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Miracle of mum's naturally-born quads
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Less than a year ago, Julie Carles feared she might
never have children and was considering a course of fertility treatment.
Now she has four identical baby girls, conceived naturally at odds
of 64 million to one.
Born by caesarean section 11 days ago, they are still little bigger
than their father's hand.
The smallest, Jessica Margaret, was 1lb 9oz, the next largest,
Holly Christina, 2lb, while Georgina Frances was 2lb 7oz and Ellie
Mae 2lb 8oz.
Juile Charles is now mum to naturally-conceived quads
More polls » Mrs Carles, 37, said: 'I can't quite believe
they are here. The girls are as healthy as we could ever have expected
and they are progressing well. I have been allowed to hold one at
a time but it will be some weeks before they can come home from
hospital as they are still being carefully monitored.
'I am looking forward to getting them home and being a family.
It is the start of a new chapter in our lives.'
Mrs Carles and her husband José, 33, are moving from their
terrace home in Bedford to a much larger four-bedroom house in a
nearby village where family will be close by to help look after
the babies.
They have had to buy four sets of everything including cots, clothes,
feeding equipment and toys, while they are planning to swap their
Ford Focus for a people carrier.
Only 60 other sets of quadruplets have been born worldwide since
1930 without the aid of fertility treatment.
Mrs Carles, a manager for a housebuilding firm, discovered her
astonishing news when she booked herself in for a nuchal scan 11
weeks into her pregnancy to check for birth defects.
The couple were told that reducing the number of babies could cut
the risks associated with carrying quads, but were determined to
keep all four.
On the whole the pregnancy ran smoothly, but doctors became worried
at 24 weeks when they noticed Holly was receiving a
reduced flow of nutrients from the placenta. The problem corrected
itself, but Mrs Carles spent the rest of the pregnancy in Queen
Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London before giving birth at
29 weeks and three days.
During the last two weeks of the pregnancy, Jessica was not receiving
the nutrients she needed,
resulting in her low birth weight. There was also a minor scare
at 27 weeks when Mrs Carles began having contractions at 3am and
was moved to a 'high risk' area of the delivery suite for four days.
But the girls finally arrived at 2.16pm, 2.18pm, 2.19pm and 2.20pm
a week ago last Thursday, around two weeks early for quads, during
a planned caesarean.
They are now being cared for in the neo-natal unit where they are
attached to feeding tubes and
special equipment to help keep their tiny airways open.
'I was apprehensive about the birth because it was a major operation
and I was a bit concerned about having an epidural,' said Mrs Carles.
'But there was a team of 25 medical staff around me and José
was there holding my hand.
'They hid the actual operation from my view but when I saw them
lift out the first baby, the emotions just took over and tears came
to my eyes.
'Each baby was passed to us so we could touch them before they
were taken away.
'They really do all look the same. They all have a little bit of
dark hair and blue eyes but it's too early to say who they look
like.
'We are looking forward to seeing how they develop.'
In another incredible twist, the babies are the first girls to
be born in their father's family line for more than 100 years.
Half-Spanish Mr Carles, who has a nine-year-old son from a previous
relationship, also called José, said: 'We were hoping for
girls because I have already got José and on my
side of the family, there are no girls.
'I have two brothers and one of them has one boy and another on
the way, and the other has no children. My father was an only child.
'The last girl was my grandfather's sister, who died a couple of
years ago in Spain aged 99, so we haven't had any girls for over
100 years.'
The proud father, a technical adviser for a landscaping product
manufacturer, added: 'Jessica was a little bit small and she was
quite fragile when Julie held her for the first time, but now her
little cheeks have filled out. I have been lucky as
my employers have allowed me to have time off for weekly scans,
the scares and the actual birth. We are thrilled everything has
gone so well. Because they are all identical it is obviously difficult
to tell the girls apart.
'We are thinking of getting wristbands in different colours with
their names on so we know who's who.
'When they come home, it will be critical to keep track of who
has been fed so we are thinking of colour co-ordinating the wristbands
with the bottles.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=381803&in_page_id=1770
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