„My first thought was: now my life is over,“ says Louise Ammon. She and her husband Tomas experienced a real emotional storm at the beginning of the year. At first – joy that she was pregnant and their wish to have a child was coming true, reports Focus.de.
But soon the joy of expecting a baby became even greater: during the ultrasound examination, not one child but three were seen, later – even four. This week the day finally came. On Monday, four brothers – Mio, Matti, Luke, and Levi – came into the world earlier than planned. “We are all fine,” the newly made mother happily said on the phone.
Born early
Statistically, quadruplets are like five correct numbers with an additional lottery number: about one quadruplet birth occurs in 600,000 births, on average about one per year in Germany. This poses special challenges for clinics. Babies almost inevitably are born several weeks earlier than expected, and as premature newborns, they need special care – and fourfold.
Constant monitoring in the hospital
The expected delivery date was at the beginning of September, but neither the parents nor the doctors wanted to wait until then. “Four children grow in the belly at the same time, and at a certain point limits are reached,” explained senior physician Jörg Stolle of the Women’s Diseases and Obstetrics Clinic.
This increases pressure on the cervix. In addition, high pressure in the abdomen can disrupt placental blood flow, so the babies may no longer be sufficiently supplied.
Therefore, the hospital constantly monitored how the children were feeling, how they were growing, and whether there were any abnormalities. The doctors’ goal was to reach the 32nd week of pregnancy and for each baby to weigh 1500 grams.
Birth weight – 900, 1100, and 1350 grams
But everything suddenly happened quickly. On the night to Monday, in the 30th week of pregnancy, the amniotic sac broke, Louise Ammon said. Then the babies were born by cesarean section. Levi and Mio are the smallest – they weigh less than 900 grams, Luke weighs 1100 grams, and Matti, weighing 1350 grams, is the strongest of the brothers.
“At the moment, the four boys sleep a lot and recover in a safe environment after the early birth,” the doctors informed. “They are gently helped to breathe, and through the umbilical vein, they are reliably supplied with all important nutrients and fluids.”
The goal is for the little ones to strengthen and be able to go home around the originally planned delivery time in September. These are the first children of Louise Ammon and her husband Tomas.
“At first, I just started laughing”
What went through his mind when he found out he would become a father of four at once? “At first, I just started laughing,” said 25-year-old Tomas, who works in logistics for a large car manufacturer. “I couldn’t do otherwise,” he said. The joy, according to him, was from the very beginning: “But also a respectful fear of such a big challenge.”
Two of the quadruplets are identical twins, and the other two developed from separate eggs. Everything happened naturally, without hormones, Louise Ammon assured during a conversation a few days before the birth. The doctors also explained to them that in cases of multiple pregnancies, sometimes some fetuses are removed to reduce the risk of possible complications.
“But from the very beginning, we said: no, we couldn’t do that,” she said. Her husband nodded: “Allowing a healthy child to be removed – we absolutely did not want that. We agreed on that.”
Planning to move
Weeks and months before the birth, the quadruplets turned the lives of two twenty-somethings upside down. In spring, they quickly got married in a small circle of close ones, and they also had to look for a new home.
“Our three-room apartment in Oelsnitz is definitely too small,” said father Tomas Ammon. For the future large family, a landlord in Liechtenstein combined two apartments on the first floor into one seven-room apartment, he said. They plan to move in as early as July.
“Our life will change from zero to one hundred”
The search for a bigger car is still ongoing. “We will definitely need a minibus,” said Louise Ammon. She shares her unusual pregnancy experience on Instagram. This caught the attention of a baby stroller manufacturer who gave them two strollers for twins: “All this helps us a lot.”
And how does the young couple imagine life with four little boys? “Definitely very chaotic,” said 24-year-old Louise. “Our life will change from zero to one hundred. But it will still be beautiful.”
“Definitely,” her husband agreed. “And we know we will receive a lot of support from family and friends.”
Both are true family people, and Louise, being a qualified educator, has experience working with small children. Therefore, the initial question of how they will manage all this was replaced by confidence, they say: “We will manage!”
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