A Texas couple welcomed four tiny miracles into the world, beating the one-in-fifteen-million odds of having identical quadruplets.
Mercedes, 34, and Jonathan Sandhu, 37, became parents to not one but four little bundles of joy, who joined their older brothers, Luke, 3, and Aaron, 18 months.
After 29 weeks of gestation, the family welcomed identical quadruplets—Hannah Grace, Lucy Marie, Rebecca Claire, and Petra Anne—on May 1.
Mercedes revealed that her third pregnancy came as a complete surprise. Moreover, she didn't expect to see “four little blobs” appear on the screen when she went for an ultrasound check.
"We weren’t trying by any means, but we were excited. We loved the idea of giving our boys another sibling," Mercedes tells TODAY.com. “But when we found out there were four … Holy moly!”
Texas couple Mercedes and Jonathan Sandhu welcomed identical quadruplets on May 1
Image credits: Jonathan Sandhu
"Holy moly!" agreed her husband.
It was less than two months into her pregnancy when the engineer couple realized they would need three more cradles in the house after the birth.
“Since it was my third pregnancy, I told Jonathan that he didn’t have to come to my appointment. I was like, ‘There will be plenty of scans,’” the mother recalled. “So I’m there without him, and I’m laughing and then I’m crying. I’m a little bit hysterical. And my doctor goes, ‘Let’s call your husband!’”
When Jonathan first heard the news, he thought Mercedes was trying to prank him.
"He kept asking, 'Are you serious?'" she said. The news began to sink in when Mercedes' OB-GYN began explaining the risks of carrying quadruplets.
The mother said she became "a little bit hysterical" when she found out she was welcoming four little ones
Image credits: Jonathan Sandhu
“I tried not to think about the negative outcomes too much because that doesn’t do you any good,” the mother added.
The couple knew that their four newborns were astoundingly rare.
Having identical quadruplets takes place in only 1 out of 15,625,000 pregnancies, according to Raising Multiples, a non-profit organization supporting multiple birth families.
“The odds of conceiving identical quadruplets is mind-blowing,” Jonathan said. “So the odds of them making it through anything is a slam dunk compared to that.”
Despite all the risks and health concerns, the couple welcomed their babies this month, with Petra, the tiniest, weighing 2 pounds, 7 ounces, and Hannah, the largest, weighing 2 pounds, 13 ounces.
The quadruplets, Hannah Grace, Lucy Marie, Rebecca Claire, and Petra Anne joined their older brothers Luke, 3, and Aaron, 18 months
“The process was absolutely wild. The operating room was packed to the point I stopped counting after 25 people. After the girls were moved to NICU, there were still ~20 people in the room getting them situated,” Mercedes said on Instagram.
Jonathan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that not only the babies but their mother, too, was doing well.
“The pregnancy was high-risk for Mercedes, too, and I was crying in the delivery room because it was like, ‘Everyone is safe. We made it,’” he told TODAY.com.
The newborns are currently receiving care at the Texas Children’s Hospital
Although their little ones are connected to CPAP machines, helping them breathe as they are in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Texas Children’s Hospital, the family is aware that their newborns are a “miracle.”
“This is what a miracle looks like,” Mercedes wrote on Instagram. “Quadruplets being conceived without fertility drugs is a miracle. Quadruplets being identical is a miracle. Quadruplets surviving in utero until 29 weeks (and 3 days!) on one placenta is a miracle. Quadruplets being born without any complications is a miracle…”
“As bleak as this picture may look, this little lady is doing amazing,” she added as she shared a picture of one of her newborns in the NICU. “It is truly a miracle.”
Hopefully, the quadruplets can join them at home before the couple celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary on May 18.
“I told my husband that the babies are my five-year gift to him,” the mother told the outlet. “Pretty hard to top!”