A couple in the city of Marietta, Georgia, has expanded their family of three by delivering quadruplets on September 3 - a few months prior than their due date. The newborns had to spend two months in the NICU at Northside Hospital before being taken home.
33-year-old Madison and her 34-year-old husband, Justin Collier, already had a 4-year-old daughter before the quadruplets joined their family.
During her 8-week appointment for an ultrasound scan, Madison was told that she was going to have more than one baby, but that only made her assume that she was having twins. She said:
"I know it's silly, but I was like, 'They come in more than that?' And I know that they do, but you just never think it would happen to you."
Madison and Justin were caught by surprise upon learning that they were expecting more than two babies, especially since they were not on any IVF treatments to conceive.
The couple's daughter, Isla, was delighted with the news, saying: "Well… that gives me lots of kids to play with."
It is estimated that quadruplets occur only once in 700,000 pregnancies, many of which are the result of the use of medical technology assistance. In addition to this, the quadruplets are thought to be two sets of identical twins - a set of boys and a set of girls, which increases the odds to 1 in 15 million.
Due to the number of babies Madison was carrying, she looked as if she was full term at just 22 weeks. However, she found the experience to be exciting. She said:
"Feeling four babies at once was really cool. When you're turning, it feels a little bit like you're on a rollercoaster. I will definitely miss feeling four babies at once."
Madison says that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the babies due to their extreme look-alikeness and that she needs to use pacifier clips with their names on, to tell them apart. She said:
"One time I held the two girls and thought, I don't know."
Speaking of logistics for caring for the four newborns, like the amount of diapers required, Madison noted:
"It is thousands and thousands and thousands of diapers, like a lot of diapers."
The couple has chosen to name the boys: Wilder Shepherd and Calloway Silas, and the girls: Iris Annabelle and Eliza June.
[Based on rporting by: Positive Outlooks]
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