Janel's photos from Sunday Aug. 10th visit

08/08/08 - How lucky are We !!!

Hey All,

I would like to share with all of you our good news -The Schwartz Quads were born on 8/8/08.

Crazy as it seems the delivery date was originally scheduled for August 7th, 2008 @ noon, but Dr. Bartelsmeyer felt that I should push to go longer since all of the babies had plenty of fluid around them and I wasn't preeclamptic, and my pre-term labor pains seemed to be settling down because of strict bed rest.
So my husband and I met with him to discuss delivery vs. another date so.............. we moved the date back 5 days to August 12th ....... I thought it was attainable ............. looking back I was so done physically and mentally, but when your told your outcomes for the babies would be better what's a woman to do?

So instead of me deciding the babies and my uterus did.

On August 7th, at 8 p.m. I started to have contractions in an irregular pattern. They increased in intensity and duration, but the nurse and I realized my procardia was not taken and was due an hour ago - usually that quieted them down and eventually stopped or slowed them. Well this night they became regular over the next hour and more continuous to the point of needing to call Chris my husband into the hospital.

He had just left 2 hours ago with the kids and needed to arrange things for them. So he arrived at 10:40 and Dr. Webb proceeded to tell us we were going to have a birthday party tonight.

Thank God he (Dr. Webb) is easy going like me. It was happening so quickly I felt like I was the only calm one preparing me for delivery. As I proceeded to give out instructions to my husband and uncle we wheeled down to 2nd floor- by bed uggh!! Soon I realized we were not coming back for more bed rest and it was going to be midnight soon. The nurses were teasing me that they might have different birth dates 8/7/08 & 8/8/08 - I really didn't contemplate their statements too much just in awe of that it was going to happen tonight.

Soon my IV, epidural and family were all there. They told me their well wishes and gave me hugs and kisses before I left for the OR. As I wheeled into the OR, 4 open beds for the babies were on my right with at least 20 nurses, therapists and a neonatologist were standing waiting for Dr. Webb to appear. At this time I was crying and asked the anesthesiologist to give me something to relax, in about a minute I was ready for bed. (Thank god for drugs!!!!!!) On the other side a surgical team of 6-8 nurses and residents were on the Left. Then Chris appeared in his yellow scrubs and we waited for Dr. Webb. When he arrived they all clapped and away we went. I looked up at the clock and my husband said, "Jill you did it you made your goal - it's 8/8/08."

I wanted to deliver on a Friday and get past 32 weeks edging me closer to 33. At the time 8/8/08 didn't mean much but just a date to get to - to prove to Dr. Bartelsmeyer I could make it past 30 weeks and give Chris time off without taking much vacation time, but the biggest factor was to have their lungs healthy and developed. So 8/8/08 is lucky for me because that just what happened.

So Molly Joan and Kurt Thomas arrived at 12:47 and Meghan Kay and Cole James came at 12:48.I met them at 5 a.m. and have been watching them grow and get closer to home ever since. They are currently in the South Nicu and are off IV's, Breathing on their own, ultrasounds of their heads were negative, they are all early nippling at 33 weeks, have regained and surpassed birth weights and are working to control their temperature. Each one looks a little like both of my older boys but I don't believe they are identical. We won' t know till much later. I don't think they will be and I am glad for them to be different. It seems like this is still a dream but reality is approaching quickly.

As for the news, I thought it was nice and crazy at the same time. I was on heavy drugs and realistically was exhausted, but the news was looking for a nice feel good story of the day and I'm glad we were able to bring that to the St. Louis area. Chris and I were elated to share them with you all and look forward to getting our babies home soon.

For now I'm Glad to be home -Jill
P.S. the pictures are coming.................

Guess who arrived - 08.08.08

Hello all,

It is Aunt Jamie writing for Jill. I know everyone has been waiting to see pictures of the babies and wanting updates. So I let Jill know I would take care of it while she is in recovery. She wanted me to inform everyone she will write a story about the past couple of week so I will spare you my version.

Jill is doing great and is coming home tomorrow. As far as the babies, they are all doing great. Just spoke with Jill and 3 of the babies are breathing by themselves. One of them is still n oxygen but should be off soon.

Below are pictures of each baby and I have listed their names, length and weight in the order their picture appears.

Molly 16 1/4 inches long weighing in at 3.8 pounds, first born
Kurt 17 1/4 inches long weighing in at 4 pounds, second born
Meghan 17 1/2 inches long weighing in at 3.13 pounds, third born
Cole 16 1/2 inches long weighing in at 4 pounds, the baby of the family










Who would have thought that they would be in the paper and news this much. Here are some of their articles

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/parents-talk-back/parents-talk-back/2008/08/a-set-of-quads-pick-08-08-08-to-arrive-at-st-johns/

http://www.examiner.com/a-1527702~Quadruplets_born_at_suburban_St__Louis_hospital.html

http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7167089&version=5&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.1.1

IT'S AUGUUUUSSSST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quite a while ago, the babies started getting tested 2 times a week to check their well being and occasional growth. This testing is done twice a week it is called a Biophysical Profile. This test each week, tests each baby for four specific things. Heartbeat & Rate, Breathing, Amniotic Fluid Volume & Movement. Each portion is scored up to 2 points to determine their effectiveness. Biophysical profiles started after I received steroid shots back in my 27Th week. Each week, I was hoping the babies would score a 8 and so far each week they have done just that.

Another valuable test is the 3 week growth scan. This test gives us the growths of the babies, but also tracks their growth in percents which is more valuable to the physicians and gives a good outlook as to how well they are doing overall. After my last test, Laura the ultrasound stenographer, explained how well my babies have been doing. She said, "most people just want their weights and are happy, but the physicians' look at these percentiles." As she points to the computer screen I see 45% - 50% and a graph with four scrambled letters falling between a high and a low line. She continues to explain "that this means your babies are on track and have been since they started testing." Apparently, those percentiles show all of the measurements together over the months and although they are quads they are growing like a singleton. Your babies would be half way to how big they would be at full term. By them staying on track they have grown accurately to their gestational age. ( That means all of them not just one). So Mama is very proud of them!!!

So here are their 3 week weights...............................

Baby A (Girl) ...... 7/7/08 - 2lb. 7oz. ....................... 7/27/08 - 3lb. 4oz.

Baby B (Boy) - 7/7/08 - 2lb. 9oz. ............................. 7/27/08 - 3lb. 5oz

Baby C (Boy) ..... 7/7/08 - 2lb. 13oz. .........................7/27/08 - 3lbs. 9oz.

Baby D (Girl) - 7/7/08 - 2lb. 10oz. ............................7/27/08 - 3lb. 5oz.

Overall 3 lbs. in 3 weeks and an average 2 ounce gain per baby per day ........ no wonder why My Body is getting heavy. Please wish us luck as we continue this endeavor to stay on track and be healthy.

Jill