Two-month-olds Abigail, Mckayla, Grace and Emily Webb, from Alberta, Canada, were ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇᴅ naturally – the chances of which approximately one in 15 million. The chance of having quadruplets without the aid of ғᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ ᴛʀᴇᴀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛs is one in 729,000, while identical siblings is even ʀᴀʀᴇʀ.
The couple Bethani, 22, and Tim Webb, 23, exchanged vows in June, and like many normal couples very much in love, they started thinking about having children. In fact, they were thrilled when they found out in September that they were expecting. But when the couple went for their first ultrasound they were surprised to find that Bethani was pregant with four children. Bethani said:” I could not believe it, I was in such sʜᴏᴄᴋ. Honestly, I thought the ultrasound tech was joking.” During the ultrasound , Bethani said she saw the technicians looking and pointing at two different areas of the screen. She had therefore assumed that she was going to have twins. She said:” She turned the screen and she started counting babies and she counted baby one, baby two, baby three… I was thinking ‘OK you can stop at baby three. Baby three is enough’ – and she counted out the fourth baby. That’s when I just about fell over!. I definitely did go through some ᴘᴀɴɪᴄ ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋs.”
As there was no family ʜɪsᴛᴏʀʏof multiple births in Bethani and Tim’s families, and the couple did ɴᴏᴛuse ғᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ ᴅʀᴜɢs or in ᴠɪᴛʀᴏ ғᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ to ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇ their children, the news of their ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴄʏ is even more ᴀsᴛᴏᴜɴᴅɪɴɢ. The doctors said it’s just something that happens. It doesn’t happen all the time – it’s very, very ʀᴀʀᴇ. As of 2007, there were approximately 3,500 sets of quadruplets ʀᴇᴄᴏʀᴅᴇᴅ world ᴡɪᴅᴇ. One of the nurses that works at the hospital said it was a one in 67 million occurrence. They were born via C-section on May 6 when Bethani was 33 weeks along. All are healthy, growing, active and doing well. Abigail was born first, weighing three pounds. Next came Emily, who weighed four pounds one ounce, then Grace, at three pounds 15 ounces, and finally McKayla, who was three pounds 11 ounces.
The pictures, taken last month, show them arranged among flowers, inside a log, sleeping in miniature rabbit suits, bundled up like little bears and in matching all-white baby-grows surrounded by daisies. Photographer Cassandra Jones, of Noelle Mirabella Photography, said the babies were first quadruplets she has ever photographed and that they had to use hospital bracelets to tell the difference between the girls. She said: “The girls were all amazing. There were absolutely no tears during the shoot. In fact, they did ɴᴏᴛeven raise an eyelid. They slept like little angels for the entire shoot. They were so good that I managed to get five full set-ups with all of the girls together and individual shots of each baby in three hours flat. An average newborn session with a single baby lasts two to three hours, so I was pleasantly surprised how much I was able to do with four babies.”
She said everything – from the bunny bonnets to the bear hats and pastel colors – were planned ‘months in advance’ because she had a ‘very clear vision’ for the aesthetic of the pictures. The hats, outfits and wraps were all custom-made for the shoot and Cassandra carefully masterminded the outfits so that all she had to do was switch the hats between poses without waking them up.
Cassandra said: “The hollow log and hollow stump were at a local park that I frequent often and I figured they would be just the right size to accommodate four little peanuts. They were a pretty snug fit, but we managed to get them all in together and looking adorable. I really wanted Bethani their mother to be able to sit and relax and ɴᴏᴛhave to worry about anything. We had the perfect amount of hands. We were all flat out with things to do to pull everything together.”