First Christmas

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

This Chrismas was absolutely different for us. We consider our Babies the most beautiful Christmas gifts. Dave and I were blessed to have the opportunity to spend two nights (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) in the Ronald McDonald's house in the hospital. So we could enjoy every moment with our darlings. I stayed up until 1:30 am and we gave bath for Annabelle, Mate and Lili. During the night it's very "cozy" in the module and we can do a lot with them.

Here is a little update on them: As we spend more and more time with them we can already see their different personalities.

The girls are thriving on room air and off the nasal cannula.

They tried Thomas off the nasal on 12/26. Matthew is also on room air and he decided that he will be the last one on the nasal a little bit more.

All of them can have couple of bottles/day so far Lili is the only one who takes all her feedings orally but the others are also getting there. All five of them are in cribs now.

Ladies first:

Miss Annabelle is a calm little Baby. She is 4 lbs 1 oz and very strong girl. (her birthweight was 1lb 5 oz!!!) On Christmas Eve she enjoyed her "big girls'" bath. At first she was crying but towards the end she discovered the beauty of it.

Hanna is the most sleepy and quite among them. She looks a lot like Thomas. She is about 5 lbs 4 oz She is very easy going and most of the time when we are holding her she is sound asleep.

Miss Lili Lu (as one her nurses calls her) is the "boisterous" , outspoken and the most feisty baby. She eats the most and she definitely cries for her siblings as well. She screemed through her "big girls' bath= in a tub" She doesn't care about anything when she is hungry and definitely lets us know. She is right around 5 lbs.

Matthew (Máté) is the most humble and thankful looking little boy. He loves being held. He does a superb job with his bottle. He enjoy his sponge bath. He is also growing nicely. His weight is 4 lbs 6 oz

Thomas (Tamás) is still the biggest kid. He is 5 lbs 7 oz. He is still very charming and only fussy when he is hungry. He also loves being bathed.

Christmas moments in pictures

1/ Thomas the big bottle fed boy
2/ Hanna under the Christmas tree
3/ Matthew in cute Christmast outfit
4/ Lili's Christmas bath
5/ Annabelle is hungry

A Merry Manley Christmas!

Dave and Manna are preparing for the arrival of Hanna and Lili and most likely Thomas home from the hospital at the beginning of the new year. The troops are being gathered, so to speak, to help with the transition of the babies home. BabyLand, as Manna calls it, is now set up in their home. It reminds me of the nursery at church, which is what you need I suppose! A big thanks to all the ladies who helped organize BabyLand. What a huge blessing you were to Dave & Manna! Manna was impressed with your efficiency and effectiveness.

It was fun to hear Manna laugh as she described the diaper changing fiascos they have been experiencing with the babies, especially Hanna. She's keenly apt at getting messes all over the place when her diaper's being changed. Manna also is really enjoying the times she's getting with each baby as they begin nursing. Praise God that they are learning to nurse well, and pray for Mommy and babies as they continue the learning process.

Thinking about Hanna, Lili, Thomas, Matthew, and AnnaBelle as they rely each day on God's provisions to nourish their little minds and bodies, I can't help but think of the birth of Jesus. My what a God we serve! That He chose to save us by humbling Himself and becoming a man. By being born not in a palace to be put on a pedestal, but in a stable to be raised on a cross. Be thankful this Christmas. Be in awe of the lives that God has entrusted to Dave & Manna and those of us who love them this year. But most of all, may you praise Him for the eternal life that He offers us all through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. May it truly be a merry Christmas for you!

Most Recent Photos!

Cribs, Baths, & More!

Dave & Manna had a wonderful time with the babies last night. They were able to give Tomi a bath (see photos below), and they sponge bathed Lili. Tomi & Hanna are both out in cribs now -- praise God! They had a one of those "new baby" moments with Hanna as she chose to dirty her crib -- and her daddy -- right when her diaper was being changed. Manna had a good laugh over that one! AnnaBelle is looking more and more like her sisters, as she's gaining weight so well. Matthew wasn't able to make it into the photo shoot for the night, but there's a handsome black & white photo of him. Also, remember that you can click on the photo slide show to be taken to several "albums" of the babies at another web site. Enjoy...!

AnnaBelle

Hanna


Lili





Matthew










Thomas

Gettin' Stronger Everyday...

Thomas: 4 lbs 5 oz, on nasal cannula
Hanna: 3 lbs 15 oz, on room air (Sometimes she tends to breathe too fast, but so far she’s doing excellent!)
Lili: 3 lbs 14 oz, on room air
Matthew: 3 lbs 5 oz, back on the vapor therm
Annabelle: 2 lbs 15 oz, on nasal cannula (She is the next closest to be on room air.)

Reasons for Rejoicing:

• The girls have hardly any episodes.
  
• Lili is the most stable on room air.
• They are all in cute outfits, except for Matthew who needs to wait a little bit more. Until then, he enjoys his comfy blankets.
  
• Lili and Mom are experimenting nursing, and Dad helps out with bottle feeding. She can do that 3 times a day when she is the most awake.
• Their eye exam also went well. Their eyes are right where they are supposed to be at this point.
• They all have really good appetites and do well with their feeding. They eat approx. 1 oz of breast milk every three hours.

On Dec. 6^th they had a famous visitor: Santa Claus! He got to hold them--hopefully he scrubbed well before! :-) They all got their first toy!! Since Lili and Hanna’s isolates are facing each other, their nurses took them out and they “met” in the middle of the module.

Reasons to Pray:

• The boys have quite a few short breathing episodes. Pray for no episodes for them.
  
• Please pray that the boys would need less and less respiratory help and would be on room air as soon as possible.
• For the girls (including Mommy), pray that they learn how to breast feed effectively. Manna can hardly keep up with them now that they're starting to eat "so much".
• Pray for Dave and Manna to have energy as they spend many hours in the hospital with the babies, especially now as they are learning how to eat.
• Please also pray that Dave and Manna would feel ready for the babies' homecoming.

Praise God for our support system and all your prayers!

Thanks & Blessings,

Dave and Manna

Volunteer Training Session

By Shari Gray --
On December 1, 2007, a training session was held to better prepare the wonderful volunteers who will be offering of their time to assist the Manleys with the care of their babies and their home. It was a time of encouragement as Brad and Jen Murray (parents of 10-month quadruplets) shared valuable knowledge from their experience and gave helpful tips on how to best support Dave, Manna and their babies.


They recalled back to the early months with their quads how important the volunteers were in just helping them keep four babies fed and allowing them to get much needed rest. Dave and Manna spoke about how the babies are currently doing and gave insight into each of their personalities. Topics such as how to keep the babies healthy, care of premature babies, specifics related to the care of the Manley’s home, scheduling and screening of volunteers were discussed. This event helped bring us one step closer to being ready to offer the Manleys the help they will need to welcome these 5 precious miracles home. It is exciting to see how God has brought various people with different gifts and abilities together to help lighten the load for Dave and Manna and in turn many lives will be blessed by these children.

Black&White Beauty

Enjoy our friend Natasha's great artistic photos

Their 5th week in pictures

1/ Tommy and the ducks

2/Lili's first time in Grandma's loving arms

3/ Multiple moms: Grandma Barb (twin mom)+Jen the quads' mom and Manna the quints' mom

4/ Matthew in his brandnew hat (matches his blue eyes)

5/Tommy had a great male bonding time on Daddy's chest

6/ Hanna with her favourite girlfriend Nurse Lindsay
7/ Matthew and his "first love" Nurse Amy
8/ Hanna in her first outfit with matching purple hat. Don't you love the tiny pink bows???
9/ Lili liked her sister's dress so she got her's too. She seems pleased.
10-11/ Annabelle was hot so she only had her new funky hat with ruffle. It's colorful just like her.
12/ Lili has a new best friend, which is her pacifier. Purple of course.

Happy 4 weeks!!!

Thomas, Big Brother

Matthew, our special one

Lili, our hairy baby

Hanna, our pink lady

Annabelle, our fighter

Wow, it has already been a month since our Quint babies were born. It is amazing how much improvement they showed over the last couple weeks. Their breathing is fairly stable now. They are either on vaportherm or on the nasal cannula. At this moment Matthew is the only one who is on the Cpap still recoving from his recent infection, what he thankfully and successfully overcame just like our other son Thomas.

The other great improvement is that all five of them are eating now. Some of them are already on full feed, which is usually around 160ml/day (a little bit more than 5 ounces of breast milk). Mom can still keep up with them.

Annabelle was the last one who finally gave in and now she enjoys 1/2 ounce of milk every 3 hours. Last Friday was the very first time when she was "big" enough (still talking about preemie size :) to be held.

Everyday they are growing so much:

Thomas: 3lb 2oz ( he qualified for a bigger diaper)

Lili: 2lb 14.5oz (she wears the same size as Big Bro)

Hanna: 2lb 5.5oz

Matthew: 2 lb 4 oz

Annabelle: 2 lb 4 oz

They also seem to have less episodes and the high bilirubin level is not an issue any more.

As they grow they are more alert and keep their eyes open. All of them enjoy being held by Kangaroo dad and mom. Even though they are preemies they still do eveything what adults do such as yawning, sneezing, hic-ups. and it's so cute.

David’s first diaper experience with Tommy:
“Today as I was holding Thomas he was very feisty and squirming all over the place. I asked the nurse if she would come over and advise me on his situation. She checked his diaper and it was soaking wet. The nurse changed his diaper and placed his new diaper loose around his bottom. He began to squirm again and again. The next thing I noticed I felt like morning dew on my belly and as I looked down his diaper was completely off his bottom. Guess what? It was pee on my belly.”

Fatherly Pride & Motherly Glow

Hanna and Manna

Eye contact...

Lili is already daddy's girl

" Our Daily bread"

Praise for the great supply!

You all know what I'm talking about. The broad smile on a new father's face as he talks about his daughter... and son.. and daughter, and son, and daughter! And the indescribable glow on a mother's face as she snuggles her baby. We were blessed with a chance to see all of this on Tuesday night. It's truly amazing how you go somewhere hoping and somewhat expecting to be a blessing, and leave realizing that you were the one blessed. So it was for us.

Dave gave us the tour of introductions to Matthew, then Hanna, then Lili. With each one, we sanitized our hands, though we weren't even touching them. You can't be too careful. Dave would say hello to the baby and encourage them to open their eyes, which was just too cute. He explained what all the different tubes were for each and shared in the huge praise that Matthew's improvement that day had been significant and miraculous. Then across the hall we went to see Annabelle, who opened her eyes and seemed to say hello.

Finally, we met Manna behind a cloth screen where she sat cuddling Thomas. I haven't seen so much joy on her face before. She peacefully sat and rocked Thomas as he was "kangarooed' warmly against her chest. She uncovered just his tiny foot so we could see it and "ooo" and "ahh". She shared the encouraging news that her milk supply is picking up -- another reason to sing praises to our Lord. He surely is the great Provider!

Until things slow down for Manna, (or if they never do!), I'll be doing the postings. Expect one or so every week. We're also working on a new link to a photo gallery of the family. It will be a more efficient way to display the many photos being taken. Thanks for your patience!

Weight Competition!

The babies have all grown so much, relatively speaking of course! Below you can see their gains in the past weeks.

0 days--------- 3 weeks
Tomi: 2 lb 9 oz -------- 2 lb 12 oz
Lili: 2 lb 2.7 oz------- 2 lb 9 oz
Hanna: 1 lb 15 oz ------- 2 lb 4.5 oz
Matthew: 1 lb 11.5 oz ----- 2 lb 3 oz
Annabelle: 1 lb 4.8 oz ------- 1 lb 12.5 oz


Dave and Manna have been spending precious time with Tomi, Lili, Hanna, Matthew, and Annabelle. This past week, Manna was able to hold Annabelle for the first time, which is a HUGE praise!

50 little fingers...

"I was able to hold Tomi, Lili, and Hanna. The smallest ones are not ready yet. Dave has held them several times. It's the best bonding time. It is so intimate and sweet when we actually feel like their mom and dad."

Here are brief updates for the babies. Hanna is the only one being fed right now. Pray for the others' tummy issues to be resolved. There have been no changes in the brain scan results. Please continue praying specifically for Annabelle, Tomi, Hanna, Matthew, and Lili. Here are brief updates for the babies. Hanna is the only one being fed right now. Pray for the others' tummy issues to be resolved. There have been no changes in the brain scan results. Please continue praying specifically for Annabelle, Tomi, Hanna, Matthew, and Lili.

Annabelle: 1 pound 7 oz. She gained a couple ounces!

Tomi: 2 pounds 5 oz. They are running a blood test to check for infections and possibly put him on antibiotics.















Hanna: 2 pounds 1 oz. They kept her on antibiotics for 3 days. According to her blood culture she has no infections! She is still eating!

Lili: 2 pounds. Praise the Lord -- the brain fluid sample came back negative, so she has infection only in her blood. They are still trying to figure out exactly what kind of infection she has. She is on only one antibiotic right now.

Matthew: 1 pound 11 oz. No breathing or heart issues! Today they were going to start feeding him again if he didn’t have any infections.

Getting to Know You...

Manna & Dave have been getting to spend time with each of the babies. This photo is of Dave sharing some body heat and love with Thomas, which he did for 45 minutes on Tuesday and 1 hour on Wednesday!

A huge thanks to the group of ladies who volunteered time on Tuesday night to help make home a bit more homey for Dave & Manna.

Please continue to pray for each child as they grow and develop today, tomorrow, and this week.

If you would like to donate a meal sometime and haven't had a chance to sign up, please email Sharie Peterson at thespanishprof@yahoo.com and she'll gladly fill you into the calendar.

Returning Home

Manna is going home from the hospital today! She and Dave are going to stop by and see the babies and then settle in to their home. Manna has been given strict orders regarding stairs and chores, so her mobility will be limited for the time being. More details will be forthcoming.

Dave & Manna Spend Time with ... (names below!)

Manna has improved so much since Saturday morning, but recovery just takes a lot of time! On Sunday, she and Dave were able to go visit the babies at the NICU. It was a very exciting and emotional time for Manna. It was great for her to meet each nurse who is assigned to each baby and also the neonatalogists and respiratory therapist. A lot of great information was shared that helped them really understand the kinds of issues that preemies have. It became clear that each baby is going to have continual changes in health that will require a change of treatment, meaning a different breathing machine, a new medication, perhaps a blood transfusion, etc.
These changes do not necessarily indicate an emergency, just a need to change the plan.

With this understanding, it was much easier to feel good about Baby A's and Baby Boy E (D in utero)'s conditions today. There had been a concern that they were somewhat unstable. Please see prayer request updates below. The other three babies are all doing very well at the moment. Manna got to touch their little bodies, talk to them .... and decide on their NAMES!!!!

Here we go:

Baby Girl A: Anna Belle (she will go by both names together) 1st born
Baby Boy B: Thomas David 2nd born
Baby Girl C: Hanna Marie (she will go by her first name) 3rd born
Baby Boy E-D: Matthew Daniel 5th born
Baby Girl D-E: Lili Anne (she will go by her first name) 4th born

Aren't they beautiful?!!! They work both in English and Hungarian. Manna should find out this morning (Monday) if she is going to be released from the hospital.

Wasn't the video in church great? Big thanks to Jenny Brake for putting it together! We will try to get it on the blog in a couple of days.

This is a lot of detail, more than we will likely be able to maintain over the coming weeks, but wanted you to get a feel for the kind of information that Dave and Manna have to process and then turn over to the Lord!

Prayer Requests for Baby Girl A & Baby Boy D

As a brief preface, please remember that with preemies at this age, the babies' conditions can move from stable to unstable and back again very quickly. We'll keep you updated on each baby's condition so that you can pray specifically throughout the upcoming weeks.

For updated details, please scroll down to the "PRAYER REQUESTS" section, which will stay current starting today.

A huge praise is that Manna's getting to go visit with the babies for her first extended visit this afternoon. After getting to spend some time with them, names will be assigned and announced. What a blessed afternoon for mother, father, and babies!

Birth Measurements

Names will soon be assigned, but until then... here are the birth times and measurements for each precious one:

Girl A 4:25 pm 1 lb 4.8 oz 10.8 inches long

Boy B 4:26 pm 2 lb 9.6 oz 13 inches long

Girl C 4:28 pm 1 lb 15 oz 13.6 inches long

Girl E (D to NICU) 4:29 pm 2 lbs 2.7 oz 12.6 inches long

Boy D (E to NICU) 4:30 pm 1 lb 11.5 oz 13 inches long

Delivery Day Details from a Friend

According to Robin...
At 2:00 the doctor said that is was time to deliver the babies -- like, now! She had to assemble a team of 5 specialists per baby, plus a very large delivery crew. By 4:00 pm, Manna was in the operating room being prepped for surgery. They gave her an epidural so she could be awake. Dave sat at her head. The doctor said later that there were a total of 23 people in the operating room!

At 4:25 pm, Baby A was born. She looked so tiny yet so beautiful. And she made a little squeak of a cry that brought tears of joy to our eyes. She was quickly whisked away to the NICU. At 4:26, Baby Boy B was born, bigger than A and with another beautiful little whimper. At 4:28, Baby Girl C. At 4:29, Baby Girl E (which they call D because she was the fourth one born -- very confusing!!). At 4:30 pm, Baby Boy D (NICU's E). They all squeaked a little and were all beautifully perfect. They all have a lot of hair, mostly dark. They were all about 13" long or so.

Manna was great through the whole thing. She didn't get to see the babies from her vantage point, but she heard each of them cry. The rest of her surgery went very well. Dave's mother was out in the baby triage area where they were all being cared for, which was really fun for her. Everyone said how healthy the babies looked for 28 weeks. We still don't have the exact weights, but they were all fairly close to the ultrasound measurements last Monday.

Two of the girls are on ventilators for now, and the other 3 are on C-PAP machines. This can change at any time as they assess their needs. Before they took them to the new hospital, they brought each one in his/her traveling incubator to see Manna. It was so special for her. Dave got to be with them all late tonight, touching their little hands and feet and marvelling at God's perfect creation.

They are absolutely elated, and so full of thanks to the Lord. They realize that this next week is very critical for the babies. They may have struggles as time goes along. It is a lot for 28 week old babies to learn how to live in the outside world. This is a reason to continue praying fervently.

Manna has asked for no visitors today(Saturday) as she continues to recover from surgery and transition into being a mom. Depending on her condition, she may be able to visit the babies late tomorrow. Please know that no visitors will be allowed to see the babies without prior permission from Dave and Manna. This is standard procedure in the NICU. Also, no children under 18 are allowed in there.

In case you're wondering, although they have names picked out for the babies, they haven't assigned them yet (can you imagine???).

Praise God for a great, awe-inspiring day full of life!

A Few Friendly Faces

Girls: A, C, & D
Boys: B & E

Top: Baby B with Dave's mom
Middle: Baby C
Bottom: Baby D

Names and measurements will be posted soon. Tonight's photos don't include everyone, obviously -- but rest assured, more are soon to come!