Babies sick :(

Well, at least we know part of what was going on the past couple of days. They are just plain sick, all four of the ones at home. Very congested, watery eyes, sneezing, acting miserable, wanting to be held all the time, no fever thank God, and some vomiting - not reflux, not painful or upsetting to them at all, just old-fashioned vomit. So thanks for praying for them to feel better and get better soon! I wonder if they picked up something at their doctor's visits this week (eye exams included; all is well, thank you Lord!)? Or maybe I infected them; a couple of times last week I thought I was getting a scratchy/sore throat. Isaac is so afraid of infecting them he hardly comes near them, so I doubt he's the culprit. :} Life is the culprit, let's face it. Babies get colds. Grace is currently the most miserable, and she's the one on breast milk only, so I can't blame the formula's lack of antibodies! It's this fallen world we live in . . . thank God for all the family and friends helping us through this!!

We are washing hands constantly. We sure don't want to spread it any more. I remind myself, with my Public Health/Epidemiology degree: This is strengthening their immune system, as miserable as it may be. And clearly lots of people have been praying for them, because today was blessedly peaceful despite the illness, and they ate surprisingly well with no real reflux beyond the actual vomit episodes. Thank you all! Thank you, Lord!

Seth is doing well, praise God! Still only requiring oxygen in the 30's and a CP of 6, waiting to wean until his tummy can learn to take his feeds in one smaller block of time - from continuous to 2 hours right now; hopefully down to 30 minutes. His little tummy is suffering gas pains as it learns to digest again. He's had a tube into his small intestine for weeks now, just pulled back into his stomach fairly recently.

Gavin is a great daddy. He spent time with Seth today and was amazingly patient with fussy, miserable babies who wanted to be held while they slept, kissing them on the tops of their little heads repeatedly. I love seeing it! Again, I thank God for His provision.

Blessings to you all,
Carrie

"O Lord, help!"

I've said that in my mind a few times already and knew the answer was and still is "I Am." (I think I mentioned this before.) We need the Great I Am to settle our babies. Maybe they're all struggling with reflux; maybe it's just that they are becoming more aware of their world; maybe they are all coming down with a cold; whatever, things are getting crazy around here! Actually, things have BEEN crazy the past two days. Thank God, the nights have been much more calm and "scheduled." Thank God for night volunteers! :)

Please pray we can finally figure out what formula/bottle/nipple each baby needs. I tried to nurse Will and he threw everything back up again. I've been too scared to try with Marcie because it's so hard to get food down her in the first place! David seems to be following the pattern of Will and Marcie, willing to take an ounce only, crying throughout, then vomiting it all back up again. He did better when we switched him to the same anti-reflux formula. Gracie feeds easily, the only one not on any formula, but is increasingly fussy. Maybe she thinks she needs to make her tiny self heard above the crowd. :} And efforts to tandem feed or group feed have been pretty much failures.

Please pray we can figure out what else the babies need: Calmness? Quiet? I know sleep is always needed, but getting them there is what's been so difficult (and I've read every book, I'm pretty sure), especially given that there are four and they need more caretakers and tend to get one another going. Plus, they're only a month corrected age, preemies, not gaining weight well enough (Will and Grace), etc., so we are not going to make them cry hard for more than a few minutes at this point. Fussing is another thing altogether. :)

Meanwhile, they are SO adorable! Their increasing awareness of people and the world has been so much fun to see.

Oh, another "help!" thing is that my mom is getting cataract surgery on Tuesday (please pray for her, that it goes really well!) and she can't lift anything above 5 lbs for the next week to 10 days, I forget exactly how long. And Gavin's parents are leaving mid-December to spend Christmas with family in CA. I KNOW God will supply all our needs as He's promised, and He already has completely amazed us; I'm just learning to wait on Him for direction and provision. He is so good!

So there you have it. I'm tired and ready for bed, but the babies are due to wake up any minute. But that's true for every mother of a one-month-old! To serve our four, Auntie Deb is here and Gavin is sleeping in preparation for the deep night shift.

I'm SO glad to have these precious little ones (even when I wish they had "off" switches) when I remember the deep pain and pleading of infertility. I am still praying for several friends living with that pain and also asking the Lord, "Please." That was my prayer, that one word, for several years. He knew what I meant.

And I guess that's still my prayer, but with the word "help!" added. And He says, "I Am."

I AM the Fount of living water,
The risen Son of Man,
The Healer of the broken.
And when you cry
I AM your Savior and Redeemer,
Who bore the sin of man,
The Author and Perfector,
Beginning and the end.
Yes I AM!

- performed by Mark Schultz

Newspaper photos

Thanks, Louis! It was fun to have you in our home, celebrating the babies with us. :) We love the photos!

Chaos is about to erupt!

It's nearly feeding time around here. We have all the babies on mostly the same schedule so far, so it's an hour or so of insanity (and need for heavy volunteer help), then two hours of "down" time to catch up with other stuff. So they are waking up and I will just attach some pictures and call it quits for tonight. I also wanted to say thanks for continuing to pray for our darling Seth. (The only new pictures I was able to get of him aren't good as he was getting upset at me. Maybe tomorrow?) He is doing really well, though is fussy sometimes (a normal baby), still on a CPAP of 6 but only requiring oxygen in the 30's. Today he got all the way down to 31% at one point; when I was there yesterday he was on 33! It thrilled me, of course, and I was praising God as I thought back over the weeks when we thought we might lose him. Please continue praying for his protection from infection and for healing for his lungs. We want him home with us and trust God will continue to provide the help we need when we transition from quads to quints. It's been amazing to see how last-minute/timely His provision has been with regards to volunteers; also amazing to look at the schedule and see how many people have committed to give up their precious time. We are deeply, truly humbled and very, very grateful for His provision in so many ways through so many of you!

Love,
Carrie for Gavin too

David

Marcie conked out on Grandpadad's lap

Marcie conked out on my lap

David warm and toasty after a bath! He had been visibly shivering, poor thing

I love these onesies. They say: "Diaper loading, please wait . . . " So true in the case of Will last night!

Amazing size difference, no?! Will is 10 lb 11 and David is 8 lb 11.
Those two pounds make a huge difference. :) 

Little Christmas dolls! Gracie kept thinking Marcie's shoulder was something to eat.
The boys had matching gingerbread outfits, but had already outgrown them. Oh well, it's a good thing. :}

Because you can never have too many pictures of cute babies.
(April and Haley, this reminds me so much of you when you were babies and I took care of you! I love you!)

Help!! Spread the word!

We need your help!  Can you please spread the word to your family and friends that we are in need of more volunteers?  We have needs for daytime, evenings, overnights and weekends.  Additionally we will need help filling spots last minute when volunteers become sick.  So please, please send facebook notes, emails, etc that help is still needed and to please contact me at jonesquints@yahoo.com for more information.

Also, we have a few volunteers who we are trying to fly in from out of town and are wanting to see if anyone would be willing to donate air miles for a round trip (25,000) or one way (12,500 miles on American, not sure of amounts on other airlines)?  That way if they become sick, we would be able to re-schedule their trip easily so that they could actually be helping with the babies when they get here.  Please contact me if you are willing to make a donation.

Thank you,

Stacey Walter

Quints in the News!

This morning's Dallas Morning News paper featured an article about the babies!  It was well written and there are a couple good pictures of the babies.  Here is a link to the article, but unless you're a subscriber, you'll only see the first picture and first part of the article.  The babies in that picture, from left to right, are Marcie, Grace, David, and Will.  The second picture that you don't see is similar to one that we've already put on the blog of the four babies lined up in their cribs sleeping.  Thanks, James, for a job well done on the article!

-Gavin

I love changing diapers

Seriously, I love the thigh fat rolls and little bums! I think especially because, as my brother said, "They are starting to look less like spider monkeys and more like babies." (He then did a very accurate pose reminiscent of them stretched out, apparently comatose, immediately after birth under the NICU warmers.) I love the little legs, the naked tummies, I love the BABIES!!! Much easier when one is reasonably well-rested, thanks to wonderful volunteers who I cannot thank enough (and could use more of, just sayin' . . . ).

I hear babies stirring, revving up to be fed, so will just ask that you please pray we figure out what's going on with Marcie. She's becoming more and more reluctant to eat, or rather will eat just one ounce, then stop, and if we "force" her to eat more she spits up. Maybe reflux, like Will, so we're trying his formula out on her.

A couple of funny pics (maybe Gavin already posted? Too tired to check.):

The domino effect: You remove one baby, the rest just topple! 

Gavin is preserving Will's privacy and dignity