When David and Ivanna Cardenas Cutieres first learnt that they were expecting, they assumed that they would deliver only one child. They went to the hospital for one of their routine prenatal checkups. But what the doctor discovered would quickly change their lives.
The doctor’s report was life-changing. They were going to be parents to four children! Yes, from preparing for just one child, they had to start preparing to receive the other 3 bonuses!
They were so shocked that they actually thought that it was some kind of a joke. Their doctor explained that while it was rare, it wasn’t entirely impossible. Quadruplet pregnancies do occur once in every 700,000.
That was not the end of the story. Putting the rarity of the pregnancy aside, they were faced with a serious decision. One of their babies was in a serious condition – he wasn’t getting enough oxygen. This was a dire situation. At 27 weeks, this is devastating news for any parent.
They had two choices; to carry the pregnancy to full term and risk losing one child or deliver immediately and have a chance to save all. David and Ivanna chose the latter. As long as there was a chance to save all their babies, they took it.
The doctor explained the odds to them. There was a 40% chance of survival for babies born weeks before the due date.
What was clear was that it was going to be a delicate delivery. But they were prepared to take the chance to save all of them. And so the pre-term quadruplets were born through an emergency CS.
The babies were fighters; all of them made it through despite being so tiny! The babies were named Francesca, Julian, Sebastian and Gabriel. Today, these babies are now 4-year-old toddlers living their best life.
