A mother has recalled the moment she found out she was having four babies instead of one at a seven-week sᴄᴀɴ – and how she copes raising quadruplets and a toddler.
Natalie Maree, 30, from Roebourne in Western Australia, and her husband Kahn had sᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇᴅ for years with Fᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ ɪssᴜᴇs before they had their daughter Kiki, 2. She thought she had lucked out when she becane pregnant again, but little did she know she was actually carrying four babies. Natalie said her ‘ᴊᴀᴡ ᴅʀᴏᴘᴘᴇᴅ’ when she found out she was expecting quadruplets during the routine sonography sᴄᴀɴ.
‘At our seven-week dating sᴄᴀɴ, I lay down and the sᴏɴᴏɢʀᴀᴘʜᴇʀ ran the wand over my belly, Squinting at the fuzzy screen, I spotted two sacs. “Twins!” I squealed, pointing.’ she said
But the sᴏɴᴏɢʀᴀᴘʜᴇʀ was quick to correct her, telling her there weren’t in fact just two babies, but four.
‘” Triplets!” I cried. But slowly the sᴏɴᴏɢʀᴀᴘʜᴇʀ shook his head. Then, without a word, he held up four fingers!’ Natalie recalled.
Natalie and Kahn’s quadruplets, Maioha Kahn (2.3kg), Frankee Gene (1.92kg), Marley Rose (2.2kg), and Maddison Grace (2.1kg) were born on July 21 within the space of minutes.
Natalie was ᴅɪᴀɢɴᴏsᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ‘ᴜɴᴇxᴘʟᴀɪɴᴇᴅ ɪɴFᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ’, called ‘anovulation’, several years ago. The condition meant she had to have ʜᴏʀᴍᴏɴᴇs ɪɴᴊᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ɪɴᴛᴏ ʜᴇʀ ᴛᴏ sᴛɪᴍᴜʟᴀᴛᴇ ʀᴇɢᴜʟᴀʀ ᴏᴠᴜʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ.
Natalie has also been real about the ‘post-baby body bounce back’, recently sharing two pictures of herself on Instagram including one in her T-shirt In the other photo Natalie posted, she has pulled the T-shirt up to reveal her five-week post-partum stomach.
Since their birth, Natalie has been sharing regular updates about daily family life on her Instagram page, Kiki and the Quads. She revealed it takes her and Kahn one and a half hours to feed all four babies, and as soon as they go to sleep she is ‘counting’ down until the next feed.
