One California couple — already parents to three children — planned to add just one more child to their family. But after four years of fertility treatments, they were stunned to learn they were pregnant with just as many children.
In June, Callie and Gabriel Smith welcomed quadruplets.
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“It feels like they’re our first kids, because they’re our first preemies,” Callie told People magazine of welcoming their newborn babies into the world. “It’s definitely been a learning curve.”
“We’ve had to readjust our expectations and we’re just constantly trying to figure it out as we go,” she added.
The babies — Norah, Selah, Ezra, and Abigail — were born nine weeks early, on June 16.
Dr. Huy Truong, the neonatologist responsible for delivering the preemie babies, said the birth “could not have gone better,” adding, “After all the preparation and other precautions, it all occurred without any hiccups.”
Two of the babies, Norah and Selah, went home together at the end of July. The others, Ezra and Abigail, were released from the hospital about a week later. And, due to feeding issues, Abigail soon returned to the hospital, where doctors performed surgery to close a blood vessel.
All four babies are now healthy and at home with mom and dad.
Reflecting on their expanded family, 37-year-old Gabriel said it’s “a miracle” they had quadruplets.
Along with the miracle, though, was a significant loss: About a week after welcoming their newborn babies, Gabriel’s brother died of a heart attack at just 49 years old. After learning about his brother’s sudden death, Gabriel traveled to San Diego while his wife stayed in Upland taking care of their children.
They planned, Gabriel said, “for everything except” the loss of his brother — a tragedy that, in his words, left him “just kind of bottomed out for a while.”
Thankfully, the Smith’s church community has been a great support amid their serious life changes.
“They’ve really reached out,” Gabriel said of the congregation. “We were like, ‘We’ll figure this out, and we kind of got this.’ And then it’s like, ‘OK, we don’t got this.'”
“Every week, it’s kind of an uphill battle,” Callie added. “We’re getting very little sleep, probably like two or three hours each night. But we know it’s a season.”
She continued, “We have the benefit of having other kids, so we know that things are going to get a little bit easier. And it has been a joy, seeing their little personalities come out.”
Please keep the Smith family in your prayers. If you would like to contribute to a GoFundMe set up to help the young family purchase a larger van to seat all their children, click here.
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