Mom Has Quadruplets 3 Years After Triplets
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:29 pm
Jul 12, 10:04 PM (ET)
By FRANCISCA ORTEGA
LOS ANGELES (AP) - With fertility drugs, Angela Magdaleno had triplets three years ago. Last week, she had quadruplets - without fertility drugs.
Her two boys and two girls were healthy and doing well Wednesday after being born July 6 by Caesarean section in what doctors said was a rare occurrence of multiple births.
Magdaleno, 40, said she was shocked when her doctor told her she was pregnant with four babies.
"I didn't know what to do," she said in Spanish as she rested at home. "But now I'm happy because they're healthy and so am I."
Still, she worries that she might be overwhelmed with the work and sometimes struggles with mixed emotions about the future.
"I don't know if I'm sad or happy," she said. "I'm happy but, I don't know. I don't know how to explain it."
Her doctor, Kathryn Shaw, a high-risk pregnancy specialist, said Magdaleno did well during the pregnancy and developed no complications. The babies were born at 32 weeks - well beyond the 29-week average for quadruplets.
The two girls were larger than the boys. They weighed 4 pounds at birth and were 17 and 17.5 inches long. The boys weighed about 3.5 pounds and were 16 inches long.
As of Wednesday, their parents were still deciding what to name them.
Shaw said the odds of conceiving quadruplets without fertility drugs are about one in 800,000. She's seen only one other case of quadruplets being conceived without drugs - 18 years ago.
Even more rare, the boys appear to be identical twins, according to their doctor, Soha Idriss, who expects the babies will join their mother at home in about eight weeks.
Three years ago, Magdaleno gave birth to her triplets after undergoing in vitro fertilization. She said her husband wanted many children.
After their birth, she thought she was done having babies. Then she got pregnant with the quadruplets.
"She wanted to run," said her husband Afredo Anzaldo, 45, who lays carpet for a living.
When the quadruplets come home, Magdaleno will have help from two older daughters, Kelly Moreno, 17, and Stephanie Anzaldo, 15.
All 11 family members will be living in a one-bedroom apartment in East Los Angeles. Magdaleno said the living room is large and the babies are small, but she isn't sure what the family will do when they get bigger.
When the older girls are at school and her husband is at work, a friend has offered to help with the newborns and the triplets. All seven are in cloth diapers that have to be changed and laundered.
"It's a lot of work," their mother said.
In the hospital, the babies sleep wrapped in blankets and attached to monitors and wires in separate incubators. They have full heads of straight dark hair and plump pink mouths.
When Anzaldo checked in on one of his girls Tuesday, she had thrown off her blanket and slept on her back.
Anzaldo took the couple's triplets to White Memorial Medical Center to meet their new brothers and sisters and to let Magdaleno get some rest at home.
The triplets, Afredo, Catarin and Halily, weren't sure at first if they wanted the extra siblings, Anzaldo said.
"They wanted one baby and no more," he said.
Since then, they have accepted their new brothers and sisters, Magdaleno said.
Good lord...I think I'd kill myself. 7 in diapers and the triplets in the terrible threes.
By FRANCISCA ORTEGA
LOS ANGELES (AP) - With fertility drugs, Angela Magdaleno had triplets three years ago. Last week, she had quadruplets - without fertility drugs.
Her two boys and two girls were healthy and doing well Wednesday after being born July 6 by Caesarean section in what doctors said was a rare occurrence of multiple births.
Magdaleno, 40, said she was shocked when her doctor told her she was pregnant with four babies.
"I didn't know what to do," she said in Spanish as she rested at home. "But now I'm happy because they're healthy and so am I."
Still, she worries that she might be overwhelmed with the work and sometimes struggles with mixed emotions about the future.
"I don't know if I'm sad or happy," she said. "I'm happy but, I don't know. I don't know how to explain it."
Her doctor, Kathryn Shaw, a high-risk pregnancy specialist, said Magdaleno did well during the pregnancy and developed no complications. The babies were born at 32 weeks - well beyond the 29-week average for quadruplets.
The two girls were larger than the boys. They weighed 4 pounds at birth and were 17 and 17.5 inches long. The boys weighed about 3.5 pounds and were 16 inches long.
As of Wednesday, their parents were still deciding what to name them.
Shaw said the odds of conceiving quadruplets without fertility drugs are about one in 800,000. She's seen only one other case of quadruplets being conceived without drugs - 18 years ago.
Even more rare, the boys appear to be identical twins, according to their doctor, Soha Idriss, who expects the babies will join their mother at home in about eight weeks.
Three years ago, Magdaleno gave birth to her triplets after undergoing in vitro fertilization. She said her husband wanted many children.
After their birth, she thought she was done having babies. Then she got pregnant with the quadruplets.
"She wanted to run," said her husband Afredo Anzaldo, 45, who lays carpet for a living.
When the quadruplets come home, Magdaleno will have help from two older daughters, Kelly Moreno, 17, and Stephanie Anzaldo, 15.
All 11 family members will be living in a one-bedroom apartment in East Los Angeles. Magdaleno said the living room is large and the babies are small, but she isn't sure what the family will do when they get bigger.
When the older girls are at school and her husband is at work, a friend has offered to help with the newborns and the triplets. All seven are in cloth diapers that have to be changed and laundered.
"It's a lot of work," their mother said.
In the hospital, the babies sleep wrapped in blankets and attached to monitors and wires in separate incubators. They have full heads of straight dark hair and plump pink mouths.
When Anzaldo checked in on one of his girls Tuesday, she had thrown off her blanket and slept on her back.
Anzaldo took the couple's triplets to White Memorial Medical Center to meet their new brothers and sisters and to let Magdaleno get some rest at home.
The triplets, Afredo, Catarin and Halily, weren't sure at first if they wanted the extra siblings, Anzaldo said.
"They wanted one baby and no more," he said.
Since then, they have accepted their new brothers and sisters, Magdaleno said.
Good lord...I think I'd kill myself. 7 in diapers and the triplets in the terrible threes.
