An Arizona woman who never thought she would get pregnant again due to cancer and fertility issues is now a mother of five after giving birth to unexpected quadruplets.
Due to difficulties from polycystic ovarian syndrome, Virginia’s right ovary and Fallopian tube were removed when she was 13 years old. She has struggled with fertility troubles ever since puberty (PCOS).
She and Victor, a car dealer, tried for years to conceive before falling pregnant. But they suffered further heartbreak when they discovered the pregnancy was ectopic and would have to be terminated.
Virginia explained she had to undergo surgery to terminate the ectopic pregnancy, and a complication caused her to lose her other fallopian tube.
In order to stop the cancer from spreading, doctors removed the tumor and her remaining Fallopian tube in November 2013. This ended the couple’s last remaining hope of becoming pregnant naturally. But a month later, they began IVF because they were determined to have children.
Virginia revealed the swift dive into IVF was ‘a coping mechanism’ and a way to ‘numb the pain’ of the couple’s loss a month earlier.
Shortly after they discovered it had been successful and a year later they welcomed daughter Zoey.
“The whole pregnancy, I was worried we were going to lose her because we had lost the first one,” she said.
They decided to undergo IVF again, and the two embryos that were implanted turned into quadruplets.
“There was no way I could be pregnant with four.”
But she successfully delivered her quadruplets and the parents quickly fell into a routine, managing their five kids’ lives while also both working full time.
She said: “It was incredibly chaotic bringing them home. You can’t imagine the crying and the running around for each baby and, of course, still taking care of Zoey.
“We hardly got any sleep and were awake every three hours for bottle feeds. It’s hard enough with one newborn but with quads it’s four times as demanding.”
“But I also feel four times as blessed. We’re so lucky that we have such a good support system here and we do get a lot of help.’
She said: “I feel so lucky when I look at my children because I never thought this would happen to me. It hasn’t been your typical journey into parenthood, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
