Anyone who has experienced an ultrasound during pregnancy knows it’s a mix of nervousness and excitement. It feels really emotional to watch something show up on that dark screen and realize it’s a living being.
For Jenny Marr and her partner Chris in Grapevine, Texas, it meant a lot more. They had been trying to have a baby for a while when they first met. However, when Jenny did get pregnant, the surprise of their lives came during a regular ultrasound. It turned out Jenny wasn’t expecting just one child at that time.
When she went for her first ultrasound, she noticed that her obstetrician, Dr. Lauren Murray, had a strange look on her face. Jenny might have thought something was wrong with her soon-to-arrive baby. Little did she know, Dr. Murray was about to change her and her partner’s lives in a big way.
Jenny explained: “I was like, ‘Oh no, there’s no heartbeat.’ And, she’s like, ‘No, there is a heartbeat.’ She goes, ‘Y’all, there’s three babies in there.’ And we were just absolutely floored.”
“The tech — who was doing the initial (scan) — she gave me a funny look. We were like, ‘Oh what’s going on now?’ We got worried again,’” Chris explained. “She was really cute. She said, ‘I’m not supposed to say this, but y’all got four babies.’”
Chris said: “I made the joke that I am not coming back because there are going to be five babies next time. We were just shocked. Jumping from three to four was easier to swallow. Just after that we heard they were healthy.”
Dr. Lauren Murray and her team found that having identical spontaneous quadruplets is super rare – like, only happening in about 1 in 11 million to 1 in 15 million births. That’s extremely uncommon, to put it plainly.
“It’s unbelievable. It’ll never happen again in my career. I said, ‘Girl, go buy a few lottery tickets because those are the kind of odds we’re dealing with,’” Murray said. “What a miracle it was.”
The four kids were ready to share, even though one of them might end up getting less nutrition, leading to surgery and causing problems.
“The babies shared incredibly well. There were no incidents on the sonogram even leading up to that where we were worried that one of them, or two or three of them, would be significantly smaller,” Murray said.
Jenny gave birth at 28.5 weeks on March 15. Even though she tried her best, she had to deliver before 33 weeks. The babies were born during the beginning of the coronavirus chaos, but her C-section went well.
Baby Harrison was the earliest to come, weighing 2 pounds and 6 ounces. Next was Hudson, who weighed 1 pound and 15 ounces. After that, Hardy arrived, tipping the scales at 2 pounds and 10 ounces. Finally, Henry followed, with a weight of 2 pounds and 6.7 pounds.
“They were all born in three minutes. It’s incredible,” Jenny said. “We called them our baby birds because they really looked like baby birds.”
For 10 weeks straight, three out of the four babies stayed in the special baby care unit to receive oxygen and other care. However, by early May, they finally went back home. Jenny and Chris are incredibly happy about it.
A year later, Jenny shared the latest news about her four babies’ health with DFW Child.
”They’re all crawling. I have two who will be walking in the next month, probably, which means the other two aren’t far behind. They’re into everything. They’re dirty and messy. They’re already such little boys! Eating is just shoveling food into their face as fast as they possibly can. They’re funny and just sweet as can be.”
“We just hope that this little story and our boys bring as much joy to everybody as they bring to us,” Jenny explained.
Today, the quadruplets celebrated their third birthday, and they seem to be doing well. You can check out the family’s journey on Instagram, thanks to Jenny, who created the account. Jenny, a former dental assistant, has 140,000 followers and regularly shares updates and glimpses of the Marr family’s busy daily life.
It’s natural that many people have questions and curiosity about Jenny’s family and her unique birth experience. Jenny says she didn’t use any medical assistance or drugs to conceive these babies.
People often ask Jenny about managing four lively boys.
”I don’t know anything different, and I don’t really have another option! My family had preschools when I was growing up, and 8 weeks was the starting age. I used to sit in with the preschool babies. I was around kids so much that it is like second nature to take care of children,” Jenny says.
”It is what it is. You’ve got to roll with the punches. I remember asking my doctor, “Do I need to go to parenting classes?” She said, “No, you’re going to learn things in the NICU. And there are four of them. Nobody’s going to teach you how to do this.”
People are also curious about how Jenny and Chris managed to tell the difference between the two boys.
”Well as their parents we just kind of know. We typically see 4 different faces, but their personalities and voices are so different. For someone who’s just met them though: (in birth order) Harrison is the biggest and has the best hair. Hardy has a chipped front tooth and is super slender. Henry has a chubby face and his hair bounces when he runs. Hudson has the smallest head and a freckle on his forehead. Thats about all I can give you in regards to how to tell them apart,” Jenny says.
Four cute little kids have come into the world. March 15 was such a lucky day. Chris and Jenny, I’m really happy for you guys. The moments you’ll create as a family and the love in your house are way beyond what I can imagine.
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