Jenny Marr was nervous during her first ultrasound when her doctor, Dr. Lauren Murray, looked surprised. When most parents see their baby on the screen for the first time, they feel excited and emotional. But for Jenny and her partner Chris, this moment was even more special.
Jenny and Chris from Grapevine, Texas, had been trying to have a baby for a while. After they found out Jenny was pregnant, they went for a regular ultrasound check. Instead of seeing one baby, the doctor told them Jenny was expecting three babies! Jenny thought something might be wrong at first, but was amazed when she learned the news.
Jenny explained to TODAY: “I was like, ‘Oh no, there’s no heartbeat.’ And, she’s like, ‘No, there is a heartbeat.’ She goes, ‘Y’all, there’s three babies in there.’ And we were just absolutely floored.”
Jenny and Chris were already surprised to learn they were having three babies. But a week later, during another check-up, they felt nervous again when the ultrasound technician gave them a strange look. Chris shared with TODAY, “The tech — who was doing the initial (scan) — she gave me a funny look. We were like, ‘Oh what’s going on now?’ We got worried again”
“She was really cute. She said, ‘I’m not supposed to say this, but y’all got four babies.’”
Within a week, Jenny and Chris found out they weren’t having three babies, but four! Chris joked about not returning in case they found out there would be five. The good news was that all the babies were healthy. Dr. Lauren Murray shared that having identical quadruplets without any treatments is very, very rare – it happens only once in 11 to 15 million births!
Dr. Murray was amazed by the rare event of identical quadruplets. She joked with Jenny to buy some lottery tickets because the chances of this happening were like winning the lottery. Even though there were worries that one baby might take more food than the others, which could lead to problems, everything went smoothly. Dr. Murray shared that all four babies shared well, and there were no signs of any baby being much smaller than the others during the checks.
On March 15, when Jenny was 28.5 weeks pregnant, she had to give birth earlier than planned. She had aimed for 33 weeks. Even though the coronavirus was causing confusion everywhere, her C-section was successful. First came Harrison, weighing 2 pounds 6 ounces, then Hardy at 2 pounds 10 ounces, Henry at 2 pounds 6.7 ounces, and lastly Hudson, who was 1 pound 15 ounces. Jenny was amazed and said, “They were all born in three minutes. It’s incredible. We called them our baby birds because they really looked like baby birds.”
After birth, three of the four babies had to stay in the special baby care unit for 10 weeks to get oxygen and other help. But by early May, all the babies were at home, making Jenny and Chris very happy. A year later, Jenny shared an update about her four boys with DFW Child. She said, ”They’re all crawling. I have two who will be walking in the next month probably, which means the other two aren’t far behind. They’re into everything. They’re dirty and messy. They’re already such little boys! Eating is just shoveling food into their face as fast as they possibly can. They’re funny and just sweet as can be.”
Jenny started an Instagram account to share their family adventures. She has a big following of over 140,000 people! Even though she used to be a dental assistant, now she often shares what daily life looks like for the Marr family, and it’s always full of action. Many are curious about how Jenny had four babies at once. She’s clear that it happened naturally, without any medical help or medicines.
People often wonder how Jenny manages with four active boys. Jenny says, ”I don’t know anything different, and I don’t really have another option! My family had preschools when I was growing up, and 8 weeks was the starting age. I used to sit in with the preschool babies. I was around kids so much that it is like second nature to take care of children. It is what it is. You’ve got to roll with the punches. I remember asking my doctor, “Do I need to go to parenting classes?” She said, “No, you’re going to learn things in the NICU. And there are four of them. Nobody’s going to teach you how to do this.”
Jenny and Chris can easily tell their four boys apart. To them, each boy looks different. But for those meeting them for the first time, Jenny gives some tips: Harrison is the largest with great hair. Hardy is thin and has a chipped tooth. Henry’s face is round, and his hair bounces when he runs. Hudson has a small head and a freckle on his forehead. March 15, the day they were born, was truly special. Wishing Jenny and Chris many happy memories and lots of love with their four little ones! If their story brought a smile to your face, consider sharing it with others!