of the love). ;) Carol called us back into the room and let us know that Chrissy's cervix was measuring nice and long. Although it's not a guarantee, it definitely is a good sign that she may be able to make it to the full 38 week goal. We know how to pick our gestational carriers! ;) Dr. Fox (perinatologist) came back to review the pictures/videos that Carol had taken of our two little guys. He was (of course) taken aback by our story - but super excited for us! He reviewed everything and told us that everything on the two boys looked good - no abnormalities in either of them. He also mentioned that Ohio Health would probably love our story and asked if we would be interested in sharing it. We said that we would be open to sharing our story - so we'll see what comes of that! :) My Ultrasound: Then it was my turn! I was a little nervous and hoping that the babies inside me would be doing as well as their brothers. I think Carol was just an anxious as we were to find out the sexes of the last two babies - so she told us that she was going to skip the normal protocol and just find out the genders of both babies right off the bat. None of us argued with that approach. We were all pretty shocked (at least, I was) when we saw that there was no penis on Baby A. We have a daughter! We know that sometimes it's tucked away or not visible on the ultrasound - but Carol showed us 3 lines in the pelvic area that indicate via ultrasound that it is definitely a girl. Definitely got some more tears in my eye when we found out that we were going to have at least one girl in the mix. I was thrilled that my parents were going to get a granddaughter, that Chrissy/James were going to get a niece, and that our niece Chloe was FINALLY going to have a girl cousin on the Johnston side of the family. Carol then moved over to Baby B to see whether there were goods for us to find or not find. And I could not believe it when again, there was no penis! We are having two daughters, too! :) :) I would've bet A LOT of money that we were going to have 4 boys - still can't believe that we are blessed enough to get two of each. After the excitement of finding out about our two little girls, Carol went back to business and checked the girls' anatomy just like she did with the boys. Although, all of the limbs and organs looked okay - they did find one minor abnormality on Baby Girl A. Babies should have 2 veins in their umbilical cord, but she only has 1 vein. It's not a major issue, since they have 1 vein - but it can sometimes cause a baby to have a low birth-weight. They said it's more of a concern if this is found along with other abnormalities. Since she was actually larger than her sister (10 oz vs. 9 oz) and nothing else looked wrong - they said it was nothing to worry about. So far, she seems to be keeping up with the rest of them and getting what she needs through the one vein. Other than that, both girls looked great - they were less active than their brothers, but we could still see them moving around. One of them was showing off their hands/fingers for us and the other did a nice long stretch of her legs. I can't believe that we're going to be parents to two boys and two girls.... YAY!! :) Once the ultrasounds were done, Carol needed to check my cervix to see how it was measuring. It was just like the good ole' days with Dr. Williams and the vaginal ultrasound (which has been used to look for follicles and for our 7 week ultrasounds). The great news is that my cervix was also measuring nice and long - it actually measured longer than my sister's. ;) She also pushed down on my stomach to see how the cervix would hold up. Although it moved, it didn't open up - which is good because they want it to stay closed. So it looks like our cervixes are positioning us to be able to make it quite far in our pregnancies. Avoiding any pre-term labor would be fabulous! ;) It just seems unreal that the great news keeps coming our way. Sometimes it seems so surreal - but the further we get in the pregnancies, the more real it is getting for us. It was so fun sharing our news with family via text, email, and phone calls today. Kinda crazy that the two boy embryos were put in my sister and the two girl embryos were put into me. We know that her womb is experienced at providing a good home to boys - so let's hope that my womb will give the girls a warm & cozy play for the next 4 months! What a day! :) 19 Weeks! We've made it to the 19 week milestone and here's what's going on with our little babies... Thanks, Doug & Lisa! :)
Pediatrician Secured: Earlier this week I called in to see if my sister's family pediatrician is accepting new patients. I explained that we were having some babies and just wanted to see if Dr. Sheets was accepting new patients. We were very happy to find out that she is accepting newborns. :) The lady asked if we were having twins and I said, "No, we're actually having quadruplets." Of course, she was super excited. I explained that my sister was carrying two for us and she asked if she could let Dr. Sheets know. I told her that she definitely could. She just took down some information and said that after we have the babies, we just need to tell the hospital that Dr. Sheets is our pediatrician. Whoever the on-call doctor is will see the babies in the hospital and then the hospital will tell us when to set-up the follow-up appointments when we are discharged from the hospital.
Operation Get-the-House-Ready has begun! Now that we've made it into the 2nd trimester, we have started to accumulate baby stuff and begin prepping the house for our new arrivals. My brother-in-law has been bringing down random boxes of baby stuff and also brought us their infant carseat and bouncy seat. And on Saturday we moved my husband's office from the 2nd floor down to the basement - in the room that was formerly known as my "workout room." The office room will become our guest room - so we'll be moving our guest room furniture into it and plan for my parents to stay in that room as long as needed. Our largest guest room (which currently holds our guest room furniture) is going to be our main nursery with the 4 cribs. Our other guest room is going to be the "staging room" with changing tables and a glider. We do have a few friends that know of folks that have had triplets, quadruplets, and quintuplets - so it may be good for us to run our plan by them to see what worked for their babies! But for now, that's our plan. Tomorrow's Big Reveal: It is hard to believe that tomorrow morning we're going to find out what we're having! Although we've been slightly focused/obsessed with finding out the gender, tomorrow's ultrasounds will be quite in-depth and they will be checking lots of other things besides just the gender. We're not exactly sure what all they check - but each ultrasound will last an hour or so. My sister will go first at 8:30am and then I will follow at 10:15am. These ultrasounds won't be at Dr. Lindauer's office - we will be heading to Riverside Hospital's Maternal Fetal Medicine. It's fun to see the survey results coming in - 3 boys and 1 girl seems to be the most popular guess. As of tonight, my husband and I are actually thinking that it will be 3 boys and 1 girl. I kinda figure that 2 girls and 2 boys would be a little too perfect. And we're both thinking our chances of having boys seem greater because of our 8 nephews and 1 niece. ;) My sister is also guessing 3 boys and 1 girl - she's pretty adamant that she is not carrying any girls, too. My mom's guess is that there are 4 boys - but she really wants at least 1 girl, so I think she's just trying to prepare herself for now granddaughter. And my dad guessed that there would be 2 of each! It's not too late to make your guess on the survey - see link in my previous blog post below. We know that we will love them all no matter what and know that you all will, too! Stay tuned for the BIG results show tomorrow! :) First off, I'd like to shout out a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dad! For those of you that may not know him, he's a pretty amazing person. I'm so lucky and proud to be his daughter. And I know that our 4 little babies are going to just love their "Papu." Although I wish he was just enjoying this birthday - he's probably working on packing up their house so they can put it on the market for sale. They are moving down to Columbus to help us out with our baby explosion - which is so unbelievably amazing. So while I'm definitely sad about my childhood home being sold to another family, it will be great to have my parents so close. Love you, Dad! (Oh, and you too, Mom!) ;)
On Friday, we have our ultrasounds at Riverside Hospital and find out whether we're having a mix of boys/girls or all boys or all girls. Thought it would be fun to do another poll and see what you all think. Please access this link and let us know what you think. We know that some of you seem to have a crystal ball - since 26.67% of you (8 out of 30) that responded to our "How many babies will there be?" survey were absolutely correct. In closing, I'd like to also shout-out a Happy Birthday to K-Rob! I hope his 4 ladies are spoiling him today. :) Also, let's all hope that this stomach bug that seems to have hit my husband and my sister's husband goes away soon. And let's also hope that neither my sister or I get it from them. We'll have to keep our distance! Even though we've had quite a bit of time for all of this baby excitement to sink in, it is still really amazing to know that we have quadruplets on the way. :) Crazy to think that it was 14 weeks ago when we found out that we were both pregnant! It's definitely getting more and more real each day - can't wait to meet our little ones. But we still have some preparing to get done and they need to keep cooking, so I can wait until October! The goal is to try to make it to 38 weeks - so we just have 20 more weeks to go. ;) With my birthday being in October, it's always a month that I look forward to each year. But now I have 4 even more wonderful reasons to look forward to October in 2013. May 24, 2013 - The Johnston quadruplet news went public on Facebook! :) Going Public on Facebook! Ever since we passed the 12 week mark and we both talked to our managers, we've been debating about when to make things "official" by sharing our news on Facebook. I kinda thought it would be fun for my husband to be the one to share the news. He reminded me that he doesn't post things on Facebook - but did say that I could tag him in my post announcing our news. Our May was pretty crazy with various work/personal trips and I kinda wanted us to be together when the news went live. So while we drove down to Gatlinburg, TN for a weekend with the rest of the Johnston crew - I decided that the 6 hour car drive was the perfect time to come up with our post and let it rip. As you can expect, the response on May 24th was overwhelmingly positive - from those that have been along for the journey and for those that were just finding out via this Facebook post. Even though I tried to make the post as concise and clear as possible - we've still had a lot of questions from folks thinking that we're just having two or thinking that my sister is carrying her own twins. My cousins in Japan also found out via the Facebook post and at first thought we were having twins. After they put the post into a translator - they learned that it was 4 babies. ;) And just about every day at work, I have someone stop by my desk or stop me in the hallway to either congratulate me or confirm the crazy rumor they heard about about me. I must admit that I'm getting very good at explaining our story quickly and adjusting the level of detail based on my audience! Anyway, it's nice to have our exciting news out in the open. And as you can imagine, we have heard from others that either went through infertility struggles of their own or are currently going through them - definitely affects more people than you would think! We pray that those affected my infertility will also find a way to start their families sooner than later. Never give up hope - your time will come, somehow, someway! 18 Weeks & Counting!! We are so lucky that both pregnancies are still going really well for both of us. The tiredness from the 1st trimester has gone away for my sister. We are both definitely getting some baby bumps on us - which is exciting! We took our first joint baby bump picture last week at 17 weeks, so we'll have to get an 18 week picture in tomorrow. I was very anxious for the bump to appear - but now that my baby bump is starting to make a more defined appearance, I'm starting to wonder exactly how big we're going to get this summer. ;) My sister is starting to feel her nieces/nephews moving around inside of her - which is pretty cool. I still haven't really felt them moving around - but it may just be that I don't know what it feels like. My sister and some other friends have mentioned that they felt their 2nd babies sooner - because they knew what to expect. I apologize for slacking on my blogging and baby development updates - but here's how our little babies are developing at this stage of the game:
T-Minus 8 Days until June 14th! We are very anxious for the ultrasounds that we have scheduled down at Riverside Hospital on Friday, June 14th. We will find out that day whether we're getting all boys, all girls, or a mix. We are definitely curious to see what your guesses are - so I'll have to put another survey out here for you all. :) I would love to have a nice balance of boys and girls - but 2 boys and 2 girls seems just a little too perfect. And although some things will be easier/cheaper if we just have all 4 of one sex - that would be pretty crazy. We have started thinking about names - but will probably get a little more serious about our baby name discussions after we figure out how many boy/girl names we will need.
Kicking off the Summer! We had a great time down in Gatlinburg with my husband's side of the family - it was nice to have the whole family together (minus the 2 babies in my sister's belly - hee, hee). And last weekend we went to Pittsburgh to visit with my uncle, aunts, and cousins. My sister and her little boys joined us on that trip - so it was nice to have ALL of our babies with us for that weekend. ;) We also got to meet my cousin's little girl, Sophie! She was fun to cuddle and definitely did NOT get the large head that most members of the Kortlandt family seem to have. We also went to see "Wicked" this week and on Sunday I'm going to see "The Package" tour starring NKOTB, 98 Degrees, and Boyz II Men. Such a fun week! Friends and family are already starting to play baby showers for us - which is so exciting! I have a feeling that June, July, and August are going to FLY by. We are so grateful and thankful for everyone's enthusiasm for our 4 little unborn children. We know that they are definitely going to feel very loved by our amazingly supportive family and friends. Welp, it's getting late - so I should probably get to bed! Good night!! |