Mom Has Quadruplets, Three Years After Triplets!

blessed_with_6 · 07-13-2006, 01:50 PM

LOS ANGELES - After delivering triplets three years ago, Angela Magdaleno thought she was done having babies. She was wrong four times over.

Magdaleno gave birth to quadruplets on July 6 by Caesarean section. She now has nine children.

The latest additions — two girls and two boys — were doing well Wednesday, while their mother, resting at home, said: "I'm happy because they're healthy and so am I."

Still, Magdaleno, 40, worried she might be overwhelmed with the work and sometimes struggles with mixed emotions about the future.

"I don't know if I'm sad or happy," she said. "I'm happy but, I don't know. I don't know how to explain it."

Three years ago, Magdaleno gave birth to the triplets after undergoing in vitro fertilization. She said her husband wanted many children. After their birth, she thought she was done having babies.

Then she got pregnant with the quadruplets. Magdaleno said she was shocked at the news.

"She wanted to run," said her husband, Afredo Anzaldo, 45, who lays carpet for a living.

Her doctor, Kathryn Shaw, a high-risk pregnancy specialist, said Magdaleno did well during the pregnancy and developed no complications.

The babies were born at 32 weeks — well beyond the 29-week average for quadruplets. At birth, the girls were 4 pounds and 17 and 17.5 inches long; the boys about 3.5 pounds and 16 inches long.

Shaw said the odds of conceiving quadruplets without fertility drugs are about one in 800,000. She's seen only one other case of quadruplets being conceived without drugs — 18 years ago.

Even more rare, the boys appear to be identical twins, according to their doctor, Soha Idriss, who expects the babies will join their mother at home in about eight weeks.

As of Wednesday, their parents were still deciding what to name them.

When the quadruplets come home, Magdaleno will have help from two older daughters.

All 11 family members will be living in a one-bedroom apartment in east Los Angeles. She said the living room is large, but she isn't sure what the family will do when the babies get bigger.

When the older girls are at school and her husband is at work, a friend has offered to help with the newborns and the triplets. "It's a lot of work," their mother said.

In the hospital, the babies sleep wrapped in blankets and attached to monitors and wires in separate incubators. They have full heads of straight dark hair and plump pink mouths.

Anzaldo took the couple's triplets to White Memorial Medical Center to meet their new brothers and sisters and to let Magdaleno get some rest at home.

They have accepted their new brothers and sisters, Magdaleno said. But at first the triplets weren't sure if they wanted the extra siblings, Anzaldo said.

"They wanted one baby and no more," he said.

anniebananie · 07-13-2006, 01:58 PM

First of all - wow, and without drugs?! That woman should be sainted...

what struck me most, however was the following:

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]All 11 family members will be living in a one-bedroom apartment in east Los Angeles. She said the living room is large, but she isn't sure what the family will do when the babies get bigger.

He is a carpet layer, she obviously stays home. How are they going to feed, cloth and shelter 9 children?

blessed_with_6 · 07-13-2006, 01:59 PM

And they didn't sound happy at all, in my opinion. I thought it was kind of sad.

Ava's mommy · 07-13-2006, 02:00 PM

Wow - that is crazy. But holy crap - 11 people in a 1 bedroom apartment. Here i'm complaining about 3 of us in a 3 bedroom house and not having enough space!

Rookie · 07-13-2006, 02:04 PM

OMG! I'd have my tubes tied for sure after that.

I hope someone can come through and help them get a bigger place. That's way too many people living in that apartment. I even think it's against code!

OMG - feeding 9 kids! I wouldn't evenknow where to start!

Artie · 07-13-2006, 02:23 PM

WOW!!

Yeah, I think I'd be done having kids after that too..... I'm sure they're just so overwhelmed they don't know what to think. I have twins, and I'm sure having triplets is just that much more work, but QUADS! WHEW! I'm tired just thinking about it!!

morrismomaof2 · 07-13-2006, 02:59 PM

I think I would have been done for sure after the triplets!! There is just no way I could handle 3 babies at once let alone 4!

bennis_mama · 07-13-2006, 05:58 PM

There was a case of sixtuplets (is that right) anyways, six of them here in Oregon a couple of months ago. NO in-vitro either. Ok, I know this sounds like a conspiracy but I think the horomones in our food are starting to place some weird-funky games on us. Have you noticed 9 year old girls have double D's now?! Geez, I didn't have boobs until I was (at least) in middle school.

i feel bad for the family, as all the girls here mentioned- they dont seem happy about it. I'm not sure I would be, at the time, that mother has to be TIRED. However, they have to make decent money or they'd be living in a Studio in LA! It's expensive. I hope Opera gets ahold of them and sets them up in a real nice dig.

Jen · 07-13-2006, 07:37 PM

OMG! 11 people in a bedroom apartment. Wow that's a lot of people! I hope she has help also.

Kimmy · 07-13-2006, 07:47 PM

I COULD NOT IMAGINE!!! That poor woman. I know that children are a blessing, but OMG!!! I really hope they do get help.

I have to wonder, though, why on earth were they trying to get pregnant again if they were in a one bedroom with 3 kids already?? We're they not trying and it just happened, not thinking they could have more?? She said her husband wanted many children... Well, then he needs to move his family out of LA, where they can afford a home for all his children.