Mercedes and Jonathan Sandhu of Texas have beat incredible odds after giving birth to identical quadruplet girls on May 1.
Mercedes, 34, and Jonathan, 37, were already parents to Luke, 3, and Aaron, 18 months, when they found out they were expecting again. “So we weren’t trying by any means, but we were excited. We loved the idea of giving our boys another sibling,” Mercedes told TODAY.com. “But when we found out there were four … Holy moly!”
Joining their big brothers are Hannah Grace, Lucy Marie, Rebecca Claire, and Petra Anne, who were all born via c-section when Mercedes was 29 weeks pregnant.
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The family has started an Instagram account to document the girls’ progress.
“On May 1, 2024, our lives changed forever. It started as a normal day with an ultrasound, but based on the results, the doctors decided to schedule a c-section,” Jonathan wrote. “There were previous concerns on growth restrictions for Petra, but even though she’s still the smallest, she’s in the 34th percentile for weight, ~50th percentile for everything else. The other girls are all right around the 50th percentile for everything. They are all healthy and (seem to be) happy.”
“Considering they were all sharing one placenta, this is an absolute miracle (but hey, so is the fact they even exist).”
According to TODAY, there are only 72 documented cases of spontaneous quadruplets in medical history. ‘Spontaneous’ means the parents did not use reproductive assistance to conceive. The odds of giving birth to these quadruplets is about one in 15 million.
The couple said that though the pregnancy came with a lot of worries that things could go wrong, they tried to approach it with a positive mindset. “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.”
Still, he said he was overcome with relief once his wife and the girls made it through the delivery safely. “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.
Though the girls are still in the NICU, their progress has been good thus far. The Sandhus are next looking forward to their five-year wedding anniversary on May 18.
“I told my husband that the babies are my five-year gift to him,” Mercedes said. “Pretty hard to top!”
