Quadruplets ‘a blessing’ for Manila couple

Working  with kids as a field coordinator of the Manila Youth Bureau has prepared him well  for the daunting task ahead: Raising quadruplets.

Arnold Francisco, 36, who  has earned the moniker “quadruplets” from  his coworkers, said he already has “a plan” on  how to share baby duties with the infant’s mother,  Creselda Obella, 32.

“When they cry at the same time, my wife cradles the two girls and I take care of the  boys,” he said.

The   couple, who have been together for seven years now,  already have five other children.

The newborns were  named  Alfredo, after Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim; Althea; Alaiza; and Altheo, after the director of the Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital (JJASGH)  Dr.  Teodoro Martin.

The oldest of the couple’s children is  Sophia Erica, 9; followed by Mark Vincent, 7; Abigail May, 5; John Ivan, 3; and Isabella, who is turning two.

The kids, Creselda said, are excited about  their new siblings.

“I learned that I had quadruplets in my fifth month of pregnancy. I had an ultrasound and the doctor told me that I was carrying four children. I was  happy but was worried  at the same time because I was wondering how we would be able to handle it ,” Creselda  said.

“I never expected to have quadruplets, but the Lord gave them to me.  They are blessings,” she added.

The housewife  revealed that the multiple offspring gene came from her side of the family, but she never imagined  she would have twins, much less quadruplets,   because her older brother already had twins.

Creselda is one of  nine siblings,  including a pair of  twins, and counts on several cousins who are also twins.

Her mother, Teresita,   was only expecting twins, based on the size of her belly while she was pregnant. But she  was ecstatic when she learned that she had four   new grandchildren.

“My relatives in Bacolod would not believe me when I told them that the twins they were expecting doubled in number,” she said.

The couple said   they plan to  get married  after the babies are christened.

JJASGH director Dr. Martin told the Inquirer the chances of having quadruplets was one in 100,000, and the hospital was blessed to have that special event take place on  its premises.

“This is a first for the hospital and for the city of Manila. We mostly have  twins and triplets,” he pointed out, adding that while twins occur at one in 100 cases, the ratio for triplets runs to 1:8,000.

Martin explained that quadruplets are not rare  in the US, where the country’s hospitals have fertility work-ups for women who cannot bear children. “But in Creselda’s case, it the only contributing factor came from her genes.”

Creselda initially had her medical checkups in two different hospitals but one did not have sufficient equipment while the other asked for more than P300,000 for their services.

The couple ended up at the JJASGH on the recommendation  of the local social welfare department. “I was having a casual chat with Jay dela Fuente, the head of the social welfare office, when he mentioned Creselda’s case. She comes from a different district, but needed help giving birth, ” the doctor said.

Shocked

“I told him I would gladly accommodate her, but I was shocked when Jay told me that the five-month pregnant Creselda was expecting quadruplets,” Martin said , adding that he immediately prepared the required hospital equipment for delivering the babies.

Regular checkups and a specialized ultrasound procedure were conducted on the pregnant woman and her quadruplets.

On July 26, Creselda started experiencing labor pains.

The babies were delivered by caesarian section the next day, seven months and three weeks before their expected delivery  on the last week of August.

“The birth was timely because the triplets we delivered on July 22 had just come out of the incubators,” he said.

Multiple births usually come out pre-term and require respirators and mechanical ventilators to help them develop their lungs, the doctor added.

Creselda’s quadruplets have to stay in the incubators until they gain the target weight of two kilograms.

“I don’t know what it was  about  July,  but apart from these multiple births, we had 30 normal single deliveries daily for that month.  Maybe it was just a  lucky month,” he said.

The hospital services provided to Creselda and her babies, which would normally cost more than P1 million, were given free by the city government.

“The Lord gave them to us. He has a plan for our children that is why He gave them (quadruplets) to us, ” Arnold said.

Blessings

The proud father said that should God give them more children, they would willingly accept the blessing.

“I believe that God will provide. He will help us survive. He gave the babies to us and I know He will not do this  if we cannot take care of them,” he said.