Huge Announcement...QUADATHON!

It's a Quadathon, Baby Blog Addict style!

We are so excited to announce that we'll be featuring four amazing Quad Moms and their blogs over the next two weeks here on BabyBlogAddict.com. And they are all participating in a Q&A with us too!

It's a surprise, so I can't announce who these supermoms are yet, but they are FAMOUS when it comes to the baby blog world and beyond. Here's a hint...they just took an amazing trip together to finally meet each other. If you follow these quad blogs, you know who I'm talking about. If you don't follow them yet, you will when you hear their amazing stories and hilarious blog posts about life with quads. Their blogs are addictive!

We'll also have some fun giveaways mixed in with the Quad Q&A's during our Quadathon over the next two weeks. Sign up for our BBA feed in the left column, so you don't miss anything. And feel free to add our Quadathon button to your blogs too. Just cut and paste the code below into a blog post or your side bar (in blogger, go to layout; add page element; select html; paste the code from the box below). Let us know if you have any questions.

<a href="http://www.babyblogaddict.com" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="QuadathonwithDate200x103" src="http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x208/babyblogaddict/QuadathonwithDate200x103.gif" /></a>

Stay tuned...

Happy Mother's Day! Woman Expecting 18th

You think your house is full? Do you wish you had that one extra room to hide some stuff away? Be glad you're not this couple in Little Rock, Ark. Just in time for Mother's Day, 41-year-old Michelle Duggar, found out she was pregnant with her 18th child. The latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers.

Says Duggar: "We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us." The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

Look for the family soon in another series on Discovery Health.

Multiples In The News

>> Weaver family gets four new additions...
>> Quads see newborn quads at Ohio hospital...
>> Van Tol quints celebrate fourth birthday...
>> Think your life is busy? Check out the Manley quints...
>> Christmas with the Barreiro quintuplets...
>> Michigan's first sextuplets turn 4 ...
>> Byler sextuplets of Florida home for Christmas...

Tampa Couple Receives Three Miracles

Tampa - It had taken three years and 13 in vitro cycles, but it took the audacity of modern science, the stubbornness of sisters, and something even harder to explain. Adrienne, told she could never conceive, held a twin to her chest, just above her swelling womb. A third baby, an even more impossible baby, is due in April.

Maximus and Tomas, born Wednesday night, are medically unexplainable. Soon Adrienne Lugo will have three -- her twins carried by her sister Nicole Gee who offered to be a surrogate, and one surprise gift of nature, conceived the old-fashioned way. For the rest of the story, click here.

2008 Wilkinson Quints Calendar

Back in August, BabyBlogAddict.com announced the arrival of the Wilkinson Quintuplets to parents Rachelle and Jayson Wilkinson and big brother Riley and big sister Kaiya.

Now they have created a unique fundraiser for their babies, The 2008 Wilkinson Quints Calendar! The cost of the calendar is $20.00 plus tax (for Texas residents) and $2.00 shipping. The proceeds from the calendar will help cover the cost of diapers, baby food, etc. Scroll down on their calendar page to see the pictures for each month. It is so cute!

Sextuplets Mom Wins on 'Deal or No Deal'

Back in June, BabyBlogAddict.com announced the arrival of sextuplets to Jenny and Bryan Masche, the "Masche Miracles".

"Deal or No Deal" celebrated Christmas last night with Jenny Masche as a contestant. She ended up taking a deal for $121,000 and was then surprised with a $100,000 scholarship for the sextuplets from Johnson's Baby. Congrats! What a great Christmas gift for the Masche family!

Couple Lost 3 Children, Now Expecting Triplets

In an instant last May, Chris and Lori Coble lost their three young children - Kyle, 5, Emma, 4, and Katie, 2, - in a horrific traffic accident not far from the family’s California home.

The couple was devastated by the sudden and profound loss of their two daughters and a son, but knew even through their grief they were meant to be parents and would be again.

The triplets Lori Coble is carrying — two girls and a boy — were conceived through in vitro fertilization.

Check out the rest of their story and an interview with the couple from the Today show.

Mother Dies, Leaving Husband and Triplets

We usually try to steer away from sad stories on Baby Blog Addict, but a fellow baby blog addict (thanks, Beth) let us know about this family and we felt that need was there, so we wanted to help spread the word.

During this holiday season, a Tucson father has three reasons to celebrate. Andrue Smith's wife recently gave birth to triplet boys. But tragically, his wife died after the babies were born. Andrue is now struggling to cope with the loss of his wife and raising the babies on his own.

Click here for the whole story and for donation information at the bottom of the article.

One Doctor, 24 Hours, Four Sets of Twins

In 19 years of practice, Wisconsin obstetrician Dr. Ken Merkitch had never experienced anything like it. He wasn’t just seeing double, he was seeing octuple.

In one 24-hour period beginning last Friday and ending early Saturday, he delivered four sets of twins and nine babies overall at Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse, Wis.
“It started out very quiet,” Merkitch told TODAY co-host Matt Lauer on Wednesday.

For more of the story and to watch the video of their apperance on TODAY, click here.

Sextuplets Born

Florida's first sextuplets were born last night in Tampa. Five boys and one girl, all healthy, came into the world within three minutes of each other.

Hot off the Wire...

LUTZ, Fla. (AP) — More than 500 visitors showed up at a Baptist church Saturday for what is being billed as Tampa Bay's Biggest Baby Shower. The community came to support Ben and Karoline Byler, who are expecting sextuplets sometime in the next three weeks. According to the Florida Department of Vital Statistics, the Byler babies will be the first sextuplets born on record in the state.

Website Spotlight: Babystrology

We've already featured a couple of options when it comes to pregnancy tickers - lilypie.com and baby-gaga.com.

Babystrology offers another free ticker to add to your blog. Due to popular demand, they even added multiple support - twins, triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, and more.

You thought you spent a lot of time checking your favorite baby blogs...now babystrology even offers Baby Games like the PeePee TeePee Launcher to use up even more of your free time. Remember the creative Pee-Pee TeePee for boys that we featured a couple of months ago? Now you can play the game.

Mom Delivers Rare Identical Quadruplets

A 35-year-old Canadian woman has given birth to rare identical quadruplets at a Great Falls hospital. Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and Dahlia were born about two months early and were conceived without fertility drugs.

According to their perinatologist who delivered the girls, the chances of giving birth to identical quadruplets is about one in 13 million. Medical literature indicates there are less than 50 sets of identical quadruplets, said Dr. Jamie Grifo, director of the NYU Fertility Center in New York.

The article states that the parents declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press and have been a little bit shy about the press. I guess they don't have a baby blog for us addicts!

Elliot's Preemie Tees

Elliot's Preemie Tees offers a special line of clothing for micro preemie and preemie babies who are in the NICU or who have been sent home on monitors. The owners' grandson, Elliot, was the inspiration for the clothing line. According to their site, "these babies need clothes that are easy to put on and take off around all the wires, tubes and cords. If this describes your situation then take a look around – I think you will like what you see!"

Burkett Quad Squad...*Updated

Last week's post announcing the birth of the Wilkinson Quints and Steece Quads generated a comment from the Burkett Quad Squad. They said:

"What great families!!!! We've been following them both for a while now, and have 4 of our own who will be here any day. As if you don't have enough blogs to read, you can keep up with us at http://thequadsquad.blogspot.com/. Great site! God bless!"

I've been following the Quad Squad blog ever since they shared it with us last week and it looks like today is the day for Benjamin, Baron, Anna & Allie to make their arrival. Our thoughts and prayers are with them for a healthy delivery.

*The quad squad blog has been updated with the arrival of the babies:

Benjamin Russell - 3lbs. 4.5oz. 15.5 inches born at 3:50 pm
Allie Grace - 2lbs. 12oz. 15.75 inches born at 3:51 pm
Anna Ruth - 3lbs. 5oz. 16 inches born at 3:52 pm
Baron Ross - 3lbs. 2 oz. 16.5 inches born at 3:52 pm

According to their father, "All 4 of them cried as they came out. It was beautiful!...Thanks for the prayers! Keep praying!"

Quints and Quads!

QUINTS - On Tuesday, July 31, Rachelle and Jayson Wilkinson and big brother Riley and big sister Kaiya welcomed quints (that's five babies!) at 34weeks gestation. The five babies collectively weighed over 21 pounds and actually set a record for total infant weight. Check out wilkinsonquints.com for their story. You can also look back and follow mom Rachelle's blog and dad Jayson's blog.

I was just introduced to the Wilkinson Quints' blogs yesterday, and was amazed by their story (what higher order multiples' story isn't amazing, right) and the fact that she was able to carry her quints until 34 weeks! Let's help to welcome the Wilkinson quints to the world:

Kassidy - 5 pounds, 1 ounce
Kaydence - 3 pounds, 6 ounces
Rustin - 4 pounds, 15 ounces
Kyndall - 4 pounds, 2 ounces
Ryder - 3 pounds, 15 ounces

QUADS - Then yesterday, Wednesday, August 1st, Suzanne and Joe Steece welcomed their quads (that's four babies) at 30 weeks 1 day. I've been following The Life of Suz throughout her pregnancy. They are such an amazing couple and definitely have a sense of humor that will come in handy when raising quads. Don't miss their "I'm having QUADRUPLETS??!?!?!" post. Here are their quads, one-by-one:

Andrew - 2 pounds, 8.6 ounces
Savannah - 2 pounds, 14.8 ounces
Ethan - 2 pounds, 7 ounces
Benjamin - 3 pounds, 4 ounces

It sounds like both families are blessed with love, prayers and support from family, friends and even strangers. I'm sure they would welcome continued thoughts and prayers from all of us baby blog addicts too.

Website Spotlight: Murray Crew QUADS!

Another multiples blog (the most addictive kind) to fuel your baby blog addiction. Actually two blogs for one family:

• murraycrew.blogspot.com - Launched when all FOUR BOYS came home and chronicles the first few crazy months.
  
  
• triplet-update.blogspot.com - The Murray's pregnancy blog with the whole story of the triplets...nope there's another one that we missed...it's Quads!

According to Mom Jennifer, the Murray Crew has been enjoying our Baby Blog Addict site. They are quads from Indiana and admitted baby blog addicts. Henry, Brooks, Clark, and Isaac were born to Jennifer and Brad on February 2, 2007 making them 5 months old.

Isaac, Brooks, Henry and Clark

Masche Sextuplets Update

A couple of weeks ago we wrote about the two sets of sextuplets born within 10 hours of each other. Jenny Masche, the mother of one set of sextuplets, had heart failure shortly after the births because of the huge volume of blood she was carrying in her body while pregnant. This morning The Today Show updated her condition and checked in on the healthy babies.

Click here to check out the video.

Sextuplets Update

A few days ago, we posted about the two sets of sextuplets that were born within 10 hours of each other. Unfortunately, three of the six Morrison sextuplets from Minnesota have died. I came across their personal site morrison6.com a few days ago after reading an article about them. They are experiencing high traffic, so the site isn't always accessible. According to their site a couple of weeks ago, there were four mothers in the US who were expecting sextuplets:

>>Brianna Morrison (MN) - sextuplets born Sunday, 6/10 at 22 weeks; 4 boys, 2 girls; 3 have passed away.

>>Jennifer Masche (AZ) - sextuplets born Monday, 6/11 at 30 weeks; 3 boys, 3 girls.

>>Karoline Byler (FL) - 5 boys and 1 girl who according to their site will be with them "hopefully in mid-September".

>>Gracie Soldani (CA) - currently 17 weeks pregnant; 5 sacs total, 4 fraternal twins and 1 set of identical twins.

They all have similar stories, fears, excitement and needs with one common thread. All have been asked many times, "How can we help?" So they have set up donation areas on their sites. Please visit and make a donation if you can. They are all asking for lots of prayers too.

Sextuplets...twice

A 24-year-old woman in Minneapolis (four boys, two girls) and a 32-year-old woman in Phoenix (three boys, three girls) gave birth to sextuplets within 10 hours of each other. All six babies in Minneapolis are in critical condition and the mother in Phoenix suffered heart failure. She is recovering in an intensive care unit.

The Arizona sextuplets were featured this morning on the Today Show. Click here to check out the video.