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When Rachel was pregnant, and we shared the news of the quads with a stranger, the responses were always the same.
The women would look at Rachel and say, "Oh, you poor thing!" The men would always look at me and say, "You are the
man! Let me shake your hand!"
"Did you take The Fertile Pill?" - Asked by an older lady when Rachel first became pregnant. Not
exactly sure what the fertile pill is...most people use fertility drugs that are injected.
"Did you know you were having four?" - So many responses we could give here..."Well, I thought Rachel
was just getting extra fat with her second pregnancy, but it turned out that four came out when we went to deliver!"
Said by an old man at the DMV that overheard Rachel telling someone she was pregnant with quads, "Young lady, don't
you know where babies come from???" - I am still trying to figure out what he meant by that...
"Uhhhh....she must be having twins!!!" - Exclaimed by someone in the hospital lobby while I pushed
Rachel in a wheel chair to get fresh air during the last two weeks of the pregnancy when she stayed in the hospital.
Lots of variations on this one... "Are they twins?" "Are they triplets?" "Are they quads?" and my
personal favorite, "Are they quadriplets?" While we were at the zoo recently, the house keeper came by our
table in the breakfast area, and said, "4 babies! Are they twins....triplets?" Quads, I replied.
"How old are they? Were they all born on the same day?"
"Are they identical?" Hmmm...two are boys and two are girls....gotta be a difference in there somewhere
that keeps them from being identical.
"Are they all boys?" I can't tell you how many times we are asked this when the boys are dressed
in blue and the girls are wearing pink dresses. Makes me want to reply, "They are, but we think those two are homosexual,
so we dress them in pink."
When trying to book a suite at the Holiday Inn, the manager told Rachel that our "family exceeds the capacability"
of the room. Obviously when dealing with something you have never seen before, you must make up words.
A common comment we get is, "You poor thing!" Most of the times this is said by people to express true
sympathy for us since we have our hands so full. While we do stay very busy, I am not sure that sympathy is the
best expression since we feel very blessed to have our kids.
If we had a dollar for every time the statement above was made or for every time people said, "Ya'll have your hands
full, " then we'd already have college paid for. Rachel's standard response for this is "Better full than empty."
The worst two statements we get frequently are, "I'd hate to be you," and "I feel so sorry for you!" Obviously
it gets hard to smile at the person after hearing this for the 10th time in one day!
We were at Carolina Pottery in Smithfield, and had one of the clerks chase us around the store, bringing a new co-worker
each time to show them the babies. This lady did provide us with quite a few comments for the page. "I've never
seen 4 before." And then later on, "Twins, triplets, quads, and quadriplets run in my family. We are just waiting
for the first ones to be born." I am still scratching my head on that one. Later she asked how Rachel lost
all of her weight. Rachel said that running around the house and nursing them helped. She responded, "You don't
have four <slang for breasts>, do you?" She then followed that up with, "I sure hope Daddy's fixed!"
This is a common one I get when Rachel is across the store from me. "Where is momma?" After I point Rachel
out. "That little thing? She doesn't look big enough to have one, much less four!" This is one of the few
comments that Rachel doesn't mind hearing! At the same time, they probably wonder if I used to have hair before the
babies!
Rachel's mom went to the pharmacy to pickup a prescription for Kate the day after the babies' birthday. The
lady at the counter asked, "What is the name and birthday for the prescription?" Rachel's mom replied, "Katherine
Farrell...November 19, 2005." The lady at the counter then asked, "And is this your prescription?" Rachel's
mom wanted to reply, "Yes, I just turned 1 yesterday!"
By far the best comment we get, although rare, is, "The Lord has truly blessed you!" - We couldn't
agree more!
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