New Mom Gives Birth to Extremely Rare Identical Quad Boys During COVID-19 Lockdown

(Illustration - FLUKY FLUKY/Shutterstock)

New parents from Dallas, Texas, are celebrating the birth of four baby boys in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. But what makes their newborns especially significant is the rarity of their relationship: the babies are identical quadruplet brothers, a phenomenon that only has 72 documented cases on record.

The babies, named Hudson, Harrison, Henry, and Hardy, were born to parents Jenny and Chris Marr at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on March 15, 2020. As reported by CBS DFW, the babies came into the world just one day before Dallas County imposed a mandatory stay-at-home order in light of the pandemic.

Jenny and Chris, both only children, revealed that neither has a record of twins, triplets, or quads in their families.

Dr. Lauren Murray, an OB-GYN at Texas Health Dallas, described Hudson, Harrison, Henry, and Hardy’s births as “so incredibly rare.” All four baby boys are identical quadruplets, which indicates that they shared a single placenta in the womb.

“[T]here are only about 72 documented cases of spontaneous, identical quadruplets ever,” Murray said.

According to the Rancho Bernardo News Journal, the babies were delivered by cesarean section within two minutes of one another. Jenny was only able to hold all four identical quads together for the very first time 19 days after the babies were born.

“It is with the grace of God we have these babies,” she said.

The new mom explained that giving all the babies “H” names was “super unintentional.” She and her husband, Jenny said, just happened to both like the names they chose.

Jenny described the moment she learned that she was carrying more than one child after the couple’s ultrasound technician turned to them with a concerned expression on her face. “I was like, ‘Oh no, there is no heartbeat,’” Jenny recalled. “And she said, ‘Oh no. There is a heartbeat!’”

Jenny speculated that she and Chris were having twins, but then came the shocking reveal. “[S]he said, ‘No, guys. There are three heartbeats! There are three babies in here,’” the mom recounted.

The expectant mom described the revelation as “terrifying,” but the surprises weren’t over. The couple went to visit renowned maternal-fetal expert Dr. Brian K. Rinehart in Dallas, and the doctor’s sonographer soon confirmed the true size of the Marrs’ growing brood.

“She said, ‘Well, I’m not supposed to tell you this but there are four babies in here,’” Jenny recalled, adding that she and her husband were speechless.

“I think I turned to [Dr. Rinehart] and I said, ‘I’m not coming back next week because there will be five,’” Chris joked.

The couple confirmed that they did not use fertility treatments; their four identical babies are the result of an egg that split spontaneously four times after being fertilized.

As the babies grew, Jenny’s doctors recommended that she maintain a 3,000-calorie-per-day diet before the birth. “They never stop,” Jenny told Fox 4 News. “They never stop moving!” Jenny made it to 28 weeks and four days of pregnancy before going into labor.

On their birthday, baby brothers Hudson, Harrison, Henry, and Hardy were cared for at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital’s NICU before spending almost a month in the special-care nursery at Texas Health Dallas.

The identical quads were discharged from the hospital on May 12. Jenny and Chris created an Instagram account, “The Marr the Merrier,” to share their babies’ journey from the NICU into the big wide world beyond.

“I drive a Honda Accord and Chris has a truck,” Jenny joked, speaking to Fox 4. “So how is that gonna work? We have to go shopping. We’ve got to buy a new car!”