A Mississippi Mom, Kimberly Fugate, found out she was pregnant in November, the day before her 42nd birthday. As if finding out she was pregnant wasn’t surprising enough, considering she wasn’t planning on having any more children, it turned out she was having triplets. But what was most shocking about this delivery was that quadruplets were born, identical quadruplets to be exact.
After giving birth to what she expected, three healthy baby girls, at the University of Mississippi Medical Center on February 8, The Clarion Ledgar reports that the doctor looked at her and said, “more feet.” A few minutes later, a fourth girl was born. It turns out this fourth baby was hidden from all the previous ultrasound images, so the delivery was completely unexpected to the mother and the doctors.
Her physician, the director of UMMC’s maternal-fetal medicine, Dr. James Bofill, was just as shocked as Fugate was. “I was very embarrassed, obviously,” he said. “The news was sent to e by one of my fellows. I thought she was kidding.” Discovering a fourth baby during the delivery was something Bofill had never experienced in his 27 years as a doctor.
The news of the fourth baby wasn’t even the most shocking part of this delivery; it was the odds of this happening that truly shocked the doctors. Giving birth to identical quadruplets is an event of “almost incalculable odds,” said Bofill. “We’ve seen quadruplets here before, but we’ve never seen identical quadruplets. That’s what makes this case so unique and unusual.”
The doctor admitted that nobody knows exactly what makes a single zygote separate into identical twins, triplets or quadruplets. “It’s definitely an accident; it’s not supposed to happen and, in some cases, like Ms. Fugate’s, it happens in a spectacular manner.”
Fox News reports that the baby girls have been named Kenleigh, Kristen, Kaleigh and Kelsey. Seems they like keeping the K theme going, considering they already have a 10-year-old daughter, Katelyn. The four girls were born prematurely at 28 weeks and are currently in intensive care. They will remain in the hospital until May to make sure everything is okay because of their premature birth, but the babies are healthy.
Fugate, her husband and daughter Katelyn have a lot to do before the four girls can go home. There was no time for a baby shower due to the early birth, additional clothing, diapers and supplies must be bought and a vehicle that is big enough for a family of seven is needed.
Nothing about this pregnancy, or delivery, was planned but Fugate considers it “a blessing” and is just happy that the girls are all there and are all healthy. When asked if she plans on having any more children, Fugate smiled and said, “This. Is. It.” Congrats to the new Mother of four!