Sometimes it’s still hard to believe that our 4 little ones are really here and at the same time, it’s hard to imagine life without them. We have really enjoyed our first 100 days with them and are excited about what the future holds. But as promised, I’d like to start at the beginning and share some memories of the best day ever…. when Charlie, Tommy, Grace, & Haddie arrived!
Our quadruplets were carried via two twin pregnancies – the boys were carried by my sister and I carried the girls! So our birth story is definitely not what you would expect for quadruplets. I still can’t believe that we both made it to 38 weeks – but because we did, we were able to plan for all babies to be born on the same day. With twin pregnancies, 38 weeks is the optimal time to deliver because the babies may start to run out of room to grow at that point. So it’s safer to get them out and let them grow – instead of having their growth slow-down within the womb.
Although the kiddos may tell us later that they would’ve preferred separate birthdays (boys vs. girls), we decided to try to have them all on the same day if possible. Baby Boy A (who we know now is Charlie) was breach, so we knew that my sister was going to have to have a C-section. The girls were both head-down and I was going to try to have them vaginally – if they started to make their move on their own. But since they didn’t, we had a decision to make. Since we definitely wanted to be there when the boys were born, we knew that Chrissy would go first with her C-section. After that, my options were to be induced or to have a C-section. It just seemed weird to have me in labor with our girls while our boys were already out in the world. I didn’t want my husband to have to be going back and forth – not knowing how long labor might take for me. There was also a chance that i may end up having to have a C-section after being in labor for who knows how long. So logistically, it just seemed easier to have C-sections scheduled and get all of the babies out. Chrissy’s C-section was scheduled for 7:30AM and mine was scheduled for 9:30AM.
When we woke up that morning, I remember my husband saying, “Let’s go meet our kids!” So many emotions running through us that morning. After wanting a baby for so long, it was just so crazy to think that within the span of a couple of hours our family would go from 2…. to 4…. to 6! 🙂
James, Chrissy, Me, Joby, & Dr. Lindauer
My husband (Joby), Chrissy, her husband (James), and I arrived at Riverside Methodist Hospital bright and early to check in around 5:30AM. The local newspaper (The Columbus Dispatch) had been following our story – so we were greeted at the doors by Christina, Misti, and Chris. 😉 After getting checked in, we were taken to the pre-op room – where we stayed until it was time for Chrissy’s C-section. During this time, they were prepping Chrissy for her surgery and then decided to kinda half-prep me for mine (so there would be less to do in-between the C-sections). Dr. Lindauer arrived and we were all so happy to see her – we love her so much! Chrissy and I were so glad that she was going to be able to deliver the babies! Our attorney also stopped by with some legal paperwork for the four of us (Joby, Chrissy, James, and I) to sign, in order for the state and the hospital to recognize our boys as our sons ASAP after they were born. Since there was no time-stamp field on the documents- we just needed to sign them on their birthday and we all agreed that signing them before the C-sections would work best. While the room was filled with excitement, it was also pretty calm. Of course I was taking lots of pictures! 😉 James and Joby enjoyed getting to wear scrubs and James couldn’t get over how flattering the scrubs were on my big belly. Before we knew it, they first took Chrissy back to the operating room and then they came to get the rest of us. While we walked from the pre-op room to the operating room, I remember thinking how our lives were about to be changed in the most amazing way possible.
To be continued…. 🙂
#johnstonquads 