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This mom was faced with a tough decision after finding out she was expecting quadruplets.
Grace Slattery (35) and her husband James (37), from Country Limerick in Ireland, had struggled to conceive for three years and were overjoyed when they found out they were expecting four babies, Mirror reports.
However, their excitement was curtailed when doctors told them at 17 weeks that there were complications. Because of a high risk of miscarriage the couple were advised to terminate two of the four babies in order to save the others.
But the parents-to-be had already lost four babies previously and couldn’t bear the thought of losing two more, so they decided to ignore the doctors’ advice, The Sun reports.
“When I fell pregnant naturally with quadruplets I couldn’t believe it as we’d struggled for three years and I’d suffered four miscarriages,” Grace said.
“We couldn’t afford IVF and when tests showed nothing was wrong I was baffled as to why we couldn’t have children.
“I was over the moon when the quadruplets were born in May 2014, and despite being offered to abort two of them before they were even born as they were classed as high risk, we decided to let fate decide.”
Grace managed to carry her quadruplets before giving birth at 32 weeks to Amelia, Lily-Grace, Mollie and Lucas, all weighing between 0,9kg and 2 kg.
Amelia was born with complications and her organs were in the wrong place. However today she’s a healthy little girl, like her siblings, and all four are set to start pre-school.
“They’re definitely little miracles and we still can’t believe we got four babies all at once,” Grace says.
“All of them love school and as they wear a uniform now it makes it a lot easier as trying to think of four outfits for them every day takes a long time.
“They’re going to be in the same classes at school and they’re inseparable when together.”
Grace and James have already brought their children 10 school uniforms that will last them all week.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the quadruplets and seeing them in their school uniforms is amazing,” Grace says.
“I’ll miss them when they go back to school but it’ll be nice to get some peace and quiet after the summer.
“The school run will be fun as it’s almost impossible to keep my eye on all four but the quadruplets love making new friends so I know they’ll love it.”
Quadruplets aren’t as common as triplets, explains Dr Sibusiso Sithole who’s helped women give birth to quadruplets in KwaZulu-Natal.
Nobuhle Qwabe wasn’t aware that she was expecting quadruplets until she gave birth on 13 September, 2015, News24 reports.
“We could’ve assumed she had triplets but we checked and discovered a fourth baby. We were truly, truly surprised,” Dr Sithole said.
“I’ve delivered many sets of twins before but I’ve never done triplets, let alone quadruplets. This has been a real miracle.”
