Hospitalization: Friday, January 5th (28 weeks)

Friends and family,

Please read this very long post to fully understand what our babies are up against in the coming weeks. It is long, but it is just a complicated situation and difficult to explain.

We have made the decision, in conjunction with our doctors, to have Jen admitted to the hospital one week from today. While this is difficult news to deal with, we believe it is the best thing for our baby boys. And, we never thought we would have to make this decision because our doctors thought that preterm labor or some other complication would have forced Jen into the hospital by now anyway.

Why get admitted?
Sorry, but this is kind of a difficult situation to explain, but I will try:

Quad pregnancies are high risk pregnancies for many obvious reasons. But, we are not dealing with just a “normal” quad pregnancy. As many of you know, at least two of our boys are identical twins. We know this because they share the same outer (chorionic) sac. This is not uncommon for identical twins.

Most identical twins who share an outer sac, however, have their own inner (amniotic) sac which keeps them separate from each other. Our identical twin boys do not have two inner sacs, they share just one sac. This situation is a very rare condition known as monoamniotic (mono-mono) twinning. Identical twins are somewhat rare to start with, but only 1 in 100 sets of identical twins are mono-mono.

The problem with mono-mono twins is that because there is nothing in there separating the two of them. They almost always get their cords all twisted and tangled up. And, unfortunately, about 25-30% of monoamniotic twins do not survive until birth because of this cord entanglement. This is why this pregnancy has been so difficult on Jen and I emotionally. We have been told since the very beginning that there is a chance, at any time during this pregnancy, that one of those cords will get pulled tight and either cut off blood supply to the babies, or even get a cord wrapped around one of the babies’ necks causing their death. And, in most cases, if one of these mono boys dies, the other will most likely die shortly after that.

The silver lining in all of this is that although the mono-mono twins are in grave danger with everyday that passes, the other two “innocent bystanders” that are in their own sacs are probably going to be ok if the mono-mono boys die. As difficult as it is to think about, if one or both of our mono boys die before 28 weeks, we would have to simply give them to the Lord and let them go. It would not be right to deliver all four babies at less than 27 weeks gestation in order to try to save the two mono-mono boys. The risk of birth at this extreme prematurity would put all four of them in mortal danger that we are simply not willing to take.

The good news:
The good news is that we have nearly made it past that early stage of extreme prematurity with all four boys surviving. At 28 weeks, Jen and I have made the very difficult decision that we would be willing to deliver all four babies in an attempt to save the mono-mono boys. So, if the mono-mono boys are still alive one week from today, Jen will be admitted to St. Vincent Women’s hospital for the remainder of the pregnancy. During this time, our babies will be monitored for approximately one hour, three times per day.

The hope is that our doctors will be able to detect a problem with cord entanglement before it becomes a fatal problem. They have made it very clear to us that although they will do everything they can, these cord accidents can be sudden, so there are no guarantees. We may do all of this only to loose them anyway. But, even if there is only a slight chance that we could save them by voluntarily being admitted to the hospital, we are willing to do so.

The prospect of going to the hospital for up to one month is not one that either one of us is looking forward to. If our boys are still doing well at 32 weeks, (Feb. 2nd) our doctor will probably schedule a c-section near this time. By then, the boys should be developed enough that they would be nearly out grave danger. This would be considered the best-case-scenario. There would be no longer be a good reason to leave these mono-mono twins in there at the risk of a cord accident.

Jen has a lot of discomfort ahead of her; this much we are sure of. I understand that we are young and have not experienced much adversity in our lives, but I can tell you that this is the most difficult thing either one of us has ever had to experience. God has given grace in abundance and has spared us from the 24/7 agony of waiting to see if our children survive, but it has been, and continues to be a daily struggle.

Would you please pray with us that God would fill Jen and I with the Holy Spirit and comfort as we await God’s timing for the birth of our children? It is so difficult to avoid worrying constantly about our boys. God will decide if He chooses for them to survive. We know that He is in ultimate control of every detail of this situation.

May God be glorified as we pass through this trial that He sovereignly placed in our path! He is sufficient for our every need!

Thank you for caring for us friends,

Brad and Jen Murray

Two outer sacs, two inner sacs
(Typical Fraternal Twins)

One outer sac, two inner sacs
(Typical Identical twins)

One outer sac, One inner sac
(Our rare mono-mono twins)

27 weeks tomorrow, all is well!! Also, our 4th wedding anniversary!

Friends and Family:

Our doctors office is closed tomorrow due to the upcoming new years holiday, so we had our weekly appointment today instead of our normal Friday time slot.

God has preserved the lives of all four of our baby boys yet another week! They were all doing very well this morning. Our doctor was very impressed with how well Jen’s body is coping with the growth due to the babies. Jen is now measuring what a mom who was pregnant with one baby would measure at 39 weeks gestation. That puts her growth an amazing 12 weeks ahead of a normal pregnancy. But, obviously you expect this with quadruplets. According to our doctor, what you do not expect is for Jen to still be home and dealing with virtually no complications.

God is doing amazing things in this pregnancy. Regardless of the outcome, God has sustained us and allowed for a very smooth pregnancy. We do not get the privilege of knowing the outcome ahead of time as He does, but we place them in His hands to do with as He pleases.

Also, Jen and I are celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary today! 2006 has turned out to be the year of the number 4. I have posted a picture below that was taken on our honeymoon in Key Largo. I could not have imagined the journey that the last four years would be, but I could not have chosen a better partner for it. I love my wife more than I could have imagined possible four years ago sitting on that dock in the keys. She is the most beautiful, giving, hard working, loving, forgiving, awesome wife that a guy could ever have. I cannot wait to see what a great mother she is going to be to my children. I love you baby!

-Please pray with us that God would allow Jen to carry these babies safely past the 28 week mark. (Jan 5th)

-Please pray that God would give Jen peace and comfort as she awaits His timing for this delivery.

-Please pray that our two identical twins, who are at much more risk medically, would remain safe and healthy.

26 week check-up goes well!

Friends and Family,

We wanted to let you all know that the appointment went really well this morning. We are so excited to have made it this far with virtually no complications. God has chosen to be gracious to us in spite of our lack of faith on a daily basis. He continues to reassure and remind us that we HAVE to trust Him through this process.

Please continue to pray for safety for the boys for a few more weeks. 28 weeks is the next big mark, but we would love to get to 30-32 for a very safe delivery.

We have so much to be thankful for this week. Our boys are doing wonderful, and God provided for them last night with an awesome shower put on by some of Jen's co-workers. It was such an encouragement to have so many come out to support us. Everyone has been so generous with their time and resources and we are very thankful for that.

We have had a lot of people offer to help us out in different ways once the babies arrive. So many, in fact, that it is difficult to remember everyone. So, in the next week or two, I am planning to post a list of things that we anticipate needing help with once we get to bring our boys home. I am going to ask all of you who are interested in helping to e-mail me at that time with what you are willing to help with from the list. (or anything else you think of) Then, as our needs arise, we will have a list of names and phone numbers to call. Now, please dont think this means that you cannot turn us down when we call, we realize everyone is busy, but it will at least give us a good list of names/numbers when the going gets tough.

Thank you all so much for your prayers! We are so thankful for how well things have gone so far.

We got the best look so far at one of the boys faces today at the appointment, check it out!

25w - 5 days and counting!

Friends and Family,

I just wanted to give you a quick update. The good news is, there really is no news on the pregnancy! Jen is still resting at home and the boys are still playing soccer with all of her internal organs! Its great that they get a chance to practice with each other even before birth.

On a more serious note, I have been researching our options for health insurance and any assistance that might be availiable to a family in our circumstances and have come upon some potentially unexpected help. Normally we would not qualify for any social programs, but due to the number of babies that will be present, Lord willing, in our home in a few months, it appears that we might qualify afterall. As we continue to try to figure out how to get our finances in order, would you pray with us that the approval process would go smoothly and quickly? If this assistance does become availiable, it would be another small peice that would help me figure out how to survive finacially with four wonderful blessings from God to feed!

Thanks friends!

Cruising into week 25, the boys are doing great!

Friends and Family,

Sorry that it has been so long since our last posting, its been a pretty busy week.

Yesterday at our weekly appointment, we got a good report once again. Dr. Sumners was "excited" that Jen had made it to 25 weeks and was not only still at home, but also on the mildest medication for contractions that exists. If any of you ever get to meet Dr. Sumners, excited is not a word that he uses very often, so it was very encouraging to hear. He is a very gifted man and really knows what he is doing so he always chooses his words carefully.

Although we are past the hurdle of "viability", Dr. Sumners stressed yesterday that it is VERY important that we make it to the 28 week mark. As we progressed past the 24 week mark, life became a possiblility. But, Dr. Sumners explained yesterday that quality of life is the big issue now. 50% of babies born between 24 and 26 weeks end up with long-term nerological damage that ranges from minor learning disabilities, to permanent sight and hearing problems, to severe cases of cerebral palsy. Although this risk is reduced between 26 and 28 weeks, the percentages do not improve very dramatically until they actually reach the 28 week mark.

I share all that with you so that you have a better background to pray from. We are praising our God daily for getting the boys this far into the pregnancy, but we really need to make it three more weeks.

Also, please pray for Jen this Thursday. Her co-workers have set up an open house style shower for Jen. Please pray that she would feel well enough to enjoy the shower and fellowship with her co-workers.

Please pray:
-That God would protect Jen and the babies for at least 3 more weeks of pregnancy.

-That God would give Jen grace as she continues to get more uncomfortable as she grows with the boys.

-That Jen would feel well this Thursday for her shower.

-That God would allow Jens digestive tract to better adjust to the pregnancy as she is dealing with some major pains and discomforts from time to time.

We made it to viability!!!!

Friends and Family,

Please join us in praising God today for allowing Jen and the babies to hit this huge milestone in the pregnancy, 24 weeks! We are so excited that we have now entered this new phase in the pregnancy. If the boys were born today, they would stand a chance of healthy survival. From everything they can see, our ultrasound this morning showed four very healthy little babies growing inside of mom, praise God!

Now, we shift our focus to 28 weeks. Our doctor tells us that when we hit 28 weeks, our boys will have a 90%+ chance of healthy survival. So, between now and then, statistically, the numbers go from 40% to over 90%. That means that everyday between now and 28 weeks is a big step toward bringing home healthy babies. But, we also know that we do not trust only in numbers and statistics. Our God is capable of anything, so please pray that He would be willing to give us four more weeks.

Please pray:

- That Jen could continue to stay at home on bedrest with less than 4 contractions an hour. (she is averaging 1-2 right now)

- That our boys would continue to grow and stay healthy

- That God would give Jen and I peace and patience as we await the big day.

- That God would allow us to give Him all the glory with our lives and that we can share the good news of Jesus Christ during this Christmas season with others.

Almost 24 weeks, simply amazing!

Family and Friends,

I dont know if everyone who reads this understands just how HUGE this Friday is for the babies, so I wanted to explain just in case.

At 23 weeks, most doctors would say that a baby has little chance of survival if born at this time. Even if survival is acheived, the chances that a baby survives without serious long-term health problems is very very slim. However, some amazing things happen during the 23rd week of pregnancy. At 24 weeks, often called viability, suddenly, the chances of survival start to rise rapidly. With each day that passes after the 24 week mark, our babies are taking huge strides toward getting ready to enter our world able to survive and thrive. Obviously, 24 weeks is not our goal, and is not what we are shooting for, but we are going to celebrate it none the less.

Please, please continue to pray diligently for Jen and the babies. If it sounds like I am begging for your prayers, you are reading correctly, I AM. I feel as though healthy babies are within our reach. Jen needs to carry these boys several more weeks before we can really start to breath a sigh of relief. 30-32 weeks is still the goal, so continue to pray for that, but I am just so excited that we are reaching our window of hope.

We love you all and thank you for your support and prayers!

Brad and Jen
(and the kickers!) :)

A Rough week, but all is still going well

Baby A

Baby B

Baby C (not a very good shot, he wasnt cooperating with the sonographer)

Baby D



Friends and family,

This week has certainly been the most eventful week since the pregnancy began. As we told you earlier, Jen spent Monday night in the hospital to calm some early contractions, but was sent home Tuesday. Then, Thursday evening, a home contraction monitor was brought to the house for Jen to use twice a day. After an hour of monitoring laying down, the monitor showed that she was not having any contractions.

Late Thursday night, Jen started experiencing some pain that we hoped was just related to digestive problems. But, after 3-4 hours of this pain, we decided we better check with Dr. Sumners to see if he would be worried about it. Well, he told me to bring her into Triage to make sure the pain was not being caused by contractions. So, at 3am, we packed up and headed for the hospital. This time however, contractions were not the problem and we were sent home by 7am. We had to turn around and head back two hours later because Jen had a regularly scheduled appointment at 10am, but we were glad to be discharged none the less.

The greatest news is that all of our boys are doing very well and dispite some discomfort from four babies growing inside of her, Jen is doing very well also. At our doctors appointment, our babies were measured for the first time in a few weeks. As of Friday, babies A,B,C, and D were 1 lb-5oz, 1lb-5oz, 1lb-0oz, and 1lb-1oz respectively. Jen now monitors for contractions for an hour twice per day, but as of this morning, she was contraction free!

Thank you for praying. Our God has been faithful to keep our babies safe through 23 weeks of pregnancy. He is our strength and we continue to see Him work in wonderous ways in our lives.

Please continue to pray for:

- Strength, patience, and courage for Jen as she enters the most difficult phase of the pregnancy.

- For an uneventful week. (Friday makes 24, viability baby!)

- For releif from pain for Jen

- For the health of our babies.

- That God would allow us to glorify Him through this pregnancy by sharing with others the Good news of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

- Praise God with us also for allowing our insurace to cover the contraction monitor. Sometimes this is a problem as they do not see it as a necessity. This monitor is 75-100 dollars per day and thus very expensive to pay for on our own.