Source: Sarah Kraus, Global News, March 27, 2016
A couple from Northern Alberta is expecting identical quadruplet girls in the coming weeks
Naturally conceiving identical quadruplets is extremely rare – so a couple from Hythe, Alta. couldn’t believe they had won the baby lottery.
Tim and Bethani Webb married in June 2015. The couple, in their early 20s, wasted no time starting a family.
“It probably happened a little sooner than we expected,” Bethani said.
“We were going to wait a year,” Tim explained.
But that didn’t happen. The couple went for an ultrasound just two days before Christmas and learned they were about to bring not one, but four little miracles into the world.
“She asked if we had a history of multiples… I said no and I was kind of curious why,” Bethani recalled. “So she turns around the screen and she says, ‘there’s one baby, there’s two, there’s three and there’s four.’”
“That’s when I just about fell over!” Tim said.
According to their nurse, the chances of naturally conceiving identical quadruplets are 1 in 67 million.
Their families were just as shocked.
“Are you kidding? You must be kidding,” said Vera Webb, Tim’s sister. “Tim likes to tell jokes sometimes.”
Their friends didn’t even know how to react.
“My friends were like, ‘I don’t know if I should say congratulations, or I’m sorry,’” Tim laughed.
The couple already has names for their four baby girls, they’re just not quite sure who will be who yet. For now, Abigail, McKayla, Grace and Emily are simply babies A through D.
“They rumble around a lot when they do the ultrasounds, it’s crazy!” Tim said. “They have a hard time keeping track of who’s who, who’s doing what. It’s hard to get their heartbeats and monitor them.”
The first-time parents were prepared for one baby.
“We had a pretty good plan of what we were going to do,” Bethani said.
“We were good until that four number kicked in, then we weren’t prepared at all,” Tim joked.
Four times the love means four times the cost.
“Diapers and formula – that’s probably going to be the most expensive part for us right now,” Bethani explained.
Their specialists told the new parents to expect to go through a case of 48 diapers every day.
So whose responsibility will it be to change all those bottoms?
“Hers!” Tim exclaimed. “I have a weak stomach! I can’t change diapers.”
The pair is moving in with Tim’s mom so there’s an extra set of hands to help with baby chores.
The Webbs are from the village of Hythe, near Grande Prairie. The hospital there isn’t able to accommodate especially premature babies.
So as a precaution, Bethani was admitted to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton on St. Patrick’s Day. Now specialists monitor her and her babies around the clock.
“I still can’t really wrap my head around the fact there’s four babies in there. And I really don’t think it will sink in until I see them,” she said.
“There’s a few risks associated with having four babies for the mom, so I’m worried about her, too,” Tim explained.
Bethani is 27 weeks pregnant, but doctors are hoping she can hold out until 32 or 34 weeks so the babies are more developed before being delivered via Caesarean section. They currently weigh at least a pound-and-a-half each.
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