Complications

High risk issues...
From the week we found out I was carrying quads we had non stop doctors appointments. A quadruplet pregnancy is extremely high risk to the babies and the mama.  Quads are expected to be delivered about 10 weeks early, sometimes even earlier. A uterus can only strech so far, humans arnt ment to have litters. Preterm babies are at high risk for birth defects such as brain bleeds, vision and hearing issues, heart issues, lung issues, the list goes on and on.  For mama high blood pressure/preeclampsia, blood clots, excessive bleeding and heart issues.

 Twin types....
Wyatt&Rylie: didi
Samantha&Braelynn: momo

Fraternal Twins (commonly known as "non-identical twins") usually occur when two fertilised eggs are implanted in the uterine wall at the same time that is when the mother releases two eggs and both become fertilized by two different sperms. The two eggs form two zygotes. and these twins are therefore also known as dizygotic.

Identical Twins occur when a single egg is fertilized by a single sperm to form one zygote (monozygotic) but the zygote then divides into two separate embryos. The biological mechanisms that prompt the single fertilized egg to split in two remain a mystery. The two embryos develop into foetuses sharing the same womb. Depending on the stage at which the zygote divides. identical twins may share the same amnion (in which case they are known asmonoamniotic) or not (diamniotic). Diamniotic identical twins may share the same placenta (known as monochorionic) or not (dichorionic). All monoamniotic twins are monochorionic.

The later in pregnancy that twinning occurs. the more structures will be shared. Zygotes that twin at the earliest stages will be diamniotic and dichorionic ("di-di"). Twinning between 4 to 8 days after fertilization typically results in monochorionic-diamniotic ("mono-di") twins. Twinning between 8 to 12 days after fertilization will usually result in monochorionic-monoamniotic ("mono-mono") twins. Twinning after 12 days post-fertilization will typically result in conjoined twins.

• Dichorionic/Diamniotic (didi) : each twin has his/her own placenta, chorion and amniotic sac
• Monochorionic/Diamniotic (modi) : twins share placenta and chorionic sac but have their own amniotic sac
• Monoamniotic/Monochorionic (momo): twins share placenta, chorionic and amniotic sac 

Sharing the same amnion (or the same amnion and placenta) can cause complications in pregnancy. For example. the umbilical cords of monoamniotic twins can become entangled. reducing or interrupting the blood supply to the developing foetus. Monochorionic twins. sharing one placenta. usually also share the placental blood supply. These twins may develop such that blood passes disproportionately from one twin to the other through connecting blood vessels within their shared placenta. leading to twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. About 50% of mono-mono twins die from umbilical cord entanglement.

Monozygotic twins are genetically identical unless there has been a mutation in development. and they are almost always the same gender. (On extremely rare occasions. an original XXY zygote may form monozygotic boy/girl twins by dropping the Y chromosome for one twin and the extra X chromosome for the other.) Monozygotic twins generally look alike. although sometimes they appear as mirror images of each other. Identical twins will also share the same blood type. eye and hair colour. Examination of details such as fingerprints and teeth marks can tell them apart. As they mature. identical twins often become less alike because of lifestyle choices or external influences such as scars. While it was originally thought that identical twins do not run in families. but occur more or less randomly. some recent research has suggested that a genetic predisposition may exist. The exact cause for the splitting of a zygote or embryo is unknown.

Reduction?

In the beginning we thought Sam and Brae were modi twins but at 12 weeks it was confirmed that they were momo. Therefor our already high risk pregnancy was bumped up to ultra high risk. Most higher order pregancys are all fraternal twins, so this cirtter litter was a little on the rare side. Many doctors recommend termination of a momo twin pregnancy because of the high risk of fetal death. All of our doctors told us it would be the best idea tomreduce or termanate the entire pregnancy. We went to 6 different doctors in Texas  (we were stationed here during the early part of my pregnancy) each telling us the same thing. One of the specialists we went to went threw the statics and "numbers" with us,assuring us that there was no chance of getting threw this pregnancy with four healthy babies. if we kept the momos (Sam and Brae) they can need to come extra early and cause our "innocent bi standard" twins (Wyatt and Rylie) to suffer the effects of being born at 24 weeks instead of 30 weeks.

We were told to choose, abort two and have a chance at a normal pregnancy and healthy babies or keep all four of them and have no chance at having healthy babies. He actually told  us there no chance at having healthy babies! Now I understand that his job is to give us the facts but I feel that it was wrong of him to tell us there was no chance at having healthy babies. Any way....we concidered reduction until I was 15 weeks along, but it just didn't feel right to us. I 100% support a womans right to choose, but so far they were healthy, and god gave us these four little babies for a reason!
This was one of the most difficult times of the pregnancy, trying to decide the "right" decision. I'm so thankful we went with our hearts and didn't listen to that doctor! Not only do we have 4 beautiful healthy babies, but I went all the way to 30 weeks!!!

Back to the begining!
Andy and I met in the Army and got hitched shortly after. When we decided to start a family, we had no idea it would be so complicated. After a year of trying and still not pregnant I went to my doctor who referred me to our wonderful fertility doctor. It took months of tests for us to figure out I was not ovulating on my own, so we tired Clomid. Clomid is a drug that helps with ovulation and has a 8% chance increase of getting fraternal twins due to over stimulation of the ovary. Well... thats a small chance right? It wont happen to us...or so we thought! Acutally that cycle nothing did happen, what a let down. I got my blood drawn and found the drug hadnt done a thing, no ovulation for me that month. At that point Andy was two months out from another deployment, so we figured we will just try again when he comes home. The day he deployed I took a pregnancy test and it was positive! We were thrilled!! After almost two years of trying we were finally pregnant! A week later, after a series of blood tests I found out I had lost the baby. One of the hardest things I have done was have to tell my newly deployed husband he was no longer going to be a father.  Everything happends for a reason we always say, and that baby just wasnt ment to be. Any way 10 months later Andy had to come home early to take care of me while I recovered from back surgery. LOL so heres where my almost year long bed rest stay starts. I had surgery in mid December and in Febuary we went back to the fertility doc to do another round of Clomid. Silly me, I figure its taken nearly two years to get this far, theres no way we are going to get pregnant so soon. Around valentines day we go in for a ultrasound of my ovaries to see if the clomid had worked this time and it had! There was one egg! Yay we had a shot at getting pregnant this month! Two weeks later I took a pregnancy test and it was a faint positive!!! Finally! We were excited but tried not to get our hopes up too much because of how our last pregnancy ended. For the next week every morning I took another test and that line got darker and darker ;) I had a feeling that it was twins, and even joked with Andy about it. I remember waking up in the morning feeling like i had been hit by a truck! In the very early weeks my lower stomach was so sore and achy, my mom kept telling me its too early to feel that way, so i knew something was up. At  7 weeks I had to get a belly band because my pants were getting snug. Lol i kept telling myself im just imagining things, its way too early! At 8 weeks we went for our first ultrasound, what a day lol. We were so nervous going in, praying to see a heart beat and a healthy baby. Well... The ultrasound popped up on the screen and I saw 3 sacs, I thought I must be seeing things, then he counted... 1,2,3 you have triplets! He paused a moment and said I don't believe it, quadruplets there's two babies in that sac, identical twins! Amazing! I look over at Andy and his face went white, I thought he was going to hit the floor! Then he came to the conclusion that I had called ahead to have the doc play a trick on him, lol! I just remember laying there in complete shock, tones of questions going threw my head. Are they all healthy?  We are 23 and about to have four kids at one time, how can we do this? Why us? What happens when he deploys and I have four babies to care for? O boy what a day. We go eat lunch before heading home but couldn't actually eat a thing. We just sat in that booth with the ultrasound pictures spread out across the table.  After a failed attempt at lunch we tried to head home, only 45 min away, lol we got lost for a hour just driving around before we actually realized we were lost! talk about being in shock! From that day on our life changed drastically, but we wouldn't have it any other way. <3 p="">

TheRunDown

Welcome all! I have been wanting to start a blog for a while now but havnt got  around to it until now. Over the next week or so i will do my best to catch yall up on the whole back story of our little quadlings! I will continue to post pics on Our Quad Life page on Facebook!!

For any one who is new to us, welcome to our amazing life with quadruplets!! A quick rundown of things so far... We are a active duty Army family blessed with quadruplets! Three beautiful girls and one hansom boy! Two of our girls are mono mono identical twins...more about that later. These kiddos saved my life, I was 21 weeks pregnant when the docs found my cancer. At 30 weeks on 26 August 2012 my babies were born, Wyatt 3lbs5oz, Rylie 2lbs11oz, Braelynn 3lbs1oz and Samantha 2lbs9oz. When they were three weeks old I had another surgery to remove the cancer. After a long stay in the NICU our kiddos are all home and I couldnt ask for a better life!!! I will fill in the details in my next posts to come!