By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

It had been a few weeks since Jamie and Nola Moses had been told they were having triplets.

The shock had settled in since that first ultrasound. They had even purchased a stroller on e-Bay to accommodate three children.

But then came the second ultrasound.

Immediately the South Ohio couple noticed something.

Or was it someone?

“The nurse did the ultrasound and she put the probe on. As soon as she did I saw four babies and I was hoping that she didn’t,” recalls Jamie. “I was thinking that can’t be right, but then she was asking these questions.

“She was like, ‘Soooo, what did they tell you at the clinic when you were there? And we said, ‘Triplets’ and she was like, hmmmm….and I was thinking to myself, she sees four.”

The couple, married for seven years, admits the news that Nola was carrying quadruplets came as a shock. After all, they thought they were only having three babies.

“I cried and not because I didn’t want them, it was just so overwhelming, the thought of having four babies,” Nola admits.

But the thing is they’re not just having four babies, they’re having a family. The only difference from most people is their family is all coming at once.

And for that they consider themselves to be blessed.

Years.

Almost five.

That’s how long Jamie and Nola Moses had been trying to get pregnant. Instead, it was just one disappointing try after another.

“When you’re having fertility problems it can be a lonely feeling, particularly when you see people all around you getting pregnant,” Nola says.

Because what they didn’t know for the longest time was that Nola’s fallopian tubes were blocked and badly scarred.

“We were basically trying for nothing. My tubes were such a mess I had a zero per cent chance of getting pregnant,” she says.

The couple credits where they are today to the care they received from Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, an OB/GYN at the Yarmouth hospital. He tried all he could to rectify the problem. When none of that worked – the surgeries, the drugs, the procedures – he steered them towards in vitro fertilization (IVF), explaining it was their only option.

But it would be a costly option. The travel bills to and from Halifax, the medications and the procedure ran into the thousands of dollars, the majority of which was not covered within the health system.

And while they knew there was a chance of a multiple birth, the odds certainly weren’t pointing in the direction of four babies.

At the very least, they hoped for one.

“A lot of people go through IVF and it doesn’t work. They’ve spent lots of money, emotionally people put a lot into it and physically it’s hard. To do all that and come out with nothing, especially where it’s your absolute last option…” says Nola. “We just hoped for one because we can’t afford to go back and keep doing it again and again.”

Three.

Of the 11 eggs that were harvested only three fertilized to be transferred into Nola’s uterus. Not the greatest of odds for the couple, although 16 days and a pregnancy test later they would get the greatest of news.

“When the phone rang I thought I was going to throw up, I didn’t know if I should answer it,” Nola says. “(The person) said congratulations, you’re pregnant. Honestly, I fell to my knees and I started crying and I was like, ‘Are you sure, could you say that again?’”

After so many years, finally Jamie and Nola Moses were going to be parents.

But then came the question. Three eggs had been transferred into Nola’s uterus, how many were successful?

“They found twins right away,” says Nola, who had actually been praying for twins since they weren’t apt to go this reproductive route again. “Then she said I see a third one and I said, ‘Oh My God, are you sure?’

“Then my first question was, how do you breastfeed three babies?”

The third one that was found at the first ultrasound didn’t have as strong a heartbeat as the other two. Therefore the couple was cautioned the next time they came back, there might only be two babies.

“So when we went back we were thinking, is there going to be three or is there going to be two?” Jamie says. “We never thought for a second that there was going to be four.”

Until that image flashed up on the screen.

The couple is expecting three boys and one girl. Two of the boys are identical twins, having split from the same egg.

Obviously the couple is going to need a lot of support, both during their pregnancy and especially after the birth. When you have four babies on the way, you need a lot of stuff. Four car seats, four cribs. Do you go with two double strollers or one quadruple one? (The one they had bought for triplets has already been sent back.) Their Honda Civic just isn’t going to cut it anymore, and imagine the loads of laundry in their future.

But they have family and friends to lean on (Nola is the daughter of Diane and Ken Burrill of Chegoggin and Jamie is the son of Tom and Anne Moses of South Ohio) and the community is pitching in too. Last weekend a pancake breakfast was held at the South Ohio Community Centre to help out the couple. And on Saturday, May 17 a rappie pie supper and take-out will be held at the community centre from 4:30-6 p.m.

Jamie’s mother Anne is in the process of coordinating volunteers who can help rock and feed the babies after they are born. She’s also been corresponding with another couple in Nova Scotia – Joseph and Christa MacKinnon of Greenwood who gave birth to quads in late January – for advice. Those babies are still in the hospital, although they might get to go home by the end of April.

Jamie and Nola Moses can also expect a lengthy stay in the hospital. Five months pregnant now, Nola was told to stop working 12 weeks into her pregnancy. Although she feels fine – except for wicked heartburn and a sore back – she’s been told she has to take things very easy. When she reaches 24 weeks she’ll be admitted to hospital where doctors will keep a close eye on her and the babies. The average delivery date for quadruplets, they’ve been told, is around 30 weeks, although if the babies can reach 32 weeks their lungs will be more fully developed.

“So basically for now I’m confined to a chair,” Nola says.

The couple has picked out a name for the girl and one of the boys, but they’re still undecided about the other two babies. Some prospective parents have a hard enough time agreeing on one name, imagine trying to reach a consensus on four.

“I said, ‘You pick two and I’ll pick two,’” laughs Jamie, who admits that suggestion didn’t go over so well with mom-to-be.

And while the thought of having four babies continues to be overwhelming – truthfully, that is the kind of news that takes a while to set in – these parents-to-be couldn’t be happier.

“This was a one-shot deal for us, and to find out not only is there three, but there’s four. It’s amazing,” says Nola.