My Son Clark

The picture above illustrates what I thought the first time I saw David Cook of American Idol on my TV screen. As soon as I saw this guy's hair, I thought, "what a mess", then I thought, "hey, he looks like Clark!" What do you think? This was the best messed up hair picture of Clark we had, but I am telling you, they bear a strange resemblance when Clark first wakes up in the morning. Time for a haircut Clark!

Clark made an especially miraculous entry into our world almost 16 months ago. I can vividly remember watching for him to be delivered. Henry and Brooks had already been born, and Clark was right on his heals. Since Brooks and Clark shared an amniotic and chorionic sack, they were almost born together. We were worried about Brooks and Clark the entire pregnancy due to the fact that they were a rare form of identical twins known medically as monoamniotic twins. (Click here for a detailed explaination of monoamniotic twins)

Due to this complication, I was very anxious to see just how tangled Brooks' and Clark's cords would be. Miraculously, after 8 months of development without anything separating them from becoming entangled, Brooks and Clark were delivered with their cords only slightly twisted around one another. God was so gracious to us and them!

Unfortunately, we were not out of the woods yet. Clark would almost immediately be placed on a ventilator due to immature lungs where he would struggle for days. Clark's blood gas levels became dangerously saturated with CO2. It made no sense to me, but his lungs were doing fine with oxygenating his blood, but were failing to remove the CO2 properly, creating a potentially deadly situation. The doctors and nurses at St. Vincent were doing all they could to get our little boy to breath properly, and get him out of danger. They were forced to switch him to a jet ventilator, but were still unable to stabilize his blood gas levels.

Since Jen was still hospitalized with high fever and blood loss after delivery, we were getting updates around the clock from the NICU. Jen was not able to go visit the boys yet because of her fever, but all of that changed around 12am that night. Our NP came in and informed us that she had cleared it with the NICU doctors to have Jen come up and see the boys. We didn't realize it at the moment, but they wanted to make sure that Clark's mommy got to see him alive, as they were beginning to wonder if he would make it through the night.

When we returned to Jens room that night we sent out an urgent prayer request to our church, and to our blog readers. We then went to prayer on his behalf. Our gracious God once again answered our prayers, sparing Clark's life. Within an hour of Jen visiting the NICU, Clark's CO2 levels finally began to drop. The moment our NP burst through the door with the news and a smile on her face still brings tears to my eyes when I think of it. My little Clark was going to be OK.

Clark had a few other scary bumps in the road before exiting the NICU 5 weeks later, but is now a very happy, healthy little boy. You never want to see your children suffer, but suffering brings an appreciation for how much you love them. I will always treasure Clark's life because of those early trials.

Today, Clark's personality is a wonderful daily reminder of God's goodness. He and Henry seem to spar over who is going to command the most attention. I never thought I would use this word to describe my son, as I want them to be masculine men, but since the day he was born, Clark has always been a beautiful little boy. His smile always makes me laugh, and he loves to sit on his daddy's lap, which makes me swell with pride.

Once again, I wish I could describe to all of you what Clark's precious life means to me, it cannot be put to words. But, I love his crooked little smile, I love his deep brown eyes, I love the way he curls up in bed with Brooks each night, I love how he giggles out of control when I rub my nose in his neck, I love to watch him jump in his crib, I love his aggressive personality, I love his expression when I blow air in his face, I love to watch him play, and I love the fact that God let me keep my precious little boy, that I get to watch him grow instead of visiting his grave, and that I get to teach him to fish instead of dreaming about what it would be like to raise all four of my boys, and mostly, I love that I get to give glory to God for saving my little boy when doctors and nurses had tried everything to save him.

I love you Clark, and I am so thankful that I get to be your daddy.

Related Posts:

My Son Henry

My Son Isaac

NICU Survival Kit Headed to The Big "D"

Well past my bedtime last night, I was putting together a NICU Survival Kit for Casey Gerwer who just delivered quadruplets yesterday at 29 weeks in Dallas, TX! You can find the stats on Reid, Cameron, Trey, and Brady on their blog. Please keep them in your prayers especially over these next few weeks as their babies transition from womb to the real world where they are expected to do all the full-term tasks (breathing, feeding, maintaining their body temp., and yes, pooping!) 11 weeks early. Congratulations, especially goes out to Casey as she fought so hard for these babies and did so well to make it to 29 weeks! Way to go quad mama, welcome to the club!

Can I tell you how much I love putting these kits together?!!! I find myself praying for the family as I pack the contents of the kit. I pray for the mom's recovery, strength for dad, the babies to be little fighters, the doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapist that are so vital to the baby's survival......and then I'm overwhelmed with gratefulness as I reflect on our NICU days and how blessed we are with 4 healthy babies!

Especially this little guy (Clark) who really made our NICU nurses work for their money

Our super-sitter (well, she's free so I guess she's not really a sitter), Tami, is on her way with some hand-made preemie blankets for the kit. So soft and sweet! Many of you have emailed about the blankets so I want to give you some "specs". Tami's are 12 x 12 (some a little bigger or more rectangle), and I could also use some 20 x 20's.

Lastly, an enormous thank you to my friend Melissa, who donated a sack full of really nice lotion from Bath and Body Works for the kits. I'm telling ya, your hands get so sore and dry from scrubbing up that lotion just melts in your hands. This will be wonderful, Melissa!

Oh yeah, one more thing...then I have to get some lunch while I have the chance! There's been a lot of chatter about Adsense lately (Suz added it to her site too). While we can't tell you how we get money from the ads due to "contractual obligation"- you can easily look this up on our friend google to find out if your curiousity is killing or check out problogger for more....or try monetizing out for yourself (you can sign up here by clicking on the link in the left column under the ads)!

.....Seacrest, OUT

Absolutely, the TOUGHEST Month of my Life....

January 5, 2007 a bittersweet day that I will never, no never, forget. It was a day of celebration because we had made it to the vital goal of 28 weeks. A day that we had counted down week by week every Friday.... 10 more weeks until 28, 3 more weeks 'til 28, 2 more days 'til 28!!!.....You see at 28 weeks, a singleton baby has a 90% survival rate. It's a huge milestone especially for quads (average gestation is 29.5 weeks) - and although we knew we wanted to make it much farther it was a reality of "Wow, we just may bring babies home".

Because we conquered this milestone, we chose to move-in to St. Vincent Women's Hospital for the duration of the pregnancy so that Brooks and Clark (our monoamniotic trouble makers) could be monitored and delivered if their lives were determined to suddenly be in grave danger. It gave us such peace of mind to know that the NICU was on alert for our boys' arrival. As Brad calls it, "The day the whale checked into the aquarium". Check it out...I think he's got a point!!!

I was standing in front of my calendar that Brad made me to count down each day. I "X"ed out each day as it ended (usually right at midnight as my monitoring session ended). If you came for a visit you probably signed your name on the date you visited. We look forward to sharing it with the boys someday.

Leaving the comforts of home was so tough. I took for granted so many things...my own bed, my bathtub, sleeping next to my husband, home meals, sunlight, not being connected to monitors 4-5 hours a day, etc. I really can't explain how painful and uncomfortable it is to have 4 babies cramped inside of you and your body fighting so hard to breathe and function. It's the equivalent of the 100 yard dash only it continues over and over. Many people ask me how in the world I survived 32 weeks of a quad pregnancy and my answer is "only by the grace of God".

1/10 of my year was spent at my address at Township Line Rd - (and did you know that my husband spent every single night either on the floor, on a leaky air mattress, or on a pull-out chair - What a CHAMP!) and we are so grateful for everyday that we were able to cross off the calendar.

I'm thinking THIS January is bound to be more enjoyable!

Farewell 2007

Farewell, 2007. What a year you've been!!!!!!

From an extreme high-risk, high-mortality pregnancy to a relatively short NICU stay and bringing 4 healthy babies home
From sleepless nights with 4 INFANTS to sleeping 12 hours at night
From swimming in preemie clothes to size 12 and sometimes 18 month clothes
From helplessly laying on their bellies to sitting up, rolling, pulling up, crawling, and exploring
From 40 ml to 8 oz bottles, cereal, veggies, fruit, and a new favorite -cheerios!
From 1 crib to 2 cribs, and then to 3 cribs (surely there will be 4 in 2008)
From toothless to 21 teeth (combined)
From crying like a goat/lamb/monkey to an infectious giggle
From Blessings to More Blessings!

Here's some of our favorite posts from 2007 (Hint: Just click on the link to view):

Quad Day: 02-02-07
Homecoming - All 4 boys Home!
Brooks Skips Out of a Surgery
Our 1st Photo Shoot
Bath Time with Quads
500 Jars of Gerber Baby Food
NICU Reunion Picnic
Our TV Commercial
Jen's Birthday Video
Halloweiners
1st Christmas Card

Tell Me You Haven't Seen a Cuter Christmas Card..

Here's the secret - ONE outfit for all FOUR boys! Genius, Brad!

The message reads: "Wishing you abundant joy during this season of Miracles"

Again I stress - my list was small this year, so please don't be angry with your mailman. He's not to blame. If you'd like a copy for yourself, email me, and I'd be happy to send you the jpeg image for you to print or add to your desktop! =)

Tell me you haven't seen a cuter Christmas card! =)

Merry Christmas from the 4 Little Murray Miracles : Henry, Brooks, Clark, and Isaac!

Pumpkin Love

Some of you faithful blog readers that have been with us for the long haul may remember this post that we wrote around this time last year. Kristy, Brad's sister, delivered four carseats to us after speaking with AAA representative, Barb Carrier. (I love her last name - so appropriate!). I was 16 weeks pregnant at the time, and this was our 1st "4" gift. At the time, we didn't know if bringing home 4 babies would be in God's plan, due to the high risk of carrying quadruplets and the mono-mono twin situation. I remember placing all those car seats in a row for this picture. Brad and I just looked at each other laughing. It was a "WOW" moment. Looking at those four empty car seats gave us a taste of the reality of the four little lives living inside of me.

At the time, our pumpkins looked like this:

Baby A (top left) was Henry - He was our "Hercules" on the bottom holding everyone up. Baby B (top right) was Isaac - He was (and still is) our "Chunk" located in the penthouse and closest to the food. Baby C and D (bottom) were Brooks and Clark - We couldn't keep track of which was which because they could constantly switch places, but Clark was my most active by far. The boy beat his mama and Brooks up daily. I think it made Brooks a tough guy from all the get-go.

Now look at our pumpkins!

Henry

Brooks

Clark

Isaac

Brooks putting his hand over his face in protest of another picture....

We sure do love our little pumpkins! 9 months old and growing so quickly....

Why St. Vincent's? (Exclusive Birth Video!)

(5 minutes after the Murray crew was born)

When St. Vincent's Hospital approached us about doing a commercial about our NICU experience, Jen and I were suprised to say the least. We quickly decided that we wanted to do the spot, despite the fact that it was going to be a really hectic day. We had, so far, avoided most media attention, and had kind of decided that we liked it that way.

So, for you local moms, here is our answer to the question, why St. Vincent's?

During our NICU stay, we watched as many babies were transported there, shortly after birth, from around the state. I remember thinking how much better off these babies would have been, had they been born there to start with.

Then, when the unthinkable happens, and your baby comes early or has unexpected complications, this wonderful NICU staff is right down the hall. You cannot tell me that a baby who needs intensive care, but has to be transported from 30 minutes or 3 hours away, has as good a chance at survival as one who can be rushed down the hall and into the NICU in 2 minutes or less from birth.

I am sure that all of our local hospitals in the area have wonderful facilities for your typical birth. And, most of the time, that is all you need. Unfortunately, many babies are born everyday who are expected to do well and thrive, yet for various reasons, need serious medical attention in order to survive. Why wouldnt you plan to have your baby at a hosptial with the highest level of NICU care availiable? This is why we decided to promote this wonderful NICU. (Ok, I will get off my soapbox now!)

As I sit here and type, Jen is working on our new project that we are anxious to annouce later this week. We are so excited to tell you about how much revenue you have all helped to generate just by coming to our blog over the past few months, and how we plan to spend it on this new, NICU related project.

Brad, Jen, Henry, Brooks, Clark, and Isaac

(PS More NICU and birth video is coming soon, stay tuned!!)

We Are Survivors : NICU Picnic

Last weekend our crew had the privilege of attending the NICU Reunion Picnic. I remember this time last year, not knowing if we would be invited to such a picnic, not knowing if we would even bring one baby home from the hospital. Only by God's grace, we brought 4 babies home. I wanted to blog right away all about the picnic, but it was too emotional, and my thoughts were all over the place. Hopefully now my thoughts are a bit more collected. We'll see.....

I remember the first time I heard about this "picnic". I was about 14 weeks pregnant and my doctor was talking about another past patient he had run into there. Then he backtracked and explained what the picnic was about, and then inserted something like, "you'll see, when you guys go next year". That was HUGE! He believed in us, against all the medical knowledge he possessed, and the fight we had ahead of us. That gave me a confidence and peace about our situation. Seeing him there on Saturday and having my 4 boys to show him was exciting, to say the least.

We were greeted by so many familiar faces and hugs from people who fought for our boys while they endured their NICU stay. It was such a joy to show the nurses and doctors our chubby, healthy, little rascals. We are so grateful for the tremendous care at St. Vincent we received and the people and abilities that God place into each of our boys' lives, when we could do NOTHING.

I think many have too quickly forgotten (including myself) how amazing these little lives truly are and how this is not the "typical" outcome, since they don't look or act much like preemies anymore (which is a great thing)! This picnic was another great reminder of God's ultimate control, His grace, and mercy in our lives. Sometimes we just want to hold on to each of them and weep over them in gratefulness. May Christ be glorified through their precious lives!

DeDe (Henry's primary nurse)

Nataline (Clark's primary nurse) Nataline: You better thank me for your fame! =) Can you tell the boys didn't get their nap?

Brad and I with our "septuplets", where are their parents, anyway? I thought we were posing with them for the picture!

When your babies are in the NICU you have to wear a hospital bracelet for each baby for security reasons. Well, I decided to take a picture of our survivor bracelets that they handed out. The "Tiny Success" onesies (pictured at the top of this post) were given to us by a triplet mom, Diana, who we barely know from Starbucks, but she's been a faithful blog subscriber for a while now. Thank you so much! We'll have to definetly get a picture in them!

Look how far we've come!

February 2. 2007

"Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.
How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings." Psalm 6:5-7

1/2 A Year Old

(Post updated with the boys pictures below! Check it out!)

Did I scare anyone? This was a picture taken July 21st........2006!!!!!! The beginning of an incredible pregnancy and now we have 4 healthy, energetic, grinning, chubby, BOYS! How great is our God? I had to blog on this exciting day for us. The past 6 months have been a blur in many ways, but I really am trying to take it in and enjoy these baby days. I cannot tell you all how precious it is to wake up to 4 boys smiling in their cribs and then putting down their sleepy little bodies for the night. What a privilege! And to think about how slim our "chances" were of this outcome brings me to tears of gratefulness.

Here's a few looks from the pregnancy highlight reel.....Many of these have NEVER been posted, so be kind on those comments - I know, I was HUGE! (Notice the pictures get smaller as I get bigger - HAAAA!) I had to remind people over and over that there were FOUR babies housed inside my belly.


These 2 pictures are from the day we found out we were pregnant. It was such an exciting time. Pictured below are my parents in front of Pizza Hut where we met them to share the surprising news!


A date with my buddy before the craziness of a major surgery and bed rest

Recovering from my TAC (Trans Abdominal Cerclauge) surgery at 14 weeks to help hold those babies inside me as long as possible

Right around 30 weeks. I didn't look like a dump truck from the front, but below is a picture of me from the side view.

I got to take a field trip out of my hospital room into the single digit temperatures to eat pancakes at the House of Pancakes just days before delivery. I ate 8 of them! They tasted soooooo good. I had to sit sideways in order to fit in the booth! Great memory!

Progress Pictures

Henry at birth, 3, then 6 months

Brooks at birth, 3, then 6 months

Clark at birth, 3, then 6 months

Isaac at birth, 3, then 6 months

A GINORMOUS Praise!!!!!

We went to the hospital today to have Brooks examined because Brad noticed that his hernia had really changed in appearance recently. We were hopeful that perhaps the severity had decreased and that we could postpone the surgery until Brooks was at least a year old, since he would have to go under general anesthesia and just the trauma of a surgery at his age. After talking to the surgical nurse, she assured us that it would be something to consider, but would be highly unlikely to get better or go away on its own. We really felt like since we have 3 other boys to compare him to, it would be worth looking into before taking him in Friday morning for surgery. We had awesome news after the pediatric urologist read the ultrasounds and examined our Brooks. Praise God - his hernia has disappeared! We are amazed once again that the God that we serve can do the IMPOSSIBLE! Thank you so much for your faithful prayers - we are so grateful!
Rejoicing Together,
Brad, Jen and the BOYZ

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures.....

And now, what you all have been waiting for.....Pictures!!

Clark and Brooks, looking a little more alike all the time now that we finally have good ole' Clark home where he belongs, growing and trying to catch his chubby brother Brooks! :)

Clark.....with his fuzzy hair right after his first real bath!

Clark.....sleeping

Henry....sleeping

Henry, Isaac, and Brooks before Clark came home.

Henry and Clark

This picture taken by the Hendricks Co. Flyer

See article @: http://www.flyergroup.com/local/local_story_075163531.html

Murray boodies!

Brooks and Clark, finally together again!!

Sharing....this is something the Murray boys are going to learn to love!

(Isaac, Clark, Brooks, Henry)

Clark...sleeping...ain't he cute? :)

Isaac....chillin

From left: Isaac, Clark, Brooks, and Henry

This is right after we got home from the hospital and had all four for the first time!

Henry....yawning...

From left: Isaac, Clark, Brooks, and Henry

Clark.....thinking...

Clark....sleeping.....

New Murray Blog Spot

I was so tired of seeing the word "triplet" in our blog address, I decided we would start a new chapter, at a new address, when the boys all get home. Once Clark gets home, this will be the new location where you can follow our family. (Referring to our old blog www.triplet-update.blogspot.com that tells our pregnancy journey, the miracle birth of our quadruplets, and our stay in the NICU. I am so glad there was yet another blessing inside my belly, instead of "just" triplets!)

Clark's Superman Recovery Story

Everyone,

Just a quick update, and a piece of new information that I forgot to mention three days ago.....Jen is home!!

We just had some of our best friends call to see if it would be a good time to come by and see Jen at the hospital. These friends are faithful blog readers, so this confused me. But, now I realize that I never told you all this bit of info! Jen and I spent our third night at home last night, and it is just wonderful. We are certainly torn between here at the hospital, but it is so nice to sleep in our own bed in the peace and quite of home. (I know, the peace and quiet part is almost over.)

Please pray for Henry this morning. Henry is having 2-3 heart rate dips per hour right now. This is not a critical problem, and is very common with preemie's, but is a problem that he will have to overcome none the less. Please pray that little Henry's brain would remember to tell his heart to beat all the time, not just some of the time!

I want to clarify Clark's story a little bit for you today too. On the night that Clark was at his worst, his doctors thought that there was a realistic chance that he would not make it through the night. They had maxed out all of the medication to improve his condition, and all of their efforts were failing. Jen needed to go 24 hours without an infection before she would be allowed into the NICU to see the boys. But, at midnight, the NP who was in charge of Clark's care came to our room to speak with us. She told us that she had been given permission to break the rule so that Jen could go up to see Clark. She was fearful that if Jen did not go get to see him that night, she may never get to see him alive. Clark finally turned to corner about 30 minutes after his mom got to see him for the first time. They still don't know what made him so sick, and they are even more confused about how he has made such a rapid recovery, but we know that God answered our prayers for healing.

I only share this with you so that you all know just how miraculous Clark's recovery was. His nurses and doctors were very grim about his condition, but God had other plans for his life.

We love you all,

Brad, Jen, and the Blue Crew

(Copied from www.triplet-update.blogspot.com)

Miracles and the Media...

Family and Friends,

Just a quick update, then we are off to the NICU/ Press room. Channel 8 and the Indy Star are coming out tonight to do a story on the miraculous work that God has done in this pregnancy. Would you pray with us that God would be glorified through this story? We will update you when we find out when these stories will show up in the media. We do already know that our story will show up Wednesday in the West Side edition of the Indy Star. Channel 8 is still unsure about when they will air our story.

Also, Henry and Brooks continue to thrive, while Clark and Isaac have made miraculous improvements! We now have four boys who are breathing with absolutely no assistance!! Also, Isaac’s PDA heart valve has closed without surgery, and according to initial tests, so has Clark’s!

God is to be given the glory for the amazing recovery our boys have made from these difficult circumstances. The NICU deserves some credit as well, they are getting wonderful care. Praise God for providing such wonderful people to care for our precious little boys!

More later…..

Brad, Jen, and the Blue Crew

(Post Copied from www.triplet-update.blogspot.com)

QUAD DAY - Birth Day x4

Hello everyone,

Our boys are here and doing really well. The birth went very well and Jen is recovering in our room again now. They all came out crying and breathing room air on their own.

One of the boys is now on ventilation as he was not able to continue to breath without assistance. The other three have continued to breath without a vent, but they all have a long way to go before we can breath a sigh of relief. But, God has given us five hours of life with our little boys already, and we are thankful to finally get to meet them.

Okay, here are the names and weights that you all have been waiting for in the order in which they entered the world:

Henry Samuel Murray
Born at 12:33pm
2lbs. 12oz.

Brooks Layton Murray
Born at 12:34pm
3lbs. 0oz.

Clark Thomas Murray
Born at 12:34pm
3lbs. 7oz.

Isaac Edward Murray
Born at 12:35pm
4lbs. 0oz.

Here is a picture of the boys just minutes after they were born, right before being hurried off to the NICU.

Left to right: Henry, Brooks, Clark, Isaac
(Post copied from www.triplet-update.blogspot.com)

Their Birthday Will Be February 2, 2007!!!!

Friends and Family,

It is with exceeding joy and excitement that I bring you some good news tonight. The Amniocentesis results came in this evening and they show that our boys have enough lung maturity for birth tomorrow! Jen is scheduled for a c-section tomorrow at noon!

Please be praying for the following items of concern:

1. That the early signs of pre-eclampsia that Jen is showing do not progress tonight.

2. That the Lord would keep our boys safe from a cord accident for one more night and morning.

3. That Jen would not have to go on Magnesium Sulfate for pre-eclampsia tomorrow before or after the surgery. (not a pleasant drug)

4. That our boys would be born safely and breathing on their own.

5. That God would give us both peace as we wait this last 16 hours.

6. That God would bring Jen through the c-section without complications. Sometimes high order multiple births can cause problems because the uterus is so overstretched, that it does not stop the bleeding very well. Please pray that this would not happen to Jen.

Looking forward to bringing you the good news tomorrow of a safe and healthy birth! You will all finally get to see the names that we have picked out for our little miracles.

Last post before birth!

Brad, Jen, and in honor of the big weekend for the Colts, the Blue Crew.

(Post Copied from www.triplet-update.blogspot.com)

Some BIG news....

Posted by Brad:

B