Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

Today was my Dad's birthday and we had a great time celebrating with him via webcam as we watched Michigan beat Notre Dame! We love you very much Dad, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Your little grandbabies (and the rest of us!) can't wait to get home to see you. Did we ever tell you you're the best dad a kid could have?


We also got to hang out with Heather and Andy, who spent lots of quality time getting to know the babies. They brought cute little Kansas outfits and a stuffed Jayhawk and we took lots of pictures. Then they treated us to a very nice dinner while the grandmas babysat. It was awesome to see them and we get to hang out some more tomorrow. What a great day. :)

GO BLUE!!!

We are here in Phoenix ready for the Michigan-Notre Dame game. The quads are super excited. So far they are 2-0 as Michigan fans!!

Quick update, yesterday we got the remaining 3 altitude tested (after about 8 hours!!) and determined they all need oxygen. We are very glad that we decided to do the test. Northwest was good to work with and it is all setup with the 4 getting some oxygen on the flight.

Andy, one of my best friends from high school, and Heather, his wife and friend from U of M are visiting us today and tomorrow!! They are in town for a conference and came early to see us..The quads are very excited to meet them too..Maybe we will get some more good picts..We should be posting a new photo album tonight, we've got tons of new pictures..

In the meantime...GOOOOO BLUEEE!! 

Life with all four, and a shout out to the NICU!

We've had a great first couple of days with Matthew at home. He is such a little angel. The first night we kept checking on him to make sure he was ok and he always seemed to have his eyes wide open checking out his new surroundings and trying to decide where he was. He got extra cuddles to make extra sure he knew he was loved and taken care of. I think he missed all of his nurse and doctor friends from the NICU who treated him so well. We are very thankful to all of them for helping our big boy get well and for being such great teachers to Dan and I. BTW, thanks to the NICU nurses for leaving messages on the blog, that is so nice! Your handsome little buddy says hi and wants you to know he is eating like a very big boy. :)

Yesterday (Wednesday) we went to the pediatrician with all four babies. It required two car trips which gave us our first official taste for life with quads. It is crazy busy and we love it. The doctor says they are all doing great, gaining weight like champs. Today was a nice relaxing day with no appointments, so Dan and I were able to go to the pool for a little while while the grandmas watched the little ones. In addition to being super Dad, Dan has been busy coordinating insurance issues, travel, online minivan shopping, etc. so he especially deserved a little break.

Tomorrow morning we are taking Naty, Sam, and Sofi to the Children's Hospital for a six hour altitude test to determine if they will need oxygen on the plane like Matt. We'll let you know how that goes!

Matthew is home!!!!

Hi everyone, we are so proud to announce that the Salinas Quads are now officially re-united! Matt passed his car seat testing, cleared in great health and was released to us at 3:34 PM PST. The gramas are really excited! We just got home..We have scheduled our trip back to Michigan on the Monday night red-eye flight, arriving Tuesday morning. It will be Nana, TLM (the gramas), Melissa, me, Naty, Sofi, Sam and Matt..What a crew..


AND FINALLY the first picture together!!!


Thanks everyone, we are so happy and can't believe this day has come. Unbelieveable! We will have more pictures after they get a chance to rest. Mommy and I got some really cute coordinating outfits from Macy's :)

Matt is doing well / Visit to Dr. Elliott

We went to see Matt and his doctors and got the scoop. He didn't adjust as well as we hoped to the high altitude/low oxygen. This isn't a huge problem (i.e., he is fine in normal room air) but it is something we'll need to plan for by having oxygen available on the plane. The doctors say once we do all the necessary followup testing and paperwork for that, he will be ready to go home anytime.

We are looking into having the other three babies tested, but there are some logistical barriers to doing that because they were never admitted to the NICU, which seems to be the only place that will do the test. We'll figure that out...

On the bright side, Matt is eating a ton with the bottle, to the point where the doctors think has clicked with him for good. He took 70 mL in one feeding, 50 in the next, and has been averaging well over the target of 48. All of his open crib stats are on target. The doctors are looking at Wednesday for a release day. We are really excited for that.

This afternoon, we took Sam, Sofi, and Naty with us to our followup visit to Dr. Elliott (my perinatologist). He was very excited to see them doing so well and got to hold them and visit with them for the first time since he returned from his trip to Africa. That meant a lot to us. We owe a great deal to Dr. Elliott, Dr. Scott and their team for getting us successfully through such a high risk pregnancy. We can't say enough nice things about them, they were the best and helped give us the best gift ever.

Dan is officially making flights home on Monday's redeye for Nana, Tere, Dan, me, and the babies. It is starting to feel like the Phoenix phase is wrapping up. What an amazing summer. We'll keep you posted!

Matt is doing much better!

Hi everyone, yesterday they removed Matthew's feeding tube. For the last day he has been doing his entire feeding via bottle. This is a big milestone! The NICU is now conducting a high-altitude test to see if he is ready to fly. Basically they put a little bubble around him and lower the oxygen in the air from 21 % to 18% to mimic the airplane. Today we should find out the results, if he passes and he keeps eating well then he could be released in the next 2-3 days. We are scheduling the flights back to Michigan. Tenatively we plan on going back on the red-eye flight on Monday. We decided that made the most sense since there will be the least amount of people on the flight and in the airport, and it is the shortest in duration (3 hours 26 minutes). We are up every 3 hours for feedings, so there is no concept of day or night anyways! The quads don't cry very much, so they hopefully won't bother the other passengers.

Also today Melissa has an appointment with Doctor Elliott. He is back from Africa. We are going to bring Natalia, Sofia, and Samuel with us. That will be very cute! We should get some good pictures.

So we are cautiously optimistic that we will get our big little guy home soon. We can't wait.

Thanks everybody

A big day... Baths, Baby Shower, and a Visit to Matt

Today was a big day. In the morning, Sam, Naty and Sofi had their first full baths at home. We used a rubbermaid box with receiving blankets at the bottom and a couple of inches of warm water, as they taught us at the NICU. Surprisingly to us, they all seemed to love it (especially Sam!). They only cried when they were taken out of the water.

Then we attended the baby shower by videocam from Phoenix. The shower was at our new house in Farmington Hills, which we still haven't slept in. :) It was decorated with blue tablecloths, pink chairs, lots of balloons, and a cute duckie cake with all four babies' names on it. (Good job decorators!) The babies received lots of wonderful gifts, we couldn't believe how many nice things we received. The babies also enjoyed (virtually) meeting so many people who will love them.

Thank you soooo much to everyone, it means a lot to all of us.

We made a late visit to see Matt, who is doing well. He ate 30 of 48 mL by bottle and then fell asleep. The nurse guessed that he might be ready to come home by the end of the week, but that is just a guess so we'll hang tight and see how it goes. He was extra cuddly and we really enjoyed the visit.

p.s. Sofi's umbilical cord fell off, what a big girl.
p.s.s. Mama has officially lost over 60 lbs since the day of the birth... crazy, huh? It is nice to be able to see my feet again.