Hi,

Wanted to share some exciting news - our baby girl arrived safely on April 12th! Emily Anne Douglas

Due to the unknown cause of death of our stillborn son, John Michael, the doctors thought it best that Emily be delivered as soon as her lungs could handle it. Thankfully she was a good size (7lb1oz) and had no problems from our VBAC delivery.

Thanks to those of you who offered words of encouragement (and a heart rate monitor) during the early months of our pregnancy when we were so nervous about what could happen.

After such a good pregnancy and delivery I did not realize how hard it would be at the hospital as every staff member would start the conversation with "So you have 4 children now!" I finally started saying that she was "my 4th to get to take home" rather than going into the whole triplet story and that actually she is #5.

Another thing that has been unexpectedly hard is when people see my children together and say something about our little guy needing a brother to help him cope with having 3 sisters. I find I get defensive and feel the need to let them know he does have a brother, just not one he is able to play with. Have any of you experienced things like that and, if so, how did you handle them emotionally?

Thank you!

Karen
DH - John
D - Carolyn - 4.7.01 - 40w4d
GB^B^ - Jessica, Luke, & ^John Michael^ - 6.10.04 - 33w6d
D - Emily - 4.12.07 - 36w6d

Every good and perfect gift comes from our Father above . . . James 1:17

Karen,

Congrats on the birth of your daughter!

Rachel

Rachel - mother of four...forever
^Jaxon^ (3/2/07-5/29/07)
^Courtney^ (3/2/07-3/8/07)
^Colin^ (3/2/07-3/8/07)
23 weeks 6 days
www.tripletbutterflywings.blogspot.com
www.themcconathys.blogspot.com
Kenzington Rae 12/26/08
Born at 36 weeks after 5 months of

I don't have any advice for you yet. Congratulations on your little Emily!

Kara
Mom to BBG Triplet Angels
^Alexander Ryan^^Ethan Cole^^Avery Lynn^
8/12/06 - 8/12/06

BG Twins @ 36weeks 4days
Alison 5lbs 14oz
Elijah 5lbs 7oz

Congrats. Praise God for good news!!!!

Raquel
Mom to triplet angels: Sophia, Steven Jr. & Xavier b/d 25w4d (11/26/06, & Sweet baby Joseph (11/14/07-11/14/07)
Eliana Grace-God has answered
Born 4/03/09

Congratulations on the birth of your healthy little girl!!! Being pg after a loss really is kind of surreal, isn't it? Sometimes I wonder how I got through it and I think that only by the grace of God.

Depending on the context of the conversation and how much you want to get into it, you can say "He DOES have brother....watching over him from heaven."

We get those remarks too. My surviving DS is one of BB twins and when he was 22 months we had GGGG quads. For the most part I just let the comments go. Just because you don't vocalize something to people, you are not dishonoring John Michael. He is still in your thoughts and in your heart......I've kind of adopted the philosophy that only certain people GET to learn about my angel baby. So they have to be a bit special if I'm going to give them my time and see a little bit of my heart.

One of my standard responses if I FEEL like it are:

"ahhh, but he will be the BEST husband on the planet after growing up with 4 sisters"

We also had a lot of the hospital staff make similar comments about the number of children. I actually think they kept us away from a quad famiily that delivered shortly before us. They lost one of their babies. I soooo wanted to talk to the mom, but realized it would be hard for her to see me with my 4, but I'm sure she never knew that we had a previous loss.

YOu get the "you've got your hands full" comments too and I often mutter to myself "not full enough".

MonsterMom6
10 year old ^b^ b twins @ 30w5d (1 survivor) and
8 year old gggg quads @ 32w0d

Our trio came after we lost our little angel Abegail. It has been very hard for me to think of Ella not having her sister here to grow up with and confide in, especially since we have four boys.

I don't know that I have any advice for you. I still miss Abegail, but can say that my meltdowns do not come quite as often now as they used to.

Soon after we lost Abegail our youngest son, at the time, was asked by a friend how many brothers and sisters he had. I was surprised by his answer. He told his friend "I have a brother who lives in my house, and a sister who lives in heaven."

I was glad that those who really count remember her.

Jonna

G 25
B 17
B 13
G (Stillborn Angel 4/16/05)
BGB 1/06 @ 27 wks
Grandaughter 3