Saturday is the day! We expect to arrive at the airport around 2:00 pm this Saturday so it should be fun. I am going to fly back on Friday night and then we are all going to fly back on Saturday. There will be one person for each baby including myself, Rachelle, Rachelle's mom Betty Ann Curtis, my mom Sylvia Wilkinson, and Dr. Candice Park (the one who delivered the babies). Unless something else really big happens, we should end up having a few TV stations there to record everything so hopefully you will be able to watch it on TV or on the Internet.
I have now been back in Austin for more than a week and it has been good. I haven't really liked doing the single dad thing again but I can see that the end is near so it isn't so bad. One of the hardest things about this whole journey has been being separated from Rachelle for so long. However, that will end soon and we are all excited.
Riley started second grade and he seems to really like his teacher already. He insisted on riding the bus yesterday and I was actually a little sad to see him go. He is such a great little boy. Yesterday, after school got out, he had to find his bus but he wasn't sure which bus it was. He decided to say a little prayer to ask what bus to get on and when he finished, he looked up and saw his friend Jared in one of the buses and knew that was the right one. The faith of little children is just so inspiring.
I wanted to mention also that we received another large donation from another group of Masons in New Mexico. This time, it was the Orient of New Mexico, Valley of Las Cruces, Scottish Rite Masons. I am really amazed at the generosity of people and it will really help. Any day now, I expect to start getting a bunch of medical bills and it is really nice to have some of those donations to help us pay for all of that. Also, my manager, Joe Silva, sent out an email yesterday starting a diaper drive here at work. That was really nice. He roughly calculated that over the course of the next year, we would need to use nearly 16,000 diapers. I saw that number and thought to myself, "I sure hope we can potty train these kids soon." When I was in Thailand, I remember that most of the babies there didn't use diapers. Of course, maybe they didn't need to worry as much about it because they rarely had any carpet but usually just had concrete floors that you could simply spray down with a hose. That probably won't work well here.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Update to media page
Just wanted to let you know that I updated the Media page on our web site to include all of the media we have received. Well, at least the stuff I could find on the Internet. I had been putting it off because it was fairly difficult to find everything but I think I have it all. You can view it here:
http://www.wilkinsonquints.org/media.html
On this page I have some of the most recent news segments that show me in my new house (see the links near the bottom of the page). One in particular from Fox7 News is pretty funny. Rachelle already knows that she isn't supposed to watch it until she gets back next week.
Something fun happened yesterday too. We opened up the Hill Country News and found that we were the cover for a special pull out Newcomers section for people coming to our area. They said they wanted to find a picture that would indicate the growth of the area and our picture seemed to fit the bill. I couldn't find it online but anybody living in an area where you receive the Hill Country News (It is free on Wednesdays) can open it up and see the picture. It was pretty funny.
Today I also took Riley to his school's open house and met his teacher. He seemed really excited and the teacher seemed really nice. It should be fun for him but will probably be a bit of a difficult adjustment since he really doesn't know anybody in his class this year. However, he really does a good job of making friends quickly so I think he will be OK.
Rachelle and the babies are doing really well. She is excited to finally come back to Austin next week and we are excited to have them all come back. It will be really interesting to see what life is really like when they all come back.
http://www.wilkinsonquints.org/media.html
On this page I have some of the most recent news segments that show me in my new house (see the links near the bottom of the page). One in particular from Fox7 News is pretty funny. Rachelle already knows that she isn't supposed to watch it until she gets back next week.
Something fun happened yesterday too. We opened up the Hill Country News and found that we were the cover for a special pull out Newcomers section for people coming to our area. They said they wanted to find a picture that would indicate the growth of the area and our picture seemed to fit the bill. I couldn't find it online but anybody living in an area where you receive the Hill Country News (It is free on Wednesdays) can open it up and see the picture. It was pretty funny.
Today I also took Riley to his school's open house and met his teacher. He seemed really excited and the teacher seemed really nice. It should be fun for him but will probably be a bit of a difficult adjustment since he really doesn't know anybody in his class this year. However, he really does a good job of making friends quickly so I think he will be OK.
Rachelle and the babies are doing really well. She is excited to finally come back to Austin next week and we are excited to have them all come back. It will be really interesting to see what life is really like when they all come back.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Jayson, Riley, and Kaiya back in Austin!
Well, we are now back in Austin. It was a bit of a long drive back but Riley and Kaiya actually did fairly well and I didn't have any accidents while I was trying to get the Goldfish, drinks, or Tic-Tacs (their new favorite treat).
Getting back to Work
I went to work on Monday morning and there was a huge poster that greeted me on my office door that said "Welcome Home Wilkinsons!" It is hard to read in this picture but at the bottom of the poster, it says the names and weights of each of the babies. My boss, Joe Silva, also told me that they are planning on doing a diapers for a year drive which is really nice. I am really amazed at how much my company and the people in my company have supported us. Amanda Webster, one of my coworkers, said that Rachelle is everyone's hero there. They have other posters in the lobbies of the buildings and I have gone by them and seen small groups of people looking at them. It is a little strange because we are sort of minor celebrities. I am sure it will probably fade and people will forget about it soon enough (until we pull our 5 baby stroller out!) but it is a little strange right now.
There was a lot of other stuff that greeted me upon my arrival both at the home and at work. Everybody has been really nice. Going back to work was a little weird. I had been out of the office and a lot had happened, none of which would probably be very interesting to the casual reader. In addition to missing NIWeek, the most important company event of the year, I also missed a good office prank involving a stolen bobble head Dwight from the TV show "The Office". I decided that it is probably better that I missed that because now I can't be blamed for any of it (which means there will be no retribution).
The Kids and the New House
The kids were very excited about the new house, their new rooms, and the toys they hadn't seen for about 7 months. It was a bit like Christmas. This means that, in their excitement, they made a huge mess...just like Christmas. We spent about an hour this morning cleaning up because I decided that I had better start enforcing the rules now before things got out of control. A significant portion of that hour was spent with each of them whining about it but after a little while, they finally realized that they were just going to have to do it or we were going to sit there all day.
Eating Thai food at my favorite Thai Restaurant
Also, last night I went to pick the kids up at Natalie Woods' house and we decided to splurge and go eat Thai food while the kids had grilled cheese sandwiches (which they liked better anyway). Having lived in Thailand for two years, I am a bit picky about the quality of the Thai food I eat. For anybody in Austin that likes Thai food, I strongly recommend Thamnak Thai on Buttercup and 183 (In Cedar Park). It is very authentic and the people are really nice. Because I speak Thai and because we have gone there so many times, they remember who I am and have been really nice about asking how things have been going with Rachelle over the past few months. Before Rachelle was pregnant, there was a time when we would end up going there almost once a week.
Thai food was also what we had for our anniversary dinner. It was funny, though, going to eat Thai food in Mesa Arizona. Normally, in every place except Utah and Arizona, when I go to a Thai restaurant and speak Thai, the people often jump in surprise because they have usually not ever met a non-Asian Thai speaker. When I go to restaurants in places with higher LDS populations, like Mesa Arizona or Provo Utah, they don't even bat an eye. It is a little better that way, though, because then I don't feel the same amount of pressure to try to dig up all those language skills to have a full blown conversation.
Update on Rachelle and the babies
Rachelle and the babies are all doing fine. Rachelle said that she put them all in the same crib and took some pictures so I am anxious to see them. They are all coming back in about a week and a half so I am pretty excited. Coming back with them will be Rachelle's mom, my mom, and the doctor, Dr. Candice Park, that actually performed the c-section and made the five super tasty cakes on the day of the delivery. It should be a fun trip and I am really looking forward to settling in and getting a better idea of what the rest of my life is going to be like.
Getting back to Work
I went to work on Monday morning and there was a huge poster that greeted me on my office door that said "Welcome Home Wilkinsons!" It is hard to read in this picture but at the bottom of the poster, it says the names and weights of each of the babies. My boss, Joe Silva, also told me that they are planning on doing a diapers for a year drive which is really nice. I am really amazed at how much my company and the people in my company have supported us. Amanda Webster, one of my coworkers, said that Rachelle is everyone's hero there. They have other posters in the lobbies of the buildings and I have gone by them and seen small groups of people looking at them. It is a little strange because we are sort of minor celebrities. I am sure it will probably fade and people will forget about it soon enough (until we pull our 5 baby stroller out!) but it is a little strange right now.
There was a lot of other stuff that greeted me upon my arrival both at the home and at work. Everybody has been really nice. Going back to work was a little weird. I had been out of the office and a lot had happened, none of which would probably be very interesting to the casual reader. In addition to missing NIWeek, the most important company event of the year, I also missed a good office prank involving a stolen bobble head Dwight from the TV show "The Office". I decided that it is probably better that I missed that because now I can't be blamed for any of it (which means there will be no retribution).
The Kids and the New House
The kids were very excited about the new house, their new rooms, and the toys they hadn't seen for about 7 months. It was a bit like Christmas. This means that, in their excitement, they made a huge mess...just like Christmas. We spent about an hour this morning cleaning up because I decided that I had better start enforcing the rules now before things got out of control. A significant portion of that hour was spent with each of them whining about it but after a little while, they finally realized that they were just going to have to do it or we were going to sit there all day.
Eating Thai food at my favorite Thai Restaurant
Also, last night I went to pick the kids up at Natalie Woods' house and we decided to splurge and go eat Thai food while the kids had grilled cheese sandwiches (which they liked better anyway). Having lived in Thailand for two years, I am a bit picky about the quality of the Thai food I eat. For anybody in Austin that likes Thai food, I strongly recommend Thamnak Thai on Buttercup and 183 (In Cedar Park). It is very authentic and the people are really nice. Because I speak Thai and because we have gone there so many times, they remember who I am and have been really nice about asking how things have been going with Rachelle over the past few months. Before Rachelle was pregnant, there was a time when we would end up going there almost once a week.
Thai food was also what we had for our anniversary dinner. It was funny, though, going to eat Thai food in Mesa Arizona. Normally, in every place except Utah and Arizona, when I go to a Thai restaurant and speak Thai, the people often jump in surprise because they have usually not ever met a non-Asian Thai speaker. When I go to restaurants in places with higher LDS populations, like Mesa Arizona or Provo Utah, they don't even bat an eye. It is a little better that way, though, because then I don't feel the same amount of pressure to try to dig up all those language skills to have a full blown conversation.
Update on Rachelle and the babies
Rachelle and the babies are all doing fine. Rachelle said that she put them all in the same crib and took some pictures so I am anxious to see them. They are all coming back in about a week and a half so I am pretty excited. Coming back with them will be Rachelle's mom, my mom, and the doctor, Dr. Candice Park, that actually performed the c-section and made the five super tasty cakes on the day of the delivery. It should be a fun trip and I am really looking forward to settling in and getting a better idea of what the rest of my life is going to be like.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Update for August 16
Well, Kaydence came home yesterday so they are all officially coming home in the exact reverse of their birth order. I guess those extra few seconds in the womb were pretty helpful. Kassidy is still having issues drinking a whole bottle so she is still in the hospital. She has to be completely bottle fed for at least 3 days before they will let her go and she has yet to make it past 2. I don't think it will be too long though before we see her here. When we told Ryder about it, he gave us this look:
He didn't seem to happy about the whole thing but I think he will be OK once she gets here.
Something else I wanted to give an update on are some of the super generous donations we have received. The company I work for, National Instruments (www.ni.com), suggested a very generous donation recently. They offered to pay for our plane tickets home but also (now this is the big one) offered to buy us a new 12 passenger van! Wow! Grand Canyon University (www.cgu.edu) had also offered to donate one of their used 12 passenger vans on almost the same day! The details are not all ironed out yet but we are opting to go with the new one but it was generous of both places to even offer at all.
We received another generous donation that came in part due to my uncle Ken's brother Gunnar. Gunnar is a retired Army colonel and West Point graduate who also happens to be the Grand Chaplain for the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in New Mexico. When my uncle Ken mentioned us to him, Gunnar asked if he could help. After some discussion, the Dona Ana Daylight Lodge #78, Ancient and Accepted Free Masons voted to give a very generous donation to us.
It is really wonderful and humbling to be the recipient of so much generosity. There are groups of people that have never even met us that are doing all kinds of stuff to help us out and it is absolutely amazing to see. I am amazed and grateful for all of it and feel, more than ever, that we are going to be able to do this.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Our 10th Anniversary
Today is our 10th anniversary. That means that I have known Rachelle for about 10 years and 8 months now. It has been a good time. For those of you who don't know us, I may as well recount our story of how we met. Rachelle was one of the Teaching Assistants in my Statistics class at BYU. She was a really good Teaching Assistant. She taught our lab class and I remember that on the first day of the lab, my lab partner whispered to me, "I wonder if we get extra points if we ask out the TA?" Well, I tried that and it turned out that I didn't get any extra points. But that is OK. I got a lot more. I actually didn't do exceptionally well in the class especially considering that I consistently had excuses for going to all three of the lab sections each week. It turned out that my mind wasn't as focuses on Statistics as it should have been.
Well, we dated for a few months and I decided that since we were probably going to get married anyway, it may as well be sooner rather than later. I had come to this conclusion in part because Rachelle's Grandpa Rappleye (who lived close to the University) came up to us one day and said, "Heavenly Father has saved Rachelle for you." After a rather awkward moment, I began to realize that maybe he was right.
I saw my opportunity with her graduation day. She was getting her Bachelors degree in Statistics on the same day that her grandparents were having their 50th wedding anniversary. I (or rather my mom) had a plan on how I was going to ask her to marry me. This plan was hatched a few years before I met Rachelle when my mom found 8 little stuffed cows at a garage sale and realized it would be the perfect way for me to propose to whoever it was that I was going to propose to. Many might wonder what 8 stuffed cows has anything to do with proposing. Well, those familiar with the "Johnny Lingo" might recognize the significance of the cows.
Side note about the story of Johnny Lingo
For those unfamiliar with the story of Johnny Lingo, I will enlighten you here. The story of Johnny Lingo takes place on an island in the pacific where people would pay for a wife with cows. The going rate for a good wife was about 3 cows. Johnny Lingo was a famous and wealthy trader among the islands and wanted to marry one of the woman on the island where he grew up. Mahana, the woman Johnny Lingo wanted to marry, had a reputation for being the ugliest girl on the island. People thought he wanted to marry her just because he could get her for one cow or less. On the day of the bargaining with Mahana's father, everyone was speculating that Johnny would show up and offer only half a cow for Mahana. Instead, he surprised everyone by offering Mahana's father 8 cows which was more than anyone had ever offered for a wife. Nobody could understand why Johnny, who was such a good trader, would do such a thing when he could have got her for much less. Well, after the payment is received, Johnny and Manaha get married and head off to the "Honeymoon place". When they get back, people are shocked to meet Mahana and see that she is absolutely beautiful. When people ask Johnny how that happened, he explains, "It was really the 8 cows. You see, Manaha has always been beautiful. By offering her father 8 cows, I knew that when the women would meet together in the market place and brag about how many cows their husbands had paid for them, Mahana would always know that her husband had valued her more than any other woman on the island. She would forever be the 8 cow woman and when she knew this, all the beauty she had within her came out and she became an 8 cow woman."
I gave Rachelle the 8 cows in sets of two throughout her graduation day and right when we arrived at the 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration, I pulled out the last cow who had a tuxedo and a ring around it's neck and asked her to marry me. As you might have already guessed, she said, "Yes". We were engaged for about 4 months and got married on August 14th, 1997 in the Salt Lake Temple. Ten years later, I have found that marrying her was the single best decision I have ever made in my life. She has always been great and the experiences of the last few months have just exposed a bit more of her greatness for everyone else to see. She was definitely worth every one of those 8 cows.
Baby Update
Also, just to update everyone on how the babies are doing, Rustin, Ryder, and Kyndall are all home now and are doing great. Kaydence is on deck to come home next and we expect to take her home tomorrow or the next day. Kassidy is still being a bit stubborn about the eating from a bottle thing but is still doing well. I expect she will figure it out in a few days and we will get her here by the beginning of next week. Volunteers from church are helping out a lot and even stayed here all night with them to give Rachelle and I a little sleeping break. Tonight, they are going to let us go get some Thai food for our anniversary.
Well, we dated for a few months and I decided that since we were probably going to get married anyway, it may as well be sooner rather than later. I had come to this conclusion in part because Rachelle's Grandpa Rappleye (who lived close to the University) came up to us one day and said, "Heavenly Father has saved Rachelle for you." After a rather awkward moment, I began to realize that maybe he was right.
I saw my opportunity with her graduation day. She was getting her Bachelors degree in Statistics on the same day that her grandparents were having their 50th wedding anniversary. I (or rather my mom) had a plan on how I was going to ask her to marry me. This plan was hatched a few years before I met Rachelle when my mom found 8 little stuffed cows at a garage sale and realized it would be the perfect way for me to propose to whoever it was that I was going to propose to. Many might wonder what 8 stuffed cows has anything to do with proposing. Well, those familiar with the "Johnny Lingo" might recognize the significance of the cows.
Side note about the story of Johnny Lingo
For those unfamiliar with the story of Johnny Lingo, I will enlighten you here. The story of Johnny Lingo takes place on an island in the pacific where people would pay for a wife with cows. The going rate for a good wife was about 3 cows. Johnny Lingo was a famous and wealthy trader among the islands and wanted to marry one of the woman on the island where he grew up. Mahana, the woman Johnny Lingo wanted to marry, had a reputation for being the ugliest girl on the island. People thought he wanted to marry her just because he could get her for one cow or less. On the day of the bargaining with Mahana's father, everyone was speculating that Johnny would show up and offer only half a cow for Mahana. Instead, he surprised everyone by offering Mahana's father 8 cows which was more than anyone had ever offered for a wife. Nobody could understand why Johnny, who was such a good trader, would do such a thing when he could have got her for much less. Well, after the payment is received, Johnny and Manaha get married and head off to the "Honeymoon place". When they get back, people are shocked to meet Mahana and see that she is absolutely beautiful. When people ask Johnny how that happened, he explains, "It was really the 8 cows. You see, Manaha has always been beautiful. By offering her father 8 cows, I knew that when the women would meet together in the market place and brag about how many cows their husbands had paid for them, Mahana would always know that her husband had valued her more than any other woman on the island. She would forever be the 8 cow woman and when she knew this, all the beauty she had within her came out and she became an 8 cow woman."
I gave Rachelle the 8 cows in sets of two throughout her graduation day and right when we arrived at the 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration, I pulled out the last cow who had a tuxedo and a ring around it's neck and asked her to marry me. As you might have already guessed, she said, "Yes". We were engaged for about 4 months and got married on August 14th, 1997 in the Salt Lake Temple. Ten years later, I have found that marrying her was the single best decision I have ever made in my life. She has always been great and the experiences of the last few months have just exposed a bit more of her greatness for everyone else to see. She was definitely worth every one of those 8 cows.
Baby Update
Also, just to update everyone on how the babies are doing, Rustin, Ryder, and Kyndall are all home now and are doing great. Kaydence is on deck to come home next and we expect to take her home tomorrow or the next day. Kassidy is still being a bit stubborn about the eating from a bottle thing but is still doing well. I expect she will figure it out in a few days and we will get her here by the beginning of next week. Volunteers from church are helping out a lot and even stayed here all night with them to give Rachelle and I a little sleeping break. Tonight, they are going to let us go get some Thai food for our anniversary.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Ryder and Kyndall now home, Rustin to come today (August 12)
I can now say with certainty that taking care of 5 babies will be hard (not that I ever thought it would be easy). I know this because I have found that taking care of just TWO babies is hard. Last night, I was peed on twice between the hours of 12:00 Midnight and 3:00 AM. First Kyndall had a go at me and then, not to be outdone by his slightly older sister, Ryder had an even better go at me. I think they must have talked with each other and decided to go all at once so that I would be better prepared to deal with the arrival of the others. I am grateful to those two for training me early about the dangers of changing diapers. Now, I will hopefully be more prepared to anticipate and hopefully avoid those problems in the future.
Later on today, we expect to pick up Rustin. Originally, he was supposed to come home yesterday but they decided to send Kyndall instead which is good. If Kaydence goes home next, then they will be coming back in the exact reverse of their birth order. I guess that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. I am hoping to actually start updating the web site a little more. I haven't had a lot of time to do that lately but I think that when we get in a groove, we will start to be able to figure out more time.
Later on today, we expect to pick up Rustin. Originally, he was supposed to come home yesterday but they decided to send Kyndall instead which is good. If Kaydence goes home next, then they will be coming back in the exact reverse of their birth order. I guess that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. I am hoping to actually start updating the web site a little more. I haven't had a lot of time to do that lately but I think that when we get in a groove, we will start to be able to figure out more time.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Ryder will be the first to come home on August 10th (tomorrow)
Well, today we got the call from the doctor telling us that Ryder is coming home followed quickly by Rustin and Kyndall. The only thing remaining for Kaydence and Kassidy is to be bottle fed for three days straight. When they can successfully do that without receiving other types of feeding, then they will go home too. I am not sure we are ready but yet but, really, will we ever be ready? For some reason, I was thinking we would have at least a month before they started coming home. Now, it looks like they could all be home by a week from today.
It looks like we may have an option for a van now. My cousin Samantha Lee has a sister-in-law that is one of the owners of Grand Canyon University here in Phoenix. They are just about to trade in their 12 passenger vans and might offer to let us buy one of them for a really good price. We went and looked at it today. It was huge but that is what we need. If it all works out, we will probably sell our mini van here and I will just drive the big one home next week some time.
Tonight, Rachelle and I got to go on our first date in months. We went and saw Hairspray and then had some ice cream. It was a lot of fun and was pretty relaxing. We are nervous about the babies coming home but we figured that we should take the time to relax while we still can and deal with the non-relaxing stuff when it comes.
It looks like we may have an option for a van now. My cousin Samantha Lee has a sister-in-law that is one of the owners of Grand Canyon University here in Phoenix. They are just about to trade in their 12 passenger vans and might offer to let us buy one of them for a really good price. We went and looked at it today. It was huge but that is what we need. If it all works out, we will probably sell our mini van here and I will just drive the big one home next week some time.
Tonight, Rachelle and I got to go on our first date in months. We went and saw Hairspray and then had some ice cream. It was a lot of fun and was pretty relaxing. We are nervous about the babies coming home but we figured that we should take the time to relax while we still can and deal with the non-relaxing stuff when it comes.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
All the quints in one spot, Candice the Magnificent Doctor, and Mac
Rachelle is now back home and is realizing that recovery will take just a little longer than she had originally anticipated. Somehow she imagined that after the babies were born, she would be up running around coordinating things. Instead, she is still a bit swollen and has to walk really slow. Things are going well however and she is improving more every day.
They moved the babies to the main campus of Phoenix Children's hospital and it is nice. They are all in cribs and only Rustin has an oxygen monitor on. I think that the only remaining step they have to finish before they can go home is to be able to eat without requiring any tubes through their noses (they usually stick a tube through their nose to feed them when they are not very good at sucking). Two of them are still a little lazy and are not that interested in sucking on bottles but three of them are eating pretty well.
On Tuesday, we were able to get all of the quints together in one spot. First, we put them all in the same crib for the CBS Early Show and then for a fun photo shoot later in the afternoon. Here is one of the photos we took:
Another thing that I really wanted to mention again was how cool the Doctor was that actually performed the C-section and took out babies. Her name is Candice Park and she was instrumental in getting Rachelle through those last weeks. Here is a picture of Dr. Park, Rachelle and the babies:
Candice is LDS (Mormon) and makes some of the best cakes I have ever had. In addition to being an awesome doctor, she is the gospel doctrine teacher (or adult Sunday school teacher) in her congregation and I really can't say enough good things about her. In addition to that, she is dating a former member of two National Championship BYU Volleyball teams and former member of the US National Volleyball Team, Mac (short for Mackay) Wilson. I thought this was one of the coolest things I had ever heard. For those of you who don't know me, I am a huge BYU Volleyball fan. I honestly liked going to the volleyball games a little bit better than the football games. The Volleyball games were a little more fast paced and it was just fun to see those guys hammer that ball down. It was awesome.
Anyway, I graduated in 1999 which was the year of their first championship and clearly remember Mac. I just thought that little thing was God's way of making me laugh and saying that he is watching out for Rachelle AND me. Of all the people in the world that could have performed that C-section, we had probably the most perfect for us. It is amazing how that worked out. Now, the last thing I want to say in this post is, Mac, if you are reading, you should know Candice is a definite keeper.
They moved the babies to the main campus of Phoenix Children's hospital and it is nice. They are all in cribs and only Rustin has an oxygen monitor on. I think that the only remaining step they have to finish before they can go home is to be able to eat without requiring any tubes through their noses (they usually stick a tube through their nose to feed them when they are not very good at sucking). Two of them are still a little lazy and are not that interested in sucking on bottles but three of them are eating pretty well.
On Tuesday, we were able to get all of the quints together in one spot. First, we put them all in the same crib for the CBS Early Show and then for a fun photo shoot later in the afternoon. Here is one of the photos we took:
Another thing that I really wanted to mention again was how cool the Doctor was that actually performed the C-section and took out babies. Her name is Candice Park and she was instrumental in getting Rachelle through those last weeks. Here is a picture of Dr. Park, Rachelle and the babies:
Candice is LDS (Mormon) and makes some of the best cakes I have ever had. In addition to being an awesome doctor, she is the gospel doctrine teacher (or adult Sunday school teacher) in her congregation and I really can't say enough good things about her. In addition to that, she is dating a former member of two National Championship BYU Volleyball teams and former member of the US National Volleyball Team, Mac (short for Mackay) Wilson. I thought this was one of the coolest things I had ever heard. For those of you who don't know me, I am a huge BYU Volleyball fan. I honestly liked going to the volleyball games a little bit better than the football games. The Volleyball games were a little more fast paced and it was just fun to see those guys hammer that ball down. It was awesome.
Anyway, I graduated in 1999 which was the year of their first championship and clearly remember Mac. I just thought that little thing was God's way of making me laugh and saying that he is watching out for Rachelle AND me. Of all the people in the world that could have performed that C-section, we had probably the most perfect for us. It is amazing how that worked out. Now, the last thing I want to say in this post is, Mac, if you are reading, you should know Candice is a definite keeper.
Monday, August 6, 2007
We were on the CBS early show this morning
Well, Rachelle and I were on the Early Show this morning. That was pretty interesting. It is a little difficult to do that stuff with with that little ear piece in. Over all it was pretty fun except for the getting up at 3:00 AM part. When I came back, I watched it and thought it was uncomfortable to watch. It is hard to know where to look and when to respond to the questions they ask in your ear. Although it is hard to see, we put them all in the same crib and it was great to see them there. Here is the link:
CBS Early Show Link
The babies are all progressing nicely. Most of them are off the IV and Rustin, Kaydence, and Ryder are eating well. Kyndall and Kassidy are also doing well but just are kind of sleepy so they are not as interested in eating but I am sure they will figure it out.
CBS Early Show Link
The babies are all progressing nicely. Most of them are off the IV and Rustin, Kaydence, and Ryder are eating well. Kyndall and Kassidy are also doing well but just are kind of sleepy so they are not as interested in eating but I am sure they will figure it out.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Some video of the quintuplets first meeting with Rachelle
First, I want to say thanks for all of the really nice comments for my previous post. I sort of got going and just wrote a bunch of stuff from my heart so I am glad that it seemed to come across as I intended it. I really have been hoping from the beginning that our story would give hope to people and help them know that miracles really are possible.
For a few days after Rachelle gave birth to Rustin, Ryder, Kassidy, Kaydence, and Kyndall, she didn't get to see them. During a press conference, one of the doctors told me that she thought they would be able to take them over to her room to see her for a short amount of time. The light wasn't very good but I took some video of the meeting anyway. The babies are all doing well. My dad and mom (Kevin and Sylvia Wilkinson) came to see them and had a great time holding and feeding babies. They are all still attached to a bunch of tubes and Rustin still has a bit of a breathing issue but they are all doing well. I am especially grateful when I see some of the other poor babies in the NICU. Some of them are not doing nearly as well as ours and my heart really goes out to all those who have babies that really struggle.
One of the really cool things about having quintuplets is that a bunch of professional photographers are interested in taking pictures of your babies. There was a great photographer at the birth that took some really wonderful pictures. You might have seen them because they used them in the newspapers and the news reports but they are awesome. We hope to be able to show more later. There is a decent change that some of the pictures will be in a Newsweek article some time in the next few weeks but I will let you know for sure. They can always change those things if something more significant comes up. Speaking of that, there is also a decent chance we could be on the CBS Early Show but I don't know for sure yet. If we are, I will try to let you all know. If we did, that would mean I would probably have to be there at 4:00 AM which is a little early. However, it would be fun to share our story with a big group of people like that so I won't mind. It will probably be a small taste of what the next few months are going to be like anyway.
Something else I wanted to mention is that my team at work (Sean Eason, Chris Roysden, Mitch Wilson, and Mike Devlin) are all preparing right now for NIWeek. NIWeek is an annual conference National Instruments has every year in the convention center in Austin. Normally, I would be in charge of the AV portion of the keynote speeches during that week. As you might guess, I am not there right now and have left it in the hands of my team (particularly Sean Eason). Thus far, they have done a remarkable job making the necessary preparations to pull it off and I am really grateful to them for that. I just wanted to wish them good luck as they go into this next week and let them know how really grateful I am to them for everything they are doing. To check out what they are doing, you can probably see some of the video posts of it next week on:
ni.com/niweek
For a few days after Rachelle gave birth to Rustin, Ryder, Kassidy, Kaydence, and Kyndall, she didn't get to see them. During a press conference, one of the doctors told me that she thought they would be able to take them over to her room to see her for a short amount of time. The light wasn't very good but I took some video of the meeting anyway. The babies are all doing well. My dad and mom (Kevin and Sylvia Wilkinson) came to see them and had a great time holding and feeding babies. They are all still attached to a bunch of tubes and Rustin still has a bit of a breathing issue but they are all doing well. I am especially grateful when I see some of the other poor babies in the NICU. Some of them are not doing nearly as well as ours and my heart really goes out to all those who have babies that really struggle.
One of the really cool things about having quintuplets is that a bunch of professional photographers are interested in taking pictures of your babies. There was a great photographer at the birth that took some really wonderful pictures. You might have seen them because they used them in the newspapers and the news reports but they are awesome. We hope to be able to show more later. There is a decent change that some of the pictures will be in a Newsweek article some time in the next few weeks but I will let you know for sure. They can always change those things if something more significant comes up. Speaking of that, there is also a decent chance we could be on the CBS Early Show but I don't know for sure yet. If we are, I will try to let you all know. If we did, that would mean I would probably have to be there at 4:00 AM which is a little early. However, it would be fun to share our story with a big group of people like that so I won't mind. It will probably be a small taste of what the next few months are going to be like anyway.
Something else I wanted to mention is that my team at work (Sean Eason, Chris Roysden, Mitch Wilson, and Mike Devlin) are all preparing right now for NIWeek. NIWeek is an annual conference National Instruments has every year in the convention center in Austin. Normally, I would be in charge of the AV portion of the keynote speeches during that week. As you might guess, I am not there right now and have left it in the hands of my team (particularly Sean Eason). Thus far, they have done a remarkable job making the necessary preparations to pull it off and I am really grateful to them for that. I just wanted to wish them good luck as they go into this next week and let them know how really grateful I am to them for everything they are doing. To check out what they are doing, you can probably see some of the video posts of it next week on:
ni.com/niweek
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Update for August 2 and a really long post about my thoughts
Well, Rachelle is improving and they took her off the magnesium this morning. She also got to move up to her old room which means that they thought she was well enough. The doctor actually thinks she will be able to leave on Saturday or Sunday.
The babies are doing well still. Rustin is still having some breathing issues but they are working through them and I am sure he will be OK in a few days. They moved Kassidy closer to the others which is nice because I don't want her to feel left out. The hospital here and the NICU are both awesome. They have really been great. A lot of people have been really great and have offered all kinds of support. It is overwhelming for me. Today, my old BYU roommate, Chris Thompson, and his wife Kathleen sent me a package that had a very generous gift in it. I really have a hard time knowing how to respond to such generosity except to say thank you from the depths of my heart.
I want to mention how grateful I am for all of the service that people have given us. I have always been a very independent person and very proud that I have been able to make it on my own. Rachelle and I are very similar in that regard. After we got married, which was just before she started on her Master's degree and just before my Junior year of college, we were completely on our own financially. We are very frugal and managed to even save a bit of money and avoid debt while finishing our degrees. We have even managed to avoid debt (except for the house mortgage of which we have paid off a significant percentage). I say this, not to brag, but to help you understand how much of an adjustment it has been for us to realize that we will need help in our situation. Early on in the pregnancy, I had the distinct impression (which I firmly believe came from God) that one of the purposes of our pregnancy was to give other people the opportunity to serve and receive the blessings one gets from serving others.
A number of years ago, I discovered one of the secrets to true and lasting happiness. It is service to others. In serving others, we forget ourselves. We forget our own problems or recognize those problems in different ways that make them seem less formidable. I firmly believe that it is only through serving others (including our own family members) that we can really find true happiness. Rachelle and I are in an unfortunate position where we can't do much to serve others right now (except for our own children). Some people may think that doesn't sound so bad but it has been difficult for us. One of my fears is that I will get used to it or that I will come to just expect it. I honestly hope this doesn't happen because it is difficult to find happiness when you are frustrated because other people are not always doing your bidding. I think that is the trap that movie stars (especially those that were famous as children) often run into. The impression I received early on about this pregnancy being an opportunity for others helped me to be less fearful of accepting help. I pray often that the Lord will bless those that have given us service like Rachelle's aunt who has Multiple Sclerosis, Natalie Woods who has a big family and a house of her own to deal with, Chris and Kathleen Thompson who have just recently had their own new baby, and many many others, even strangers, who I don't have room enough to list.
One of the other things I want to say is that had we chosen to reduce to twins, I know that we would have regretted that decision for the rest of our lives. We had a very difficult choice early on. We could have chosen to reduce to twins and have a much more normal pregnancy or put everything we had into getting all 5 babies here safely. We obviously chose the latter and we knew that it would forever change the course of our lives. I am not suggesting that everybody who reduces should forever feel guilty about it. In many cases, reduction is necessary to save either the mothers life or the lives of some of the other babies. I really empathize with all of the people that are faced with that decision because it is a very serious one with real consequences. We made that decision knowing that the probability of a good outcome was not very high and we have been incredibly blessed by the results.
Rachelle and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary on August 14th and it will not be what we had imagined on our wedding day 10 years ago. All of the plans we made over the years have now completely changed. Very early on, however, I came to realize that God's hand is in this and our new path will be even better than what we had originally planned. Just looking at the faces of those wonderful babies tells me that. I don't know exactly what kind of things we are going to be able to offer these children but I do know that they are going to grow up in a household with a Mom and Dad that love them very much and will do everything in our power to give them what they need (but not necessarily what they want:).
I don't know why God has sent us these beautiful babies and helped us out so much while so many other good people with high order multiples are not given these same blessings. I credit the medical staff at the hospital for their diligence and concern but I still feel like it was a miracle that things have turned out like that have. I feel like these babies must have been sent to us for some important purpose and I am excited to spend the rest of my life discovering that purpose.
The babies are doing well still. Rustin is still having some breathing issues but they are working through them and I am sure he will be OK in a few days. They moved Kassidy closer to the others which is nice because I don't want her to feel left out. The hospital here and the NICU are both awesome. They have really been great. A lot of people have been really great and have offered all kinds of support. It is overwhelming for me. Today, my old BYU roommate, Chris Thompson, and his wife Kathleen sent me a package that had a very generous gift in it. I really have a hard time knowing how to respond to such generosity except to say thank you from the depths of my heart.
I want to mention how grateful I am for all of the service that people have given us. I have always been a very independent person and very proud that I have been able to make it on my own. Rachelle and I are very similar in that regard. After we got married, which was just before she started on her Master's degree and just before my Junior year of college, we were completely on our own financially. We are very frugal and managed to even save a bit of money and avoid debt while finishing our degrees. We have even managed to avoid debt (except for the house mortgage of which we have paid off a significant percentage). I say this, not to brag, but to help you understand how much of an adjustment it has been for us to realize that we will need help in our situation. Early on in the pregnancy, I had the distinct impression (which I firmly believe came from God) that one of the purposes of our pregnancy was to give other people the opportunity to serve and receive the blessings one gets from serving others.
A number of years ago, I discovered one of the secrets to true and lasting happiness. It is service to others. In serving others, we forget ourselves. We forget our own problems or recognize those problems in different ways that make them seem less formidable. I firmly believe that it is only through serving others (including our own family members) that we can really find true happiness. Rachelle and I are in an unfortunate position where we can't do much to serve others right now (except for our own children). Some people may think that doesn't sound so bad but it has been difficult for us. One of my fears is that I will get used to it or that I will come to just expect it. I honestly hope this doesn't happen because it is difficult to find happiness when you are frustrated because other people are not always doing your bidding. I think that is the trap that movie stars (especially those that were famous as children) often run into. The impression I received early on about this pregnancy being an opportunity for others helped me to be less fearful of accepting help. I pray often that the Lord will bless those that have given us service like Rachelle's aunt who has Multiple Sclerosis, Natalie Woods who has a big family and a house of her own to deal with, Chris and Kathleen Thompson who have just recently had their own new baby, and many many others, even strangers, who I don't have room enough to list.
One of the other things I want to say is that had we chosen to reduce to twins, I know that we would have regretted that decision for the rest of our lives. We had a very difficult choice early on. We could have chosen to reduce to twins and have a much more normal pregnancy or put everything we had into getting all 5 babies here safely. We obviously chose the latter and we knew that it would forever change the course of our lives. I am not suggesting that everybody who reduces should forever feel guilty about it. In many cases, reduction is necessary to save either the mothers life or the lives of some of the other babies. I really empathize with all of the people that are faced with that decision because it is a very serious one with real consequences. We made that decision knowing that the probability of a good outcome was not very high and we have been incredibly blessed by the results.
Rachelle and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary on August 14th and it will not be what we had imagined on our wedding day 10 years ago. All of the plans we made over the years have now completely changed. Very early on, however, I came to realize that God's hand is in this and our new path will be even better than what we had originally planned. Just looking at the faces of those wonderful babies tells me that. I don't know exactly what kind of things we are going to be able to offer these children but I do know that they are going to grow up in a household with a Mom and Dad that love them very much and will do everything in our power to give them what they need (but not necessarily what they want:).
I don't know why God has sent us these beautiful babies and helped us out so much while so many other good people with high order multiples are not given these same blessings. I credit the medical staff at the hospital for their diligence and concern but I still feel like it was a miracle that things have turned out like that have. I feel like these babies must have been sent to us for some important purpose and I am excited to spend the rest of my life discovering that purpose.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Update for Wednesday Aug 1
Well, a lot has happened today. I was pretty amazed at all of the crazy news coverage we had. I actually had come to the conclusion that 5 babies wasn't that big of a deal because of the recent sextuplet births. It turns that is actually is a pretty big deal. I think breaking the record helped a lot and that is something I am very happy about because it means healthier babies.
Rachelle is doing a little better. She did end up having to go on the magnesium again but it was a fairly low dose. She was feeling pretty rotten this morning but she started feeling better in the afternoon. She actually got to see all the babies for the first time today and I hope to have some video of that up on the website as soon as I get some time.
We did a press conference in the morning. It was pretty fun. All of the news media people I have met have been very nice. There was a lot of cameras there and I answered a bunch of questions about the babies, how they are doing, and how it felt to have it all happen. A bunch of it was on the evening news here in Phoenix and it feels a little silly to see myself on TV. This evening, I did see a few really great reports on
Channel 3 (ABC): (may require some registration)
Fox 10
Channel 5 (CBS).
I was actually surprised to see them because of the tragic bridge collapse that happened today. I assumed that our quintuplets would not be as interesting after news like that but I guess I was wrong.
One thing I did find out today is that we probably are not going to get any van donated despite all of the news coverage we have had. This is a bit of a bummer but I am hoping we can find a used van somewhere that will not be too expensive. Our friend Natalie Woods talked to a bunch of dealerships (she has been so helpful with this whole thing along with so many other people) and they might be able to give us a decent discount. She did say that Hewlett Chevrolet was the nicest dealership she talked to.
Natalie also told me that Randall's ( a grocery store owned by the same company as Safeway) donating 1000 diapers to us! That is really nice and should probably last us at least a month. I heard that it was originally organized through Jason Wheeler at KEYE. I have not been able to verify that but I hope to find out the specifics soon so I can thank them.
Thanks again for all your prayers and everything else.
Rachelle is doing a little better. She did end up having to go on the magnesium again but it was a fairly low dose. She was feeling pretty rotten this morning but she started feeling better in the afternoon. She actually got to see all the babies for the first time today and I hope to have some video of that up on the website as soon as I get some time.
We did a press conference in the morning. It was pretty fun. All of the news media people I have met have been very nice. There was a lot of cameras there and I answered a bunch of questions about the babies, how they are doing, and how it felt to have it all happen. A bunch of it was on the evening news here in Phoenix and it feels a little silly to see myself on TV. This evening, I did see a few really great reports on
Channel 3 (ABC): (may require some registration)
Fox 10
Channel 5 (CBS).
I was actually surprised to see them because of the tragic bridge collapse that happened today. I assumed that our quintuplets would not be as interesting after news like that but I guess I was wrong.
One thing I did find out today is that we probably are not going to get any van donated despite all of the news coverage we have had. This is a bit of a bummer but I am hoping we can find a used van somewhere that will not be too expensive. Our friend Natalie Woods talked to a bunch of dealerships (she has been so helpful with this whole thing along with so many other people) and they might be able to give us a decent discount. She did say that Hewlett Chevrolet was the nicest dealership she talked to.
Natalie also told me that Randall's ( a grocery store owned by the same company as Safeway) donating 1000 diapers to us! That is really nice and should probably last us at least a month. I heard that it was originally organized through Jason Wheeler at KEYE. I have not been able to verify that but I hope to find out the specifics soon so I can thank them.
Thanks again for all your prayers and everything else.
Follow up and current news coverage
We were pretty busy yesterday with everything. Right now, Rachelle is doing OK but she has some issues with her kidneys that the doctors are trying to sort out. They told her yesterday that she might have to go back on a smaller dosage of the Mag to fix the problem which she is not excited about. The only thing she has really seen of them has been the little video that I put on YouTube yesterday so that is a bit sad.
I have gone and held them each last night. While I was doing that, I had a bit of a taste for how difficult this is going to be. Giving them each the attention that they need will be a very difficult task. It took me several hours just to hold them each for a brief period of time. However, they all seem to be doing fairly well and are all still beautiful. They are also all fairly different. For anyone that saw the video I put on my blog yesterday, you might have seen the little girl that was looking around with her eyes open. That is little Kaydence who was the smallest baby. She seems to have some drive. Ryder and Rustin are both a bit loud and appear to get each other to start crying. Kassidy has been seperated from them all because she was in the normal nursery. However, last night, they decided to move her to the NICU because she had a hard time eating and breathing at the same time. Kyndall seems like a sweet little thing. I wish I could see her face more clearly because it is covered with the little oxygen mask over her nose. This is called CPAP and it really is just normal air with a little more pressure to help them out a little.
We got a lot of news stations and other things interested in us yesterday. Here are some that I know about:
Austin American-Statesman
FOX 7 Video
FOX 7 News
KEYE News
KVUE News
KXAN News
Thanks again for your prayers and we will continue to need them.
I have gone and held them each last night. While I was doing that, I had a bit of a taste for how difficult this is going to be. Giving them each the attention that they need will be a very difficult task. It took me several hours just to hold them each for a brief period of time. However, they all seem to be doing fairly well and are all still beautiful. They are also all fairly different. For anyone that saw the video I put on my blog yesterday, you might have seen the little girl that was looking around with her eyes open. That is little Kaydence who was the smallest baby. She seems to have some drive. Ryder and Rustin are both a bit loud and appear to get each other to start crying. Kassidy has been seperated from them all because she was in the normal nursery. However, last night, they decided to move her to the NICU because she had a hard time eating and breathing at the same time. Kyndall seems like a sweet little thing. I wish I could see her face more clearly because it is covered with the little oxygen mask over her nose. This is called CPAP and it really is just normal air with a little more pressure to help them out a little.
We got a lot of news stations and other things interested in us yesterday. Here are some that I know about:
Austin American-Statesman
FOX 7 Video
FOX 7 News
KEYE News
KVUE News
KXAN News
Thanks again for your prayers and we will continue to need them.
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