Quints Visit to the State Capitol on Texas Independance Day

OK, it has been a really long time since I have posted anything but I am going to start doing more now that I have a whole lot more time due to the fact that they are sleeping through the night. I want to start with episode number 7 which is where we take the kids (all 7 of them) and Rachelle's aunt Kathy to the Texas state capitol on Texas independence day. I actually only knew that it was Texas independance day because Riley told me. He is studying Texas in school right now. We now know where all of the big Texas pride comes from. It turns out that it is instilled in them during elementary school. He has come home twice in the last few days and said, "Dad, do you know what is so cool about Texas? It has a cool shape. Some states are just squares but Texas has a cool shape." Anyway, he has been telling us Texas facts for the last week so we thought it was appropriate for us to go to the capitol. Rachelle's aunt Kathy was visiting from Arizona and we also thought it would be a fun place to take her as well.

The babies all did really well and seemed to enjoy it...right up until we got them all back in the van for the 40 minute ride home. It was getting close to bed time and we really didn't want them to go to sleep because we didn't want to mess up their sleeping schedule. Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about that because most of them just screamed the whole way home. It was still worth it because it was nice to get out and do something with them. We had to take the two strollers (the three baby stroller and the two baby stroller) because we haven't received the mount for the big stroller. When we do get it, we should have lots of fun going places and being gawked at.

Anyway, here is the video:

Guest Bloggers Victoria and Linda

OK, I am going to turn the blog over to Victoria and Linda. I figure it is the least I can do considering all that they have done for us. However, before I do that, I have to let you know that Rachelle is doing fine and she is still not too excited about waiting until 34 weeks. Anyway, here are Victoria and Linda.

Aunt Victory here, Linda and I have had an extraordinary 5 days here in Austin, TX. We don't know what Austin looks like be we now know every nook and cranny of Jayson and Rachelle's house. Jayson has been incredible, letting two mature bossy know it all Aunts take over his house, possessions, and life for the past week. He's worked all day and come home to a TO DO LIST every night. Not once has he complained although late on Saturday night he was ready for bed and wearily said to us, " how can you keep working". We all laughed and then he went to bed and we continued to stencil stars in Riley's room.

We've met many of Jayson and Rachelle's friends this week and they have been so helpful and supportive. Our thanks to David for loaning us a van so that we could make Home Depot and IKEA runs, to Natalie and Randy for good advice, the best meal in Texas and a helping hand at hanging cupboards, to Liz and Bruce who also stepped in with last minute needed items and cupboard hanging.

On Thursday Linda hung a plaque in the kitchen, it is the word FAITH. That word sums up our visit at least for me. Jayson and Rachelle are an example to us of FAITH in action. As they have accepted this exciting and overwhelming responsibility they have moved forward with great Faith. We are grateful to Rachelle that she had Faith in Linda and I to let us help make here house a home. We know it was hard for her to be so far away as we attempted to make here beautiful new house into HER home. We have Faith that they will be truly wonderful parents to a much larger family. As we've met their friends and listened to their many enthusiastic plans for helping Jayson and Rachelle we have witnessed the Faith and Love they have for the Wilkinson family. It gives us great comfort to know there are so many here willing and wanting to help. We also have Faith in all of you out there who have followed this wonderful event. We hope you check out the Now to Help page of the Blog.

Before I go to bed tonight I would like to say that my sister Linda is truly tireless and creative and I've had a hard time keeping up with her. We both feel so privileged to have had this opportunity to help and also to spend time with Jayson. It was a joy to serve this family that we love dearly. Rachelle you are totally awesome and amazing.

My July 4th trip to Arizona

On the 3rd and 4th of July I drove to Arizona. It was a long drive but it seemed much shorter without the kids. I arrived and got to go swimming with Rachelle and the kids. She was doing well but seemed to be much more uncomfortable than she was when I was here a month ago. She kept tossing and turning in bed all night. Anyway, we had a good fourth and fifth of July. I was glad that she wasn't in the hospital when I got there because we were sure that she would be by this time.

Anyway, on July 6th, she "failed" her contraction monitoring two times. She normally monitors for 1 hour two times a day and they count the contractions during that one hour. If she has more than 5, that is too many and she has to re-monitor. If she has more than 5 again then she usually has to either go to the hospital or do something else out of the ordinary. Well, on the morning of July 6th, she had 8 on her first monitoring session and 6 on her second. The doctor was not available to make a call on the contractions so they told us to go to the hospital. I took her in and we were pretty sure that she was in for good this time. When we arrived, they gave us the bad news that she was going to have to go on the magnesium again to slow the contractions. This is the medication she had before that made her feel really awful. I guess it feels like a really bad flu except that you also have double vision (if that gives you any indication of what it is like). It probably wouldn't be so bad except that she has a whole bunch of weight sitting right there on her front side that makes it difficult to adjust sleeping positions.

Well, they put her on it and kept her in the hospital. As of Saturday night, July 7, the contractions appeared to have slowed a little bit but not as much as they hoped. They are hoping that they slow more over the next few days. They gave her some steroids to help the babies develop their lungs better but the steroids caused the contractions to get worse. She receives her last dose of the steroids tonight (July 7th) and after that wears off, the contractions should come down. I still think she can make it to July 31 which would be 34 weeks.

She could technically have the babies now and they would probably be OK but it would be much better if they could hold off until at least about a week and a half from now. One of the problems is that the NICU at Good Sam Hospital is totally full. You might have heard about the recent sextuplets that were born in Phoenix. Well, those babies are doing well but are still in the NICU here. Apparently, if our babies were born in the next week, they might have to be sent to another hospital which would be scary for us. However, I am pretty sure that won't happen. I think that Rachelle will be able to hold them off until the end of the month.

In reality, Rachelle is really lucky to have come this far without having to go to the hospital. The doctor told her that he hadn't seen any other mom be able to stay at home as long as she did. Many of the moms had to stay in the hospital, on the magnesium, for much longer than Rachelle will have to stay. Our good friend, Lindi Briggs, had quadruplets and had to stay in the hospital on the magnesium for more than 2 months. Neither of us can imagine what that must have been like. Rachelle thinks that she can endure it for as long as it takes to bring these babies here healthy.

Aside from that, the other kids are doing pretty well. Rachelle's aunt Jeanie has a pool in her back yard (like many people in Arizona) and Rachelle was using the pool daily because it actually felt really nice to get in the pool and be away from gravity for a little while. I found that during the time I was here, it didn't actually cool me off very much because the temperature here has been above 110 every day I have been here. When it is that hot, the water in the pool feels more like a warm bath. Despite that, however, Riley and Kaiya have really been enjoying their own private pool. Riley could barely swim when we first got here but now he can swim all the way across the pool as well as dive to the bottom of the deep end. Also, before the last couple of days, Kaiya couldn't even stick her head under the water but today (July 7th), she not only stuck her head under the water but actually swam about 6 feet! I was really excited but sad that Rachelle couldn't be there to see it. I am also sad that tomorrow I am heading back to Austin so I won't have a chance to teach Kaiya any more swimming.

We visited Rachelle today and she was in pretty good spirits but a little out of it. I think things will stabilize in the next few days and she will feel better. We continue to appreciate all of the many prayers people have been giving for her and us. We also continue to appreciate all of the other things we have received. I think we will have more than enough preemie clothes now. Also, because of a new found friend, there is a good chance that one of the local car dealerships might give us a van which would be really exciting. I don't know if it is actually going to happen but it sure would be nice. I doubt it will look like the A-team van but, really, who wants a black van in Austin anyway?

My second trip to Europe

Well, last week I was in Europe again. While I was there Rachelle had to briefly go to the hospital just like last time. Fortunately, this time was much more brief and she was out in just a few hours. Unlike my last trip to Europe, I actually got to see something interesting. I went to Aachen Germany and Ge,neva, Switzerland and in th first part of the trip I went one night to the church in Aachen where Charlemagne was crowned. It was built in circa 800 and was pretty interesting.

In Aachen, I was there to make a video about an application from a company called FAG. Apparently, in German, the acronym FAG doesn't have the same meaning when you say it as a word. Well, they were very nice there and I didn't have any of the strange light problems because I had done my homework and had prepared myself with European voltage compatible lights. The big problems didn't start until we went on our next leg...

After Aachen, we then drove to Frankfurt and flew from Frankfurt to Geneva, Switzerland. When we arrived in Geneva Switzerland, we got off the plane but my luggage never did. I had three checked bags and, fortunately, I had one of the others traveling with me check one of my bags (the one with the camera and camera gear). The bags I checked never arrived. To make it worse, I had accidentally left the little luggage receipts at a security desk in Frankfurt. These pieces of luggage had all of my clothes, toiletries, and all of my lighting stuff. So, again, despite all of my careful preparation, we still had issues. Fortunately, one of the others traveling with us, Darcy Dement, had a lot more European experience and a cooler head than I did and called someone we knew from Geneva and was able to find a company that, for some strange but wonderful reason, had 24 hour service for renting their lighting equipment. The video shoot in Switzerland was at CERN, home of the worlds largest super collider and was much more significant than our video shoot in Aachen so I was so glad that we were able to find something that worked. I think we were really lucky to find a lighting company at all and one that offered 24 hour service (with a really nice guy named Oliver) was truly a miracle.

Unfortunately, although we were able to solve the problem with the lights, we were not able to solve the problem with my clothes. I only had that one change of clothes so I washed them in the sink (with shampoo) and dried them with the hair dryer in the wall. This actually worked surprisingly well but just took a long time.

Something that ended up making me feel a little better was that when we got to the hotel, I looked at the building right next to ours and noticed that it was a church with a familiar looking steeple. I walked over to it and, sure enough, it said (in French), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. On my last night there I went over to it and tried to get in just to find some comfort in a familiar setting but it was locked. Then someone from inside saw me and came over to open the door. He turned out to be the bishop of the local English speaking congregation and we chatted for about a half hour which was fun and comforting after the stress of the previous few days. I told him about my babies and he, like most people, was a bit shocked. Anyway, it was nice to just sit and talk with someone for a while and made me feel much better. I think it is amazing the way that God works to help us in our times of need. I decided that as long as Rachelle was OK, then the stuff I was dealing with just didn't matter that much. Now that I am back home, wearing clean clothes, and getting word that my luggage is, apparently, making it's way back from Europe, I can see a little clearer that it is all unimportant relative to how well Rachelle is doing. She continues to exceed the doctor's expectations and it is just amazing to me. For me, the events of the last few months, weeks, and days are clear evidence that there is a God and he cares about us even enough to help me find a little comfort in a church in Switzerland over something as minor as lost luggage.

Last week, our friend Natalie Woods went to visit Rachelle and took some pictures. Below is one of the pictures. I noticed that her face is actually starting to get much thinner but her belly is getting much bigger. I assume this is normal but at first it made me nervous because I wasn't sure if she was getting enough to eat. Rachelle was visited by a ton of people this last week. My Sister Alicia and her husband Mike were there to bring Riley and Kaiya back to Arizona. My uncle Larry and aunt Gloria along with their son Danny and his wife also visited. People ask me if she is just going crazy with boredom and I have to say that I don't think she has enough time to go crazy with all of the people there to hang out with her. It is just amazing to me that we have been so blessed with all of the things we have had and seen. We have received so much from many people who seem excited to get the chance to help us out. Without all of the help we have received from so many people, I don't know how we would have made it. There is still a long way to go but I think, based on past experience, things will work out fine.