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Once in a lifetime?

I never thought it was going to happen to my family. I was married for 2 years and we were trying to create the perfect family. Neither my DH or myself are twins and twins don't run in our families. We were even considering having an only child that we could spoil. But after TTC for 3 months we found out we were pregnant. We went to see the fetal heartbeat and found out that we were having identical twins, TWICE! We had four babies growing inside! Quads, but with 2 sets of identical twins! Identical twins are NEVER hereditary, so there was no way of knowing this could happen to us. The chances of concieving 'natural' quads that are made up of two sets of identical twins is thought to be as high as 1 in 25-36 million. Well, don't we wish we'd played the lottory! We were not ready for the news at all. First off, multiple pregnancies are rare and often very high risk. One set of our twins were dichorionic twins and one were monochronic twins, which means the second set shared a placenta, a dangerous situation for a growing fetus. At any point if any of the fetuses died, it risked the life of the others and of myself. Luckily I carried them to 38 weeks, and they were all born healthy, but small. We had 2 girls and 2 boys. We named them Larry, Barry, Carry and Mary. Might as well have a sense of humor about it, fate sure did! Well I guess the stress was getting to my DH Jerry- because after they quads were 5 months old I found our he'd been having an affair and the other woman was pregnant. It was a one time deal, and the other woman apologized to me and said it was a big mistake. She found out she was having identical twins. I couldn't believe it. She was single and decided to give her twins to us to raise as my own. My DH wasn't sure if we could afford it, or if he was ready- but he knew to keep his mouth shut at this point and let me make the decisions, so I said yes and now we have 6 children, 3 sets of identical twins. My last two were girls, Gerry and Perry so 4 girls total and 2 boys. They are all very close in age but I wouldn't have it any other way. My DH is very active with the children and after he gets home from 12 hour days at the firm he still finds time to help bathe and play games with the kids and rub my feet, I guess I deserve it because I just found out I am pregnant AGAIN, and we are still waiting to find out if it is a singleton, which we are praying for! Luckily we have had a lot of financial help from neighbors and the community, who do not know that the twins were not mine biologically, obviously people close to me know, but there is no reason for the children to think they are any different blessings than the others at this atage in their lives. To all of you raising multiples, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Annie, DH Jerry, DS Larry, DS Barry, DD Carry and DD Mary, DD Perry, DD Gerry

Babylotto

For Kara Elizabeth Genner

3 days before my high school graduation I found out I was pregnant. I had been with Matt for 4 years. I told him and he was okay, he said he loved me and would help me whatever path we took. We graduated and my kindof extravagant parents bought us a 4 bed house to have forever. Matts parents bought us a car. We went to university and we had been there about a week when I started to bleed. I misscarried and we were sad but relieved. We got engaged when the graduated university and got married the next summer. We both got jobs and payed off our student tuition then payed off the car and house and got a retirement fund set up. Matt set up a college fund for future children. When we were financially ready we started not preventing pregnancy. 3 months later I was definetly pregnant. 8 weeks along. Then 12. Then I got scared. Last time we had lost the baby at 4 months. But this time 4 and 5 months passed. I started to show and we spilled the beans on my bump and the families went crazy over me. We set up a nursery and bought everything we would need and then we started looking for names. We narrowed it down to 4. I went over due, 3 weeks overdue, and finally, after 40 hours of labor, I made us parents. Katherine Kara Elizabeth Genner was 8 pounds and 20 inches of very vocal human. We were going to name our misscarried baby Kara Elizabeth Genner and to honor her we used that in Kates name. We took Kate home and I stayed home with her while Matt worked. Kate was 8 months old when we found out we were pregnant again. We were planning it anyways so we were very happy. When Kate was 15 months old we had another baby girl. Charlotte Ciel Ivanna Genner was beautiful and healthy. Kate was fascinated when we brought Cici home. It was adorable. We really liked the age difference between Kate and Cici so we did it again. This time Cici was 15 months and Kate was 2 1/2 when I had another baby girl. Evangeline Esme Karina Genner. This time it was Cici who was amazed and Kate had been there before so she was pretty chilled our. We wanted a big family and we really loved the age difference so when Eva was 15 months, Cici was 2 1/2, and Kate was 3 1/2 we had Isabelle Inez Chantal Genner. That brought us to a grand total of 4 girls, 0 boys. We decided to try 1 last time and we ended up with twins. Boys. Anthony Ames Grayer Genner and Mitchell Matthew Grayson Genner. That brought us to 6, and I am done. Kate is 5 now and in kindergarten, Cici is 4 and in junior kindergarten, Eva is 3 and in preschool, Izzy is 2 and stays home with me and her 1 year old brothers, Tony and Mitch. I am 31 now and I have 6 kids, a beautiful house with a room for each kid, a car with 6 car seats of some sort, and a husband who is somewhat responsible for the six kids. I hope all you young mothers out there don't give up. You are stronger than me, I wouldn't have my degree and I probably would only have the one child if it had survived. Stay strong, Amelia, Matthew, Katherine, Charlotte, Evangeline, Isabelle, Anthony, and Mitchell.

Amelia Genner

1+1+1=3

my name is nicole i am 16 will be 17 in july and i am 5 months pregnant with triplets. 2 boys and a girl. we already have the babies rooms ready and we have their carseats in the car ready to go. and their names are picked out 1st boy kingston-daniel 2nd skyler-mathew and for the little queen her name is going to be ella-grace. it is not unusal in my family for multiples i am a twin and i have 2 sisters and a brother who are triplets and my boyfriend is also a twin so it is very common in our family. but with me so young and having 3 at the same time its going to be very hard so i thank god for my family and my boyfriend and his family.

Nicole

1 2 3!!!

Hi, my name is Bria, my husbands name is Dan, and we have 7 children, 2 singles, 1 set of twins, and one set of triplets. We got married in 2000 on Januray 1st and on April 28th 2002 we had our first baby, a girl named Adeline Cecilia. She is beautiful and continues to amaze us every day, she's already 6, and I feel like if I miss a moment I'll wake up standing at her wedding. When Addie turned 2 we had boy/girl twins, Theodore Daniel and Rosalie Hazel, born on June 8th. They were and are absolutely amazing and again, I find my babies are growing up too fast! We moved from Pennsylvania to Rhode Island when Teddy and Rosa were only 5 weeks old and that was the hardest thing I have ever done, including pushing out two 7 pound babies in 1 hour. When the twins were two Dan and I had enough money to move to california and we did just that. By the time the house was packed I was 4 months pregnant. We got to California and 3 months later we were holding our triplets. This time we got two boys and a girl. Henry Emmett, Wyatt Hart, and Meredith Jaqueline were born in the middle of the night on August 18th. They all weighed just over 6 pounds and we took them home a few days later, me overjoyed because I had avoided a csection. That was 2 years ago, in 2006. Mere is a sweetie, Henry is a quiet one, and Wyatt is the loudest child ever. They have a baby brother who is 2 months old, born on February 14 2008, and we named him Roderick Dante. I hope he doesn't grow up too fast! Good luck everybody!

Bria

3, 1, 2, 2!!!

I found out I was 3 months pregnant with triplets but since I am a triplet and Joe is a twin we weren't shocked. We found out we were having a girl and a boy and by the time I reached 7 months we had the nursery ready, the names picked out, Combi Zues car seats and my hospital bag in the back of our new SUV. We were told I was probably going to deliver at 36 weeks but 36 weeks came and went. The doctors kept fretting over me but nothing was wrong with me or the babies so they let me go home. Finally, at 39 weeks and 4 days I felt a contraction. The doctor admitted me the moment I came in and I can honestly say that being almost 40 weeks pregnant with triplets I know what it's like to look like an elephant and feel like a whale! I slept the whole night and had very mild contractions the next day but I was only at 3 centimeters. Again I had a full nights sleep and my contractions were still very mild. By the time I woke up from my third night in the hospital I was 8 centimeters but the contractions weren't hurting any more than they had at 2 centimeters. Finally, at 6 that night I was at 10 centimeters. The pain was bearable and after pushing awhile my first baby, Karmina Maeve presented herself at 6 pounds 19 inches and healthy as possible. After 10 more minutes we got to see our baby boy, Mark Lucien at 6 pounds 2 oz and 19 inches. After that we had to wait a little bit because my third baby was farther up. After 38 minutes of crying, kissing, and pushing on my part we finally go to hold our third baby, Lorelei Kate at 6 pounds 1 oz and 19 inches. They were all healthy and I was overjoyed that I didn't have a C-Section! We took them home when they were 5 days old. When Karmina, Mark, and Lorelei were only 12 months old we were blessed with a single baby, Nate Orenthal. We decided to wait a bit for another pregnancy but god had other plans. When Nate was just 12 months and the Karmina, Mark, and Lorelei were only 24 months, I had twins Philippa Neve and Oliver Nathaniel. This time I was convinced we were done. I guess I was wrong! This time I waited until Karmina and Lorelei and Mark started Grade 1 and Nate went to kindergarten while Oliver and Pippa went to daycare. I had twins again, a boy and a girl. This time I was so sure they were my last I named them that way. Amando Zesiro Arvin and Zoe Alpha-Zhen.

Jojo Dawson