Jenny Marr might have thought there was an issue with her unborn baby when she noticed a strange expression on her doctor’s face during the initial ultrasound…
What she didn’t realize was that Dr. Lauren Murray was on the verge of transforming her and her partner’s lives for good.
Anyone who has been anticipating a baby and has visited the sonographer understands how both thrilling and anxiety-inducing it can be
Seeing something emerge on that dark screen and realizing it’s a living being is profoundly moving. However, for Jenny Marr and her partner Chris, it was not just those feelings but so much more.
The couple, hailing from Grapevine, Texas, met at a local bar and had been trying to conceive for several months. But when Jenny finally became pregnant, she and Chris were taken aback during a routine ultrasound.
That’s when Jenny came to the realization that she wasn’t just carrying one baby.
Jenny shared with TODAY: “I was thinking, ‘Oh no, there’s no heartbeat.’ And she said, ‘No, there is a heartbeat.’ Then she added, ‘Guys, there are three babies in there.’ We were completely stunned.”
Jenny and her partner Chris were understandably taken aback, but the surprises kept coming.
Just a week later, on November 19, 2019, they went to see a maternal-fetal medicine specialist for a follow-up appointment and received the same peculiar look from the technician conducting the ultrasound.
“The technician — who was performing the initial scan — gave me a strange look. We thought, ‘Oh what’s happening now?’ We started to worry again,” Chris recounted to TODAY.
“She was really sweet. She said, ‘I’m not supposed to tell you this, but you all have four babies.’”
In just a week, they went from anticipating one baby to discovering they were expecting FOUR.
Chris remarked: “I joked that I wouldn’t return because next time there might be five babies. We were completely taken aback. Transitioning from three to four was easier to accept. Shortly after, we learned they were all healthy.”
Dr. Lauren Murray and her team estimated that identical, spontaneous quadruplet births happen in 1 in 11 million or 1 in 15 million births… it’s incredibly rare, to say the least.
“It’s astonishing. This will never happen again in my career. I told her, ‘Girl, you should buy some lottery tickets because those are the odds we’re facing,’” Murray shared. “What a miracle it truly was.”
Even with the risks that one baby might take nutrients from the others, potentially leading to surgery and complications, it turned out this quartet was perfectly willing to share.
“The babies were incredibly good at sharing. There were no issues on the sonogram, even leading up to that point, which made us anxious that one, two, or even three of them might be significantly smaller,” Murray shared.
Thus, at 28.5 weeks, on March 15, Jenny went into labor.
She aimed to reach 33 weeks but had to give birth earlier than planned. The babies were born at the onset of the coronavirus turmoil, but her C-section was successful.
Baby Harrison was the first to arrive, weighing 2 pounds 6 ounces. Next was Hardy at 2 pounds 10 ounces, followed by Henry at 2 pounds 6.7 ounces, and finally Hudson, who weighed 1 pound 15 ounces.
“They all arrived within three minutes. It’s amazing,” Jenny remarked. “We refer to them as our baby birds because they truly resembled little birds.”
Three of the four spent 10 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit to get oxygen and other necessary care. However, in early May, they finally came home… and Jenny and Chris were overjoyed.
A year later, Jenny spoke with DFW Child to share how her quadruplets were progressing.
“They’re all crawling now. I have two who will likely be walking within the next month, which means the other two won’t be far behind. They’re into everything, making a mess everywhere. They’re already such little boys! Meal times are just about shoveling food into their mouths as quickly as they can. They’re hilarious and as sweet as can be.”
“We simply wish that this small tale and our boys bring as much happiness to everyone as they do to us,” Jenny shared.
Today, the quadruplets are celebrating their 3rd birthday and they appear to be flourishing.
Jenny has set up an Instagram account where anyone can keep up with the family’s adventures. She has amassed 140,000 followers and Jenny, who used to work as a dental assistant, frequently shares updates and snapshots of the Marr family’s daily life – which is quite hectic!
Given her extraordinary birth story, it’s understandable that many are curious about Jenny’s family and her experience. Jenny shares that she conceived her boys without any medical help or medication.
Many are also interested in how Jenny manages with four energetic boys.
“I don’t know anything else, and I really don’t have another choice! My family had preschools when I was a child, and the starting age was 8 weeks. I used to spend time with the preschool babies. Being around kids so much has made caring for them feel like second nature to me,” Jenny explains.
“It is what it is. You have to adapt to the situation. I recall asking my doctor, ‘Should I take parenting classes?’ She replied, ‘No, you’ll learn everything you need in the NICU. Plus, there are four of them. No one can teach you how to handle this.’”]} }}
People often ask how Jenny and Chris are able to distinguish between the boys.
“As their parents, we just have this instinct. We usually see four unique faces, but their personalities and voices are quite distinct. For someone who has just met them, here’s a quick guide: (in order of birth) Harrison is the tallest and has the best hair. Hardy has a chipped front tooth and is very slender. Henry has a round face, and his hair bounces when he runs. Hudson has the smallest head and a freckle on his forehead. That’s about all I can share on how to tell them apart,” Jenny explains.
Four adorable little babies have arrived in the world… what a wonderfully blessed day March 15 turned out to be.
Jenny and Chris, I’m so happy for you both. I can only imagine the beautiful memories you’ll make as a family and the love that will fill your home.
