IF you think you have your hands full...

For couples that struggle with infertility having just one baby is a huge blessing. Most families that have spent so much time trying and finally get a baby realize how truly lucky they are since at best success rate of most infertility treatments is very low. After getting a child to love, cherish and admire most of these couples want to try one more time to give their baby someone else to share the love with. Most of these couples are estatic when they finally find out that they are having another child. Now imagine if after struggling with infertility and conceiving your first and only child through a procedure you get pregnant again how much joy you must feel. Okay, you have that picture in your head right, happy parents with child hearing the news that they are going to get another baby? Okay, are you ready? Only catch is your not having one, your not having two more, no not three, not four more, how about FIVE! Yupe I said it FIVE!!! Then the doctors tell you that you should "selectively reduce" the number of babies being carried to term. It is a decision so personal and so difficult that unless we have been in those shoes it is not a call that most can TRULY say we'd be able to make. Courtnee and Mike Stevenson of Kitsap County, Washington were faced with this decision and although they knew it would be tough to raise five babies at a time, plus a toddler, they decided to carry all five babies to term. Doctors did not expect all five babies to turn out healthy, they stated one or a few would turn out with troubles but Courtnee the mom knew in her heart they'd be fine. She had to spend four months on bedrest three of which were spent in the hospital. Those three months in the hospital she felt seperated and isolated from her family. During that time she wrote in her journal, "My body and heart were meant to have these babies and I know that's why God blessed me with them. It's amazing that I can have such overwhelming love for something that I haven't seen or touched." As mom predicated, hoped and prayed the couple was blessed with five miracle babies who were all perfectly healthy. Yes, the babies went through some of the normal medical routines that all multiples do, the feeding tubes, the oxygen, the incubators, general stuff like that but in Courtnee's heart she knew they would be fine. I wonder how one Mom can really handle the blessing of five children being born at the same time.

Talking to Courtnee is beyond inspirational and if I thought I had my hands full with three boys then I need to rethink from Courtnee's stance. Five little babies who need holding, diaper changing, loving, feeding, burping, bathing, kissing and hugging, all at the same time plus a three year old who also needs many of the above. She told me that she was very tired but thanks the volunteers that are helping her. Her husband who is been out of work since December has taken on an equal share. Courtnee is glad that she and the babies have settled into a routine and she focuses on how each day she feels the next will be better. She tells me that she doesn't have a favorite among the five, she doesn't gravitate towards one more than another and she thinks it is sad when parents do favor one child over another. To her each of her babies and Lilli is truly special with their own personalities, attributes and look. I wonder how one Mom can really handle five infants plus a toddler knowing the help is dwindling. When the quints were born they got national coverage, talk shows showed interest and they even had a PR firm handling the media circuit for them. Interest has quickly fizzled and the initial help that was pledged is now not arriving. The family now faces hardship because of the financial implications that come with raising six children in a 900sq ft trailer and trying to get by when Daddy has been laid off since December. Keeping the babies in diapers and formula alone are significant tasks. Getting all the items one needs for five babies is an immense task and this family can not do it alone. They need diapers, clothes, dressers for the children and money to finish building a home their church has offered to build. They are in great need of any help that we can give. I know that if I help just a little and you help just a little then Courtnee will truly have a better tomorrow. Let's help change the world one Mommy at a time and help Courtnee provide for her Miracle Five plus Lilli!!! Yes, they have gotten some help but the help is stopping and many, many things are not covered. Thanks to Similac the family does get free formula but as the babies get bigger, gain weight and eat more they are going through their monthly allotments quicker. The end of the month is becoming crunch time for them. Similac has not let them down yet, but soon the babies will be eating more than the company will provide. Not one diaper company has come through to help them out with diaper donations, which to me is sad. I know those companies are making a killing off the rest of us and free diapers for five babies can't hurt their pockets that much. The construction of their home is at a stand still because right now is the busy time for construction companies and the family does not have enough money to pay to finish the project. They are managing to fit six children and a crew of volunteers and themselves into a small home but now that each day the children do more the Mommy wonders. She knows she will mangae the miracle of five plus Lilli when the five start crawling but she wonders if they will have enough room or if they'll have to learn how to crawl over eachother? Remember your donations are Tax Deductible! So, if you can find it in your heart to help in anyway read below. What they need: Diapers sizes 1-3 please!!! They go through at least 60 a day. Clothing donations sizes 12 months and up. Dressers for storage they only have two closets in their home. Cash to finish building a bigger home. How you can help: Use this link above it takes you to their Target.com registry. It is preferable if you send them a gift card since they are in such need of diapers. Gift cards can help them buy diapers, wipes, baby soap, shampoo and all sorts of consumable items they need daily for their children.

To send money to the family via your PayPal account please copy the families email address Courtnee-Mike@hotmail.com and click the logo above, you have to login to your account to do so.

To visit their website and be able to read their complete story and other ways you can help click here!

I hope you choose to help them! Blog 2 you Later!