When Jenny Marr’s obstetrician had an odd expression on her face during the initial ultrasound, Jenny could have been excused for thinking there was something wrong with her unborn child.
She had no idea that Dr. Lauren Murray would irrevocably alter both her and her partner’s lives.
Everyone who has been expecting a baby and gone to the sonographer knows how tense and thrilling it can be.
It is really emotional to see anything appear on that black screen and realise it is a living thing.
However, it was all of those things and much more for Jenny Marr and her companion Chris. The Grapevine, Texas, couple had been trying to conceive for some months when they first met. But when Jenny did become pregnant, Chris and she experienced the shock of their lives at a routine ultrasound.
That’s when Jenny realized she wasn’t carrying one baby.
Jenny explained : “I was like, ‘Oh no, there’s no heartbeat.’ And, she’s like, ‘No, there is a heartbeat.’ She goes, ‘Y’all, there’s three babies in there.’ And we were just absolutely floored.”
Naturally, Jenny and her partner Chris were stunned, but the surprises kept coming.
They went to a maternal-fetal medicine specialist for a follow-up appointment a week later on November 19, 2019, and the ultrasound technician gave them the same strange look.
“The tech — who was doing the initial (scan) — she gave me a funny look. We were like, ‘Oh what’s going on now?’ We got worried again,’” Chris told TODAY.
“She was really cute. She said, ‘I’m not supposed to say this, but y’all got four babies.’”
They had gone from expecting one baby to learning they were having FOUR in just seven days.
Chris said: “I made the joke that I am not coming back because there are going to be five babies next time. We were just shocked. Jumping from three to four was easier to swallow. Just after that we heard they were healthy.”
According to Dr. Lauren Murray and her associates, there are between 1 in 11 million and 1 in 15 million births that result in identical, spontaneous quadruplets. incredibly uncommon, to put it simply.
“It’s unbelievable. It’ll never happen again in my career. I said, ‘Girl, go buy a few lottery tickets because those are the kind of odds we’re dealing with,’” Murray said. “What a miracle it was.”
It turned out that the four kids were perfectly prepared to share, despite the possibility that one of them would take nutrition away from the others, necessitating surgery and creating issues.
“The babies shared incredibly well. There were no incidents on the sonogram even leading up to that where we were worried that one of them, or two or three of them, would be significantly smaller,” Murray said.
So it was that at 28.5 weeks, on March 15, Jenny went into labor.
Despite her best efforts, she was forced to deliver before 33 weeks. Although the babies were born at the start of the coronavirus mayhem, her C-section went smoothly.
First to arrive was baby Harrison, who weighed 2 pounds, 6 ounces. Following Hudson, who weighed 1 pound 15 ounces, came Hardy, who weighed 2 pounds 10 ounces, followed by Henry, who weighed 2 pounds 6.7 ounces.
“They were all born in three minutes. It’s incredible,” Jenny said. “We called them our baby birds because they really looked like baby birds.”
For a total of 10 weeks, three of the four infants remained in the neonatal intensive care unit to get oxygen, among other things. They did return home, nevertheless, in early May. and Jenny and Chris are overjoyed.
After a year, Jenny spoke with DFW Child and provided an update on her quadruplets’ well-being.
”They’re all crawling. I have two who will be walking in the next month probably, which means the other two aren’t far behind. They’re into everything. They’re dirty and messy. They’re already such little boys! Eating is just shoveling food into their face as fast as they possibly can. They’re funny and just sweet as can be.”
“We just hope that this little story and our boys bring as much joy to everybody as they bring to us,” Jenny explained.
Today, the quadruplets have turned 3 years and they seemed to be thriving.
Jenny has created an Instagram account where anyone can follow the family’s journey. She has 140,000 followers and Jenny, who previously worked as a dental assistant, often posts updates and shares glimpses of the Marr family’s everyday life – and it’s a busy one!
With such a unique birth, it is natural that many people have questions and are curious about Jenny’s family and birth experience. Jenny says she conceived these boys without any medical or medication assistance.
Many people also ask Jenny how she’s coping with four lively boys.
”I don’t know anything different, and I don’t really have another option! My family had preschools when I was growing up, and 8 weeks was the starting age. I used to sit in with the preschool babies. I was around kids so much that it is like second nature to take care of children,” Jenny says.
”It is what it is. You’ve got to roll with the punches. I remember asking my doctor, “Do I need to go to parenting classes?” She said, “No, you’re going to learn things in the NICU. And there are four of them. Nobody’s going to teach you how to do this.”
People also wonder how Jenny and Chris managed to tell the boys apart.
”Well as their parents we just kind of know. We typically see 4 different faces, but their personalities and voices are so different. For someone who’s just met them though: (in birth order) Harrison is the biggest and has the best hair. Hardy has a chipped front tooth and is super slender. Henry has a chubby face and his hair bounces when he runs. Hudson has the smallest head and a freckle on his forehead. Thats about all I can give you in regards to how to tell them apart,” Jenny says.
Four precious little babies come into the world … what a truly blessed day March 15 was.
Jenny and Chris, I’m delighted for you both. I can’t imagine the memories you’ll create as a family and the love that will be present in your household.
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