WITH PAIN AND JOY, QUADS' FAMILY ADJUSTS
11:16 PM CDT on Friday, May 27, 2005
by Deborah Fleck, Dallas Morning News
IRVING – Forty fingers and forty toes, reads the birth announcement.
Donny Dixon visited daughter Samantha in the neonatal unit at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano on Wednesday.
Instead of just one bundle of joy, Liz and Donny Dixon of Irving welcomed four of them into their lives on April 13.
The pregnancy wasn't planned – Ms. Dixon was taking birth control pills when she discovered she was carrying five babies. She miscarried one in December and was placed on bed rest shortly after that.
Hudson, Madison, Candice and Samantha arrived 14 weeks early at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano.
The Dixons say they feel blessed, but their joy is tempered with worry. The babies, who weighed about 2 pounds, are still fighting to be healthy, undergoing surgeries and respiratory therapy.
In a far greater fight for life is their 25-year-old mother. Only 48 hours after delivery, she felt horrible pain.
"Doctors discovered that the extreme pressure of four babies had caused three tears in her intestine, resulting in a horrific abdominal infection," said her sister, Meredith Mathews.
Ms. Dixon had to have emergency abdominal surgery. Several more surgeries and blood transfusions followed.
Family members are optimistic she'll recover. Ms. Dixon finally was able to hold one baby on May 1, and on Mother's Day she took her mother to meet the new grandchildren and held another baby.
As of Monday, the babies all weighed more than 3 pounds.
"We are taking it one day at a time," Mr. Dixon said. "We have lots of prayers and a wonderful hospital staff helping us."
Pitching in the most to help the family are Ms. Dixon's parents, Raymond and Karol Welsh of Irving. The Dixons moved in with them after their first son, Logan, was born last year with extensive medical problems that drained their savings.
Mr. Welsh said he realizes how difficult it will be to raise a family of seven. Many smaller needs are being met, he said, but the family's larger needs are still a concern.
"They now need a car that can accommodate five car seats," he said. "But even more important, they will need a home."
The family hopes the babies will be strong enough to leave the hospital by July.
Despite her health setbacks, Ms. Dixon said she is overjoyed to be a mother. "It's the greatest job in the world, and I get to do it times five," she said. Ms. Mathews, who lives in North Dallas with her husband, developed a Web site, www.dixonquads.com, to help tell her sister's story. "I just love her to pieces," Ms. Mathews said.
The site offers a personal and heartfelt look at a family coping with "struggles, tears, surgeries, and in the midst of it all, little victories. Hudson, Madison, Candice and Samantha remain nestled in their pods, to rest and grow and find strength to fight for another day."
E-mail dfleck@dallasnews.com
