'We'll be a family -- a big family'

By REBECCA SLOAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
It was early Sunday, July 20, 2003, when Brian and Becky George arrived at the Poland offices of fertility specialist Dr. Robert Collins.
The couple had high hopes that on that morning, modern medicine would help grant them what they'd desperately been wishing for: a baby.
After trying unsuccessfully for two years to conceive, Becky, 31, felt discouraged and depressed. "Whenever I heard the news that one of my friends was pregnant, I would sit down and cry. I wondered if I'd ever have a child of my own," she said.
After a series of tests and examinations, Dr. Collins determined that Becky's cervix was not open all the way and that she'd probably never have a baby without fertility drugs and artificial insemination.
Dr. Collins prescribed a fertility drug called Clomid, and Becky agreed to be artificially inseminated with her husband's sperm.
"They put a catheter into my uterus. It was an emotionally draining experience. The doctors told us that most of the time, a woman has to go through the process a few times before any of her eggs will actually get fertilized," Becky said.
Not so with the Georges -- they got lucky the first time around. "We found out soon after that the artificial insemination had been successful," Becky said.
Just how successful it had been would knock the Georges' socks off. The couple, who live on Shelby Road in Boardman and have been married four years, were told by doctors that multiple births were a possibility with fertility drugs, but nothing could have prepared them for the jaw-dropping news they received Aug. 25, 2003.
GETTING THE NEWS
"The doctor did an ultrasound, and right away he told us that there were two babies. I was so excited! I said to Brian, 'We're having twins!' But then the doctor said, 'Wait a minute, there's a third one,' and since my husband is red-haired, instead of the color draining from his face, his face got really red, and he said to the doctor, 'Well, don't tell me there's any more than that.' That's when the doctor told us we were going to have quadruplets," Becky recalled, laughing.
As the stunning news sank in, the Georges were filled with a mixture of shock and elation -- as well as a bit of trepidation. That moment marked the first of many moments when the couple would stop and imagine how quadruplets would change their lives.
"With the fertility drugs, we expected to maybe have twins, because twins run in both of our families, but never in our wildest dreams did we expect to have quadruplets," Becky said.
BOYS OR GIRLS?
Throughout the pregnancy, Becky and Brian did not know if the quadruplets were identical or fraternal, but they did know that at least two of the babies were girls.
The estimated due date was April 10, but doctors told Becky she would most likely deliver anytime from the end of January to mid-March. Women who are pregnant with quadruplets usually deliver between Weeks 29 and 32.
The babies would be delivered by Caesarean section at St. Elizabeth Health Center and would be the third set of quadruplets delivered at the hospital in the past 20 years.
During the C-section, nearly 20 doctors and nurses would crowd the delivery room.
"Since the doctors need to get all the babies out as quickly as possible, a team of four to six people is needed for each baby," Becky explained.
Doctors who would help with the delivery included Becky's obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Patrick Skarote, who has offices in Boardman, neonatalogist Dr. Elena Rossi of St. Elizabeth's and high-risk pregnancy specialist Dr. Oscar Khawli, also of St. Elizabeth's.
CHALLENGES OF CARRYING FOUR
Carrying one baby is enough of a challenge for most women, but carrying four was downright debilitating.
"I am so uncomfortable. I feel like I am 80 years old," Becky said during her second trimester. "During the first trimester, I had morning sickness morning, noon and night. The smell of cologne or hairspray would make me sick and so would brushing my teeth. I lost 11 pounds during the first three months."
The morning sickness was mild compared to some of Becky's other trials and tribulations. At 14 weeks, doctors sewed Becky's cervix shut to prevent her from delivering the babies prematurely, and at 20 weeks, doctors restricted Becky to long, tedious hours of bed rest to guard against the risk of miscarriage.
The risk of miscarriage is high during Weeks 18 through 21 for mothers carrying multiple fetuses. At first, doctors allowed Becky to rest at home, but it was only a matter of time before she was admitted to the hospital.
"I haven't packed a suitcase yet because I am trying to keep the mind-set that I can stay home a while longer," Becky said in November.
"I wish I didn't have to go. My blood pressure and blood-sugar levels are fine, and the idea of being on bed rest in a hospital all day and all night depresses me."
While still at home, Becky spent her days reclining in a chair or resting in bed (on her left side to promote healthy circulation) and thinking about what was ahead. "There's a lot of time to think. Sometimes it's hard to sleep at night because I am so uncomfortable. I have constant heartburn. I have two babies pressing on my sciatic nerve, and my back is bothering me. At 20 weeks, my belly measures 36 inches and is the same size as a belly of a woman who is in the final days of her pregnancy," she said.
BLACKING OUT
Although most pregnant women struggle with heartburn and an aching back, most do not black out on a regular basis.
But Becky wasn't like most pregnant women, and fainting became a problem for her when she would lie flat on her back.
"It's hard for me to lie flat on my back because the weight of the babies presses on my lungs and cuts off my oxygen. To make matters worse, I have asthma, and so I sometimes have trouble breathing anyway," Becky explained. While lying flat on her back during her weekly internal ultrasounds with Dr. Khawli, Becky fainted repeatedly.
The first time was particularly frightening.
The sound of rushing wind filled her ears, her arms tingled with numbness and her pallid face grew cold as ice. Suddenly the sound of the doctor's voice seemed far away, and the faces that hovered above her seemed to bob and blur distantly at the end of a dark tunnel.
Swoosh -- the windy sound in her ears snuffed out the light, and the room went black.
A few seconds later, with cold compresses on her face and a team of nurses helping her to sit upright, Becky was lucid again, but not for long. As she tried again to lie flat on her back, Becky fainted once more. Because Becky had such a difficult time during the exams, Dr. Khawli performed the internal ultrasounds as quickly as possible and allowed Becky to sit up at regular intervals.
During the internal ultrasounds, Dr. Khawli inserted a probe that would allow him a closer look at the four babies and enable him to determine the babies' state of health and rate of growth. The weekly internal ultrasounds provided Becky with precious news about her tiny babies, such as how much they weighed and if their hearts and spines were developing normally.
TOUGH ON THE DADDY-TO-BE, TOO
Although Brian, 33, wasn't carrying four babies or suffering from fainting spells, he faced his own challenges.
Even before the quads were born, his life was a whirlwind of new responsibilities. Shortly after Becky became pregnant, Brian started a new job as a branch manager at National City Bank in Campbell. As he adjusted to his new job and traveled to various cities for job training, he also juggled housework and cooking -- tasks he normally didn't do.
Before Becky was admitted to the hospital for bed rest, Brian got up early and prepared breakfast for his wife and sometimes provided unusual foods to suit her peculiar cravings.
"One morning she wanted cranberry sauce, so I got her a can of it, and she ate it for breakfast. Another day, she was craving tartar sauce," Brian said.
Becky had to eat a whopping 4,500 calories per day to supply the quads with proper nutrition, not an easy feat when your stomach is compressed to half its normal size by four tiny bodies growing in your abdomen.
"Sometimes I drink Carnation Instant Breakfast drinks instead of eating. It's a way to get nutrition without having to stuff food into my stomach," Becky said.
A frank, friendly young woman, Becky barely batted an eye when discussing her tummy, her cervix or her uterus among friends and strangers alike.
"Modesty has gone out the window. At my last ultrasound, the room was filled with people. By now, I'm used to being poked and prodded at. It comes with the territory," she said.
GETTING SUPPORT
The support of friends and family also came with the territory.
Even early on, friends and family brought meals to the couple and offered to help in various ways.
Becky also found help through various support groups.
She belonged to a pregnancy support group for women who are on bed rest, and she belonged to a support group where she was matched up with another mother of quadruplets, a Texas woman who gave birth to quads five years ago.
"She tells me I will adjust after the babies are born, but I don't know how she does it," Becky said.
Fortunately, Becky had experience in caring for small children.
"I have twin sisters who are 11 years younger than me, and from the day they were born, I was the nanny and built-in baby sitter," Becky said with a laugh.
Brian wasn't quite as experienced with child care as his wife, although he had changed at least one diaper. "I thought I did a good job, but later [the child's] parents told me that I put the diaper on backward," Brian said.
FINANCIAL CONCERNS
Early on, financial concerns loomed large for the Georges. They especially wondered how they'd afford diapers, and for a split second, Becky actually considered using cloth diapers to save money. "Then I said to myself, 'Do you really want to wash poopy diapers all day?' and I decided against it," Becky said.
One demanding job Becky never planned to shy away from was breast-feeding. She planned to breast-feed all four babies to give them top-notch nutrition and to avoid spending a fortune on baby formula.
Becky realized that breast feeding four babies would be a round-the-clock job.
"I've decided that if one of the babies wakes up and wants to eat, then I will wake up the rest of them one by one, and they will all eat during that time," she said.
Becky also planned to express and bottle her breast milk and supplement with formula when necessary. As the Georges prepared their three-bedroom home for the arrival of four babies, they designated one bedroom "the nursing room" and one bedroom "the crib room." Brian scrambled to get the house ready for the quads.
"Our house is not at all childproof, and I know that down the road, we will have to move because this house isn't going to be big enough," he said.
Of course, the Georges' biggest concern was not a big house. It was the health of the quads.
"The babies' health and money are our two biggest concerns, but the babies' health definitely outweighs our worries about money," Brian said during Becky's second trimester.
A CHANGE OF SCENERY
On the Friday after Thanksgiving, Becky gave thanks for the health of her babies and the fact that she was able to spend the holiday at home and not in the hospital. That was about to change, however. Dr. Khawli ordered that Becky be admitted to St. Elizabeth's on Dec. 1 for extended bed rest and observation until the delivery of the quads.
Becky had been dreading the day when she must leave the comfort and privacy of home for a stuffy, sterile hospital room, but she was grateful for the additional time to mentally prepare for the next leg of her journey.
Becky gave Brian a list of toiletries to purchase at the grocery store as well as instructions on what to put into her going-away suitcase.
Among the items she would take was a book titled "When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets or Quadruplets" by Barbara Luke and Tamara Eberlein.
During her idle hours lying in a hospital bed, Becky planned to do plenty of reading and watch lots of television.
And Becky would enjoy regular visits from family members as well as daily visits from her husband. The couple would have to adjust to being apart because hospital rules dictated that Brian could spend the night in Becky's room only on weekends.
"There are sleeping chairs in the room for family members," Becky said, adding, "Brian is getting nervous. We've been married four years and never been apart. It's going to be weird to sleep apart."
Becky hoped she'd spend her days in one of the hospital's deluxe rooms designed for patients who must spend extended time on bed rest. "They're awesome rooms. The one I saw was bigger than a hotel room and had a private bathroom and a nice sleeping chair," Becky said enthusiastically.
Not that Becky would have any trouble sleeping in an ordinary hospital room. Easily fatigued and often short of breath, the mother-to-be was sleeping as much as 11 hours per day.
She just had to be careful not to flip on her back during her sleep. "If I do, I usually turn right back over. I weigh 198 pounds, and it's hard to move around at all when you are this pregnant," Becky said.
GETTING SETTLED IN
As the suitcase snapped shut, Becky took one last look around her cozy "home sweet home" and bid the familiar rooms a silent goodbye. The next time she'd set foot in this house, she'd be a mother of four with a drastically different life.
As Brian loaded the luggage into the car, Becky's mother and sisters helped Becky out the door and into the wintry air.
As a gesture of affection for the unborn babies, Becky's sister Jessica Spohn planted a goodbye kiss on Becky's swollen belly. Then Becky climbed into the car and embarked on the next phase of her journey: hospital bed rest until the birth of the quads.
The drive to St. Elizabeth's was brief, and upon her admittance, Becky was pleased to discover that she'd received the "deluxe" hospital room she'd hoped for.
The spacious room would help ease Becky's discomfort and ward off bouts of cabin fever. As Brian toted in the bags, Becky's mother and sisters readied the room, folding clothes into dresser drawers and arranging toiletries around the bathroom sink.
Since Christmas was just around the corner, Becky's sisters promised to come back later and decorate her room for the holidays. Although Becky had already accepted the glum reality of spending Christmas in a hospital bed, she couldn't help but feel a renewed twinge of melancholy.
"Well, this is it," she thought. "I'm in for the long haul."
A RESTLESS TIME
After one week of hospital bed rest, Becky was battling depression and fighting back tears that seemed to fall at the drop of a hat.
Everything made Becky cry. Sappy TV commercials, Christmas cards sent from loved ones and, most of all, time apart from her husband. Becky hated sleeping alone.
She missed the familiar feel of Brian's body curved against her back and the gentle lull of his rhythmic breathing. Brian confessed that he was having trouble sleeping, too.
At home, in the empty bed, he tossed and turned into the wee hours, thoughts of his new job, the wife he missed and the unborn babies crowding his mind. It wasn't much easier for Brian to sleep in Becky's hospital room.
His first night in the reclining bedside chair was anything but restful. Brian found the chair uncomfortable and the round-the-clock visits from nurses disruptive. Becky slept fairly well, if you didn't count the numerous times she had to get up and hobble to the bathroom, and if you dismissed the nagging worries that crept into her mind during the darkest hours before the dawn.
More and more, Becky found herself agonizing about her babies' health. Her fears seemed to peak during Brian's evening visits when Brian pushed Becky in a wheelchair, and the couple ambled down the hallway and stopped outside the hospital's nursery window. There they'd linger as if magnetized to the spot, their eyes fixed on the many brand-new bundles of joy, while a thousand silent thoughts of the future turned in their minds.
Any given evening, there were new babies to behold. Some of the babies were as tiny and weak as mewling kittens; others were fat and robust, red-faced and squalling.
As Becky studied the babies, hot tears welled in her eyes. Her babies would never see that nursery. After their Caesarean birth, they'd be rushed to the hospital's neonatal intensive-care unit, where they would be placed under bright UV lights used to treat jaundice.
Intravenous needles would pierce their tiny limbs and ventilators would help them take their first breaths of life-giving air. Becky hated to think about the needles and tubes and the pain her babies would feel during their first days on Earth.
TAKING A VOW
With motherly instinct taking hold, Becky vowed to be stronger. "I won't complain about all of the needles they are sticking in me or how uncomfortable I am," Becky thought.
"The more they do to me and the longer I can carry the babies, the less my babies will suffer after they are born."
Becky also vowed to keep her sense of humor. When her hospital room's telephone rang, Becky answered cheerfully, saying: "Becky's baby emporium!"
And Becky strove to be a model patient. When the nurses brought in tray after tray of hospital food, Becky tried her best to clean her plate although she felt rather like a farmyard animal being fattened up for slaughter. "I can't eat all of the food they expect me to eat," she complained to her mother. "There's no way I can get it all in."
At 8:30 a.m., a nurse brought in a breakfast tray piled with stick-to-your-rib vittles such as eggs, toast and bacon. At 10 a.m. came the morning snack, which consisted of a chocolate Boost shake, a bowl of cereal and a cup of pudding. At 12:30 p.m., a big lunch arrived, and at 2 p.m., nurses presented Becky with another snack -- crackers and cheese.
Becky abhorred the "institutional-style cheese" and refused to eat it, much to the chagrin of nurses.
"I have learned to stand up for myself and speak up if I don't like something," Becky said.
At 6 p.m., dinner was served, and at 8 p.m. Becky received yet another snack. "I am afraid to see how much I will weigh the next time I step onto a scale," Becky lamented.
But despite feeling as stuffed as a Thanksgiving turkey, Becky's health remained stable, with no bleeding or cramping and no threats of premature labor. Three times a day, nurses strapped a monitor around Becky's abdomen to check for possible contractions. So far, there were no signs of trouble. Becky was still hopeful that she could carry the babies as long as 32 weeks, but Dr. Rossi informed Becky that she wouldn't be able to carry the babies past mid-February.
"Your body simply will not be able to hold four growing babies longer than that," Dr. Rossi told her. "It won't really make a difference in the health of the babies whether you carry them 28 weeks or 32 weeks."
Becky accepted the diagnosis and tried not to worry, even though her worries seemed to be piling up as high as the hospital bills.
Since Brian had just started a new job, there were mix-ups with his new health insurance. "As of right now, the insurance is not paying for me being in this hospital room, and you know, this swanky hotel room they have me in isn't cheap," Becky joked.
"I think it will eventually get straightened out, but there's a lot of red tape at this point."
HOLIDAY DUTIES
With Christmas right around the corner, holiday tensions were mounting for Becky and Brian. Although Brian loathed shopping, this year it was his responsibility to buy the bulk of the Christmas presents for friends and family.
To ensure that her husband wouldn't end up wandering through the mall like a deer caught in headlights, Becky leafed through newspaper fliers, circled pictures of gift possibilities and handed the fliers back to Brian.
After Brian made his purchases, he brought the presents to Becky's hospital room and Becky propped herself up in bed and wrapped them. The couple tried not to fret about finances, despite their landslide of holiday and hospital bills.
Besides, there were more important things to be concerned about -- mainly Becky's health and the health of the unborn babies.
FIRST CONTRACTION
Becky's fetal monitor indicated a contraction, and Dr. Khawli told Becky that if she were to have more than four contractions in one hour, he would have to prescribe doses of magnesium and restrict Becky to absolute bed rest.
"If the doctor has to put me on magnesium, I won't be able to get out of bed at all -- not even to go to the bathroom or take a five-minute shower," Becky said.
Although a Dec. 12 internal ultrasound indicated that the quads were doing fine, Becky continued to brood over her babies' health, and during her first tour of the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, she broke down and cried.
"It was very emotional for me to see that place and see the tiny babies that are there with feeding tubes and needles stuck in them because I know my babies are going to be there, too," Becky said, her voice quavering.
Since Becky's babies would be rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit seconds after their birth, one of Becky's greatest fears was that she would not be able to see her babies before they were whisked away.
"I don't want to sound morbid, but if something should happen to the babies, I want to be sure that I see them right after they are born when they are alive," Becky said quietly.
To help ease her fears, Dr. Khawli assured Becky that nurses would hold the babies up for her to see immediately after they were born. He also advised Becky to take one day at a time and not worry so much.
"I don't think the doctors really wanted me to tour the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit just yet. I think they wanted me to wait a while so I wouldn't get upset, but I want to be informed. I want to know as much as I can about what lies ahead," Becky said.
A GLIMPSE OF HOME
Allison, Gretchen, Emma and Moira. These were the names Becky and Brian planned to give their unborn children, who, according to Dr. Khawli, were all girls.
Of course, Dr. Khawli couldn't be 100 percent sure of the sex of the babies, and nobody would know for sure until the day of delivery how many of the George quads would wear pink and how many would wear blue.
"Brian and I are still hoping for at least one boy," Becky said, adding wryly, "I told Dr. Khawli that my baby shower is right around the corner, and if he is wrong and one of these babies is a boy, it's going to be his fault if that boy has to wear lots of pink clothes!"
Despite her flashes of humor, Becky continued to struggle both emotionally and physically. At least Brian's new job training was over and he could spend more time at the hospital.
"I didn't see Brian at all last week because he was in Cleveland for job training. That was rough, and I was very emotional. I guess I'm a needy wife," Becky surmised. To cheer her, Brian brought Becky a videotape showing the rooms in their home that he had readied for the babies' arrival.
The video allowed Becky to see firsthand how Brian had arranged the furniture in the nursery and how he was progressing with overall childproofing. It was the next best thing to being home for the holidays.
"The video camera was an early Christmas present for us from each other," Becky said. "It's the only present we decided to buy each other this year because we are watching our pennies."
Although Brian had learned a thing or two about interior decorating, his homemaking skills remained rough around the edges. Despite doing all of Becky's laundry (she still wore maternity clothes and not hospital gowns), Brian rarely cooked and ate most of his suppers from a sack.
"He makes lots of stops at McDonald's," Becky said. Perhaps it was a good thing that Brian wasn't cooking his own meals. Becky was horrified when she learned he hadn't cleaned out the refrigerator since her admittance to the hospital.
"I told him to turn on the garbage disposal and start dumping things down the drain, especially the moldy dairy products!" Becky said.
HOLIDAY VISITS
It was Christmas morning, and family and friends were coming to the hospital to visit Becky. Outside the window, Becky could see snowflakes fluttering past, but she really didn't care whether or not it was a white Christmas. What she really wanted was a hot shower.
"I can't get out of bed to take a shower because there's no hot water on this floor and there hasn't been any for the last 24 hours," Becky explained, adding, "This has happened a few other times since I've been here, but I am really upset about it this morning because I'm having so many visitors today."
While some gals might grit their teeth and brave a cold shower for the sake of freshly shampooed hair, Becky didn't dare do such a thing.
"A blast of cold water could literally send me into labor," she said. So, with greasy hair and a good-humored grin, Becky propped herself up in bed and welcomed friends and family into her hospital room. Gift bearers brought a bevy of baby items and new maternity clothes, which Becky jokingly called her "fat-people duds."
"I needed some new pants because I'm growing right out of my old ones," she said. "The babies now weigh a little more than a pound each."
As Becky opened various baby gifts, it struck her how unreal it still seemed that she was actually going to have four babies. "Sometimes I feel detached from it all -- like it's not really real yet," she said. "I am a person who is always thinking of the future and always wanting to be a step ahead of the game, but in this situation, I am forced to take one day at a time. I can't obsess too much about the future because it's not good for me or the babies."
TOASTING THE NEW YEAR
It was New Year's Eve, and Becky and Brian were celebrating in Becky's hospital room. They couldn't share a dance, and they didn't have confetti or champagne, but they did have fireworks. Just before midnight, Brian pulled back the drapes and beyond the hospital room's panoramic window, the glittering Youngstown skyline exploded with color.
"The view was spectacular. My room is up on the seventh floor, so we could see for miles. We turned off all the lights and sat in front of the window. We could see Poland and Struthers and Boardman, and we could see all the fireworks displays," Becky said. The couple toasted 2004 with a bottle of sparkling grape juice poured carefully into a winsome pair of Waterford crystal glasses. They were the same elegant tumblers that Becky and Brian had sipped champagne from on their wedding day.
"It was Brian's idea to bring the glasses to the hospital. He actually strapped them into the car with a seat belt so they wouldn't get broken," Becky said with a laugh.
As the fireworks ended, Becky and Brian stared at the twinkling city lights and shared a pensive moment wondering what lie ahead of them in the new year.
"We were kind of laughing, saying how symbolic the number four in 2004 is, and we were wondering what our lives would be like a year from now," Becky said. "We knew that 2003 was our last year to just be a regular couple. In 2004, we'll be a family -- a big family all of the sudden."
A LONELY ROUTINE
With the magic of New Year's Eve behind her, Becky settled back into her humdrum hospital routine: heartburn, bed rest and boredom.
"Sometimes the days really drag. You'd think I wouldn't be lonely with four babies inside of me, but ironically, sometimes I just feel really alone. Alone and uncomfortable, " she said.
Early in January, Becky adjusted to a new discomfort -- a catheter in her leg. "The catheter supplies me with a drug called terbutaline, which is used to relax the uterus and keep me from having contractions," Becky explained.
Becky disliked the drug's side effects. "It makes me jittery. I feel like I've drunk about four pots of coffee, but at least it's not magnesium. At least I can still get out of bed to take a shower," she said.
Although she was still taking a "one-day-at-a-time" approach, Becky did allow herself to spend time contemplating how she'd manage during the days immediately after the babies' births.
"I know that for the first few months of their lives, the babies will be in the hospital, and so even though I won't be here lying in a bed like I am now, I'll still be coming to the hospital every day to see the babies," Becky said.
Becky's heart ached over a new piece of news about the babies' first weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. "One of the nurses told me that I probably won't be able to hold or touch the babies for a month after they are born," Becky said.
"She said premature babies have very sensitive skin and holding them and touching them can cause too much stimulation."
UPS AND DOWNS
Becky was pleased when Dr. Khawli reported that the babies weighed a little more than 2 pounds each. Dr. Khawli even took a pen and drew an outline on Becky's rotund belly to show her (and friends and family) exactly where the babies were. Becky was less enthused to learn her own weight. "I now weigh 208 pounds," Becky lamented.
The 4,000-plus-calorie diet wouldn't end once the quads were born. Since Becky planned to breast-feed, doctors told her she'd have to eat just as many calories after the babies were born to continue to supply the quads and herself with adequate nutrition.
SHOWERED WITH GIFTS
"Don't break a ribbon or you'll have a baby! " joked Becky's mother, Mary Spohn, as her very pregnant daughter tore ribbon and pastel-colored paper off a carefully wrapped box.
The jest evoked ripples of laughter from all around the crowded St. Elizabeth's conference room where about 65 friends and family members had gathered for Becky's baby shower. Since Becky couldn't leave the hospital for a traditional baby shower, her guests had come to her.
After weeks of cabin fever, the contact with so many friends and family members made Becky's heart swell with joy and brought fresh tears to her eyes.
"Sometimes I feel really isolated here, and it means a lot to me that you've all come here today to see me," she said as she addressed her guests before opening her presents.
The mountain of presents were stacked behind Becky on a cafeteria table. They came in all shapes and sizes, and each one seemed to inspire tender wonder for the uncharted waters of motherhood that lie ahead. Each gift also seemed to inspire wonder over exactly how Becky would manage four babies at once.
"I don't think their house is going to be big enough for four babies. They're going to have to add an addition onto their house just to make room for all these presents," Becky's mother said with a grin.
Car seats, bouncer seats, bottles, storybooks and frilly baby clothes were among the many gifts given. As Becky held up four matching baby dresses amid oohs and aahs from the crowd, Mary Spohn offered a suggestion to help keep Becky and Brian sane after the quads arrived.
"I told them they need to buy a big, white bulletin board and divide it into four columns -- one column for each baby. Then they can write down what time each baby ate, when it was fed and when its diaper was changed," she said.
Becky's twin sisters, Jennifer and Jessica Spohn, had their own unlikely suggestion about simplifying life after the quads‚ birth.
"I think [Becky and Brian] should tattoo the name of each baby on the baby's foot, that way, they won't get them mixed up," offered one of the twins.
Becky promptly dismissed the suggestion. "I'm not tattooing my babies' feet," she said while rolling her eyes. "We're going to use ID ankle bracelets to keep them straight."
As the shower was about to end, Brian arrived and was welcomed into the room with cheers and warm applause. After smooching his wife and posing with her for a few photos, Brian turned to the pile of opened presents and studied it quizzically. "I don't think these are all going to fit into our minivan," he said. "I'll probably have to make two trips to get all of these home."