Thank You Baylor!

Before too much time passes, I want to write about a place and the people who work there that is very near and dear to my heart. When I was about 10 weeks pregnant with the quints, my OB/GYN in Texarkana referred me to a Maternal Fetal Specialist in Dallas (her office was at Baylor). We fell in love with Dr. Y and that's how we ended up at Baylor. On January 31st (I was almost 23 weeks pregnant) I was put in the hospital for bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. For over 7 weeks I laid in my hospital bed and tried to take it as easy as possible so that I could stay pregnant for as long as I possibly could. During those 7 weeks I grew to love my nurses on the Antipartum floor. They were wonderful, loving, and very caring. Each day they would cheer me on. They always told me how well I was doing and did a fabulous job of keeping my spirits high. You'd think I would have been very sad, lonely, and depressed to be away from my home and family for such a long time, but I wasn't. Of course I hated that I couldn't be at home with my family but I knew that being at the hospital was the best thing for the quints. My focus was to do everything in my power to stay pregnant so they had a better chance of being healthy. So while I lived at Baylor, my nurses became my second family.

My Antipartum nurses had this cookie cake made for me when I hit the  28 week milestone.

After the quints were born, I started spending every day in the NICU. Those first couple of weeks were a whirlwind. It was difficult to wrap our heads around everything that was happening. Our babies were born 11 weeks early. That means they were forced to eat, breath, and function 11 weeks before they were suppose to. It's heart wrenching to see your tiny babies attached to so many machines, but I was so thankful for the machines, they help keep our babies alive. During the babies NICU stay I fell in love with the NICU nurses. They were so good about explaining everything that was happening. If a doctor told us something in "doctor terms" the nurses would follow up and put things in "regular people terms". I loved how the nurses loved our babies. I'd walk in the room some days, and one of the nurses would be holding one of the quints while she was charting. I can't describe how happy that made me feel. I grew to trust our nurses and I knew that my babies were being loved even when I wasn't able to be there. The nurses not only took excellent care of the quints, they in turn also took care of me. It would have been very easy for me to fall apart and be depressed during such a trying time, but I never did because the NICU nurses treated me so well and took the time to get to know me and talk to me. There would be some days I'd leave feeling bad because I'd talked so much with the nurses, I know they were scrambling at the end of the day to get everything caught up. I loved my conversations with the nurses, and I find myself missing them now that I'm at home. A couple of the babies night nurses wrote them letters before they were discharged and those letters were so touching, they brought tears to my eyes. The nurses truly touched my heart and I will forever be thankful for them. The doctors at Baylor were also great. We are continuing to see one of our NICU pediatricians because we love him and trust him to manage our babies health care. I loved everyone in the NICU. We had wonderful respiratory therapists as well as occupational therapist. Everyone we met were awesome!

So, if you find yourself looking for a good place to have a baby or have a sick baby, I strongly suggest you go to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

Sara (in yellow) with Gracie the day the quints were born.

Lindsay holding Brant and "trying" to chart.

Lindsay, Chrysty, & me with (I think) Mia all dressed in our lead armor. This was my "Grey's Anatomy" moment. I appreciated how they always included me.

Sara, Chrysty, Tessa, & Me -  the equipment in the background is a x-ray machine used to see if the formula was going in her belly or lungs.

Chrysty, Mia, & Lindsay the day Mia was discharged. 

Chrysty with Tessa. Chrysty was our OT and she was fabulous! She's awesome at what does but an even better person. I love her and miss her so much!

Chrysty, Brant, & Julie. I loved Julie, but Steven really loved Julie...she was a straight shooter and we really loved that about her. 

Rachael and Tessa. Rachael is such a sweetheart and I love her!

Steven, Chrysty and (I think) Mia. Steven just had to have his "Grey's Anatomy" moment too.

Sara & Rayleigh the day Rayleigh was released.

I love my Baylor girls!

One last good-bye

The Quints say, "Thank you Baylor for taking such good care of us! We love you!!"