Caitlin Yates, a 20-year-old nursing assistant from Illinois, visited a hospital on April 1 in hopes of getting treatment for her sore throat. Instead, she received the life-changing news that she was pregnant with quadruplets. Ms. Yates shares her incredible story TodayDescribing how her hospital visit began with a sore throat that led doctors to recommend an X-ray. As a precaution, doctors also told Yates to take a pregnancy test before the X-ray, as radiation can be harmful to the fetus. Surprisingly, her pregnancy test came back positive, and her human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) levels were “off the charts”, indicating multiple fetuses.
Specifically, HCG is a hormone produced by the placenta during pregnancy, which can be detected by a blood test around 11 days after conception and a urine test around 12-14 days after conception. Typically, HCG levels double every 72 hours, peaking between weeks 8-11 of pregnancy, before returning to normal.
Ms Yates first thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke, but reality soon set in. Her fiancé, Julian Buecker, was overjoyed to hear the news, which calmed her nerves. As Yates’ pregnancy progressed, complications arose, leading to a diagnosis of preeclampsia, a condition characterized by high blood pressure after 20 weeks. He suffered debilitating symptoms including difficulty breathing, liver complications and kidney problems.
At 28 weeks and 4 days old, Yates underwent an emergency C-section at HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Illinois, where the quadruplets were delivered on October 17. The youngest child was Elizabeth, who weighed 1 pound 2 ounces; While Max, the largest in the bunch, weighed in at 2 pounds, 6 ounces.
However, all four babies are doing remarkably well, gaining weight and developing well. “They are doing amazing. They are gaining weight and growing. Elizabeth is about six grams away from reaching two pounds,” he said. Today.
According to the Journal of Family and Reproductive Health, the chances of spontaneously conceiving quadruplets are less than one in 500,000. According to the Mayo Clinic, various factors contribute to premature birth. A woman’s previous experiences with pregnancy, such as premature birth or miscarriage, can increase the risk. Additionally, underlying health problems such as uterine abnormalities, high blood pressure, and diabetes may also play a role.
