Reflecting back on 2009

2009 has been an eventful year for us! It brought us many challenges but also much joy I thought for my last post of 2009 I would look back on all the milestones of the year.

January 2009- Ben and I made the decision to give one last attempt at having a family. We decided to put all we had into this attempt and prayed it would work.

February 2009- After countless injections, many trips to Montreal and days of feeling crappy the time had come where there was nothing left to do but wait and see if our dreams would come true.

March 2009- We're pregnant! I think I took 10 home pregnancy tests before getting blood work ordered from my doctor. When he called with the results he said to prepare for multiples. We were so excited thinking we would be having twins. On March 21st we made the trip to Montreal and were speechless to see FOUR sacs! We were cautioned that it was likely that all four would not make it.

April 2009- We said goodbye to Dr. Mahutte and his staff, grateful for all they did for us during the past 21 months we had been patients there. We traded our weekly ultrasound trips 3 hours north for weekly trips 3 hours south when we became patients of Dr. Acker at Brigham and Women's Hospital. We were given all the info and statistics of multiple gestation pregnancies and made the decision to attempt to carry all four babies.

May 2009- Ben had not been feeling well for sometime and finally one day he stayed home from work and I convinced him to go to the doctors. After a day of testing and a transfer to Dartmouth he was scheduled to have lymph nodes removed to test for lymphoma. Days later we got the news that he had stage 4 Hodgkins lymphoma and began chemotherapy treatments that day. He was sick and drained but we prayed it would work and he would be able to enjoy his four little miracles that were on their way.

June 2009- At my 17 week u/s we found out we were having 3 boys and a girl...Let the naming fun begin! Ben was very weak from his treatments so we were quite a pair me wobbling and him limping around.

July 2009- We reached viability day and I began to worry bed rest was just around the corner. My baby shower was awesome! We got so many things the babies have put to good use.

August 2009- We made the trip to Boston for the last time before delivery. We became fixtures at my aunt and uncles so we were close to the hospital in case of an emergency.

September 2009- Ben went home for chemo and I went to the doctors for my weekly appointment only to be admitted with pre eclampsia. 15 days later on September 17th I called Ben, who was home recovering from another round of chemo, at 3 am and told him to get down to Boston because I was certain today would be the day. Sure enough our miracles were born that day and our lives were forever changed!

October 2009- After 26 days in the NICU Matthew and Brady were coming home, Aubrey followed at day 29. Cameron was released on day 35 and we all came home to surprise Ben.

November 2009- Ben had his final chemo treatment and we celebrated Thanksgiving with so much to be thankful for. The babies were growing so much and we were enjoying everyday with them.

December 2009- We recieved the news Ben was cancer free! Merry Christmas to us! The babies enjoyed their first Christmas and so did Ben and I. They are getting so big.. Matthew 11lbs 14oz, Brady 13 lbs 13oz, Cameron 10 lbs 14 oz and Aubrey 9 lbs 14 oz. Tomorrow will mark our 10th anniversary and the begining of what is bound to be a fantastic year!

Picture Post

Our boys


The princess


Matthew & Cameron


Aubrey & Matthew


Matthew


Brady


Cameron


Aubrey

Babies 1st Christmas!

Christmas is so different with babies! It was so much fun even though they were not big enough to even know what was going on. They got a lot of clothes that they will be growing into soon, a few toys and some money for their bank accounts. Next year it will be fun to watch them tear into the wrapping paper.

We got a surprise from a secret Santa. A bag was delivered here with pajamas, diapers, wipes, burp clothes, rattles and socks for the babies, a bath set for me and long johns for Ben as well as a Shaw's gift card for the family. The kindness of people in our area still amazes me.

We had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve with Ben's family. The babies were so fussy while we were there so we ended up leaving early to give everyone else a peaceful night. Kyle, Evan and my Dad spent the night so they would be here for Christmas morning. Evan read his cousins some bedtime stories and I read them all Twas the Night Before Christmas then off to bed we went.

Christmas day we went to my mom's for lunch. The babies were so good there talking and laughing at everyone. When we got home Kennedy and Bailee came over for a sleepover with the babies, they even got up for their feeding. Matthew fell in love with them watching every move they made, it was so cute!

We can't wait for Monday when their visiting nurse comes to weigh them. It will be interesting to see how much they have grown in two weeks.
Aubrey

Brady

Matthew

Cameron

The quads with their cousins Evan and Zachary

Sleepover party with Kennedy and Bailee

All tired out after a day of Christmas fun!

3 months already!

Today marks three months since the babies birth...where did the time go? Sometimes I sit on the couch and look at the digital pictures in the frame and am amazed how much they have grown.

Three months ago I could fit each of their heads in the palm of my hand now we have big babies who are holding thier heads up cooing at us and smiling. We never imagined that they would be as healthy and big as they are already.

We love seeing them grow but I wish they could stay small forever!

Matthew



Brady



Aubrey



Cameron

What a week!

The week started out with Matthew deciding to cry all day long for three days! The only thing that made him happy was Daddy holding him. You can imagine how difficult that is with four other babies. Aubrey is normally our fussy one, demanding attention all the time while the others take turns being cranky but never like Matthew did for those few days.

Our pictures came back that Samantha McMann took and they are BEAUTIFUL! I can't wait to give them out for Christmas gifts to our friends and family. We like them so much we asked her to take pictures of their baptism next month.

I was able to get all my Christmas wrapping done thanks to Ben's mom, step dad and aunts coming to play with the babies for a few hours and letting me have uninterrupted time. That doesn't happen very often!

I forgot to include in last week's post that Aubrey is officially recovered from her ROP so there will be no eye surgery for the little princess. She does still have to be checked again in 6 months because a lot of time babies who had ROP later develop lazy eyes. Matthew has learned to smack his lips when you make kissing noises at him and he will smile at you when you talk to him now. Brady is becoming more vocal and will smile once in awhile too. This morning I was showing him his refelction in the mirror and he kept looking at himself like "who is that baby?" Cameron is still wide awake most of the time and loves to look at our digital picture frame.

Yesterday my new nephew was born and he sure is a cutie! The babies are lucky to have a cousin so close in age.

Tomorrow we are going to attempt to bring the babies to church. Hopefully they will be well behaved and not disrupt the service too much.

Babies met Santa

We took the babies to meet Santa yesterday and we were very happy that none of them were scared of him. Even though they didn't know anything that was going on it was fun for Ben and I.

All four of them have been sleeping so much better at night. Last night they went 7 hours between bottles, unfortunately they ate at 7pm and Ben and I didn't get to bed until 10 because if they would have eaten at 9ish like usual we could have had great nights sleep. Most of the time they are going 5-6 hour stretches at night though and we are grateful for that! Gone are the days of 3 hour night time feedings. It is great to get more sleep but sad because it means they are getting so big.

Speaking of big...
Matthew 10 lbs
Brady 11 lbs 12 oz
Aubrey 8 lbs 8 oz
Cameron 9 lbs 1 oz



Matthew & Santa


Brady & Santa


Aubrey & Santa


Cameron & Santa

Early Christmas present!

Ben had an appointment this morning to get the results of his testing and he was officially told he is in remission. He will have to go for CAT scans every 3 months for the next year to make sure that it doesn't come back but we got the best Christmas present ever today. Now they just need to figure out how to get his feet working again so he can go back to work. I am grateful that he is home to help with the babies for now though.

The babies are all doing great. Matthew is babbling up a storm and being great about going to bed all by himself. Brady is starting to talk a bit too and is very interested in his surroundings lately. He goes to bed well on his own too and is finally not the first one up to eat everytime! Cameron is going through a fussy period. He used to never fuss or anything now he is the one who is the crabbiest but he still is wide awake the most during the day and very nosy. Aubrey rolled over twice now! She gets mad then thrashes around like a madwoman until she goes over. She is the worst one about going to bed at night, she will cry until she gets one of her brothers crying then stop. She is going to be our problem child!

We are excited to get our Christmas tree up this week so the babies can look at the lights. I am sure they will be mezmerized by them.