Baby Update

This morning we went for a regular ultrasound visit before our high risk Dr.'s appt. I woke up this morning feeling really anxious and started worrying that we were going to get another shock today. As I was laying on the table getting the ultrasound done, the nurse remained really quiet. I felt like I was going to pass out for sheer anxiety and the thought that she was not wanting to deliver the news that she had found one or more babies to add to the list. She quietly exited the room and said she needed to get the Dr in there. Right then and there I started to freak out. Dr. B walked in and immediately said, "Looked like we might have some answers to some prayers." Not the most eloquent but I realized that the nurse didn't want to deliver the news that she could not find heartbeats for three of the babies. All five of the babies are still present but the three without heartbeats will eventually be absorbed into the placenta much like a cyst does. Dr. B believes that the two remaining babies are the two original eggs that should have been ovulated originally and the other three (actually the other two eggs but since one egg split to twins) were the small eggs that should not have been ovulated to begin with. Since they were small eggs they were not genetically viable and held on as long as they could.

All that being said, we still have two strong heartbeats and what seem to be two healthy babies growing. It was definitely a bittersweet day bringing sadness and relief all at the same time. You never want to loose three babies but at the same time knowing you hopefully will be blessed with two sweet babies is a amazing. We know that in every situation that God brings us to He has remained faithful and brought us through it. I pray that He will be glorified through this incredible process whether we have five or two. There is still a possibility of loosing the two remaining babies so please continue to keep us in your prayers that these two will remain healthy and strong.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has emailed, called, planned, reached out to us. Each of you has been truely amazing and we thank you so much for your love and support, your planning ahead for us and all of your prayers. From the bottom of my heart I know we could not have gotten through the past few weeks without you. We are so blessed to call you our friends, our extended family.

Love,
Ashley and Phillip

Answered Prayers

This past week God has shown himself in such amazing ways! Not only have we been blessed with not only four babies but have ended up with five! Each day gets better and better and we are accepting things and starting to plan. This is a major victory from how I was feeling last week.

I cannot thank you enough for all of the love and support you have shown us. The phone calls and emails have been awesome! People have been coming out of the woodwork offering donations and all kinds of baby stuff for us. It can only be God being faithful and showing that He will provide for us through this interesting time in our life. It's definitely been a humbling experience but awesome to be a part of.

Yesterday at Bible study I had asked the ladies to pray for our high-risk appointment on Tuesday. We had heard that they would be pushing selective reduction and giving us the doom and gloom speach about how our kids would come out possibly retarded and with disabilities. Phillip and I have already made up our mind that we were not interested in selective reduction and that God formed these children and it was given to us to raise them to the best our our abilities. We chose to stand firm in our Christian beliefs. After Bible study I went to pick Emma up from school and my cell phone rang. It was the high-risk Dr's office confirming my appointment we have for Tuesday afternoon. There seemed to be a scheduling conflict and she needed to change our "counseling" appointment to Monday morning. For all we knew our appointment on Tuesday was a regular appointment and not a "counseling" session. I asked her what exactly would be discussed in the session. They would be telling us about the selective reduction that Dr. B said we were interested in and that we wanted to reduce from five to two! I was shocked! Ughhh those words never came out of our mouths. I paused and she asked me if we were still interested in keeping our appointment and I told her NO! She was very nice and said that we could keep our original appointment for Tuesday then. Last week when we were at Dr. B's office I checked out during our meeting and I had no idea what Dr. I was supposed to see next week. All I knew was that it was one of two men he had recommended. I asked her what Dr I would be seeing and she said, "Dr. K." Here's where the answered prayer comes in. Dr. K was the original Dr that was recommended to me from a friend at church that went to her. She said that this Dr. was "Out of this world!" I was so super siked that God just totally answered our prayers! I no longer had to worry about seeing the male Dr. and I would be in the care of a compassionate woman Dr. Kay (our Bible study teacher) specifically prayed that I would know which Dr. we should see and if we needed to change that it would be evident. How cool is that?

God is good! I can't wait to keep writing about the ways God is working in our lives!

My Mistake...Party of 8 Please

Yes you read that right. Monday we went back for my second ultrasound and we were thinking that we might only see three babies since I had spotted ever since my last ultrasound. Instead of seeing three or four they counted one more. That brings the grand total to FIVE! The fifth one is an identical twin that was sharing the same sac and they weren't 100% sure that it was a fifth one last week. They decided not to tell us until this week when they could see for sure.

Needless to say we were in for another state of shock. In the grand scheme of things what's one more when you already thought you were having four in the first place?

For right now all I can say it was are so thankful for all of the countless prayers you have been sending up on our behalf. I can tell you that God is moving in mighty ways in the Martin household. So many people have reached out to us and offered support and help. The love that has been poured out on us has been amazing. I can't wait to sit down and tell you all about what God is doing.

As for my mental and emotional state, it is getting better by the day. I haven't cried in several days and Phillip was out of town on business and I actually survived! We both still have a ways to go as far and grasping the magnitude of it all but it's all much better than it was last week. I ask that you will pray for the health of the babies now. Being that there's 5, the dangers of disabilities and the fact that they will be born premature is greatly increased. Also my health as I carry these kids hopefully to at least 30 weeks.

I ask that you continue to keep Phillip in your prayers as he bears the financial responsibilities for our family. I pray that he will have lots of support and outlets that he can turn to when needed.

Emma has announced that she does not want 5 babies and that she only wants 1. Please pray that during this transition that she will start to understand and accept that there will be more than one. As before we continue to pray that God will meet her needs.

Thanks in advance for everything and most of all the prayers and support for our family!

Prayers Please

It's hard for me to write about what we are going through at the moment. Today we've known now for 5 days and it has been overwhelming to say the least. Right now we need lots of prayer. If you would lift us up all throughout the day, put us on a prayer list or whatever, I would greatly appreciate it.

For me:
1. I'm struggling mentally and emotionally. Please pray for God to heal this quickly.
2. To use my time wisely in the upcoming weeks while I have energy and I can more around.
3. I'm fearing bed rest at 20-22 weeks.

For Phillip:
1. That he will get the support that he needs. That this will not be to much of a burden on him or become overwhelmed.
2. That he will rely on the Lord to be our provider and not him.
3. Patience and understanding.

Emma:
1. That all her needs will be met and she will feel love and very much included in all of this.

Thanks in advance,
Ashley

Party of 7

Monday was my first ultrasound to see a heartbeat. We were so anxious being that last time we went in for this I found out that I had miscarried. We had 3 nurses in the ultrasound room and the lab technician. I've been with them for over two years so they were all super excited to see what was cooking. Phillip was sitting next to me holding Emma as they started the scan. There's the heartbeat! Looking good. She continued to look around and that's when Phillip saw the second sac! TWINS! Wow! Exciting. Then she saw a third and paused. I asked her what was going on? FOUR!?! Yep. Quadruplets? Are you serious? We saw four sacs and four heartbeats. Oh my gosh. Overnight we go from a party of 3 to a party of 7!

Afterwards we sat down with the Dr and he said that this shouldn't have happened. I had two developed follicles that should have ovulated. I didn't do IVF. He thinks the two eggs split causing us to have two sets of twins. He then suggested that I see the high-risk Dr. in several weeks.

We went back to Phillip's work and stared at each other for about an hour. How in the world do you digest something this huge? 100% life changing? We went in hoping and praying for one heartbeat and we got 4!

It's been 3 days since we've found out. To tell you right now what has transpired in those days it would take me a while. I will do it but I can't right this moment. We know we have been blessed but are still having a hard time. We beg for your prayers. 1. For my mental and emotional health. 2. Phillip's carrying the financial burden along with being the sole provider and just the sheer responsibility that lie's on his shoulders. 3. For Emma that she will not miss a beat. That we can be the best parents to her during this hard and challenging time. I have a million more specific prayer request but these are the main ones. One more biggie is for my health and the babies health.

Finally...We saw 2 lines!

Over two years in the making, our journey through secondary infertility has ended. Boy did the Lord send us out with a BANG!


After my last blog entry I wrote about being truely content, we could not have been more at peace about our decision to take a break. How long a break we would take was never discussed we just knew we needed to focus on our family and move on.


We had one more decision to make before we took a break. Should we do one more cycle since we had enough medicine? We wouldn't want all that medicine to go to waste. We prayed and decided to go ahead with one more cycle.


This would be my first cycle with Dr. B. He started me off taking 150iu's of Follistem for 10 days. Every other day I was brought in for an ultrasound and bloodwork to be monitored. Day 14 I went in to be checked and I had 8-9 large follicles on my ovaries. One nurse said that I was a perfect candidate to do IVF since I had so many large follicles they could harvest. Instead of IVF we took an ovulation shot.


One week later I started gaining weight and having a lot of pain in my lower abdomen. After all was said and done, I had gained 15 pounds, could barely bend over and tie my shoes and I was definitely into maternity clothes.


Two weeks went by and it was time to test. We saw two lines! We were so excited! I went in for my blood test to confirm the pregnancy and to check my hormone levels. They want your pregnancy hormone to be over 5 and mine was 219 and they want your progesterone level to be over 15 and mine was 101. Again the nurse said that with these numbers I could be having twins!