Quads for couple who had given up baby hope

Christine and Justin Clark took one of their daughters for her first walk in a pram yesterday, and said all four girls were “doing amazingly well” in hospital.

The couple had been trying to conceive for more than nine years and finally decided to try IVF treatment last year when a single embryo was implanted.

Their doctors were stunned when four babies developed, and medics said it was unheard of for four children of the same sex to be born from a single embryo.

The girls were born at Sheffield’s Jessop Hospital, and are now being cared for in the Special Care Baby Unit at Rotherham Hospital, close to their parents’ home.

Mrs Clark, a staff nurse, from Brinsworth, Rotherham said the four tiny babies weighed just over 10lbs between them when they were born on March 25.

Darcy was first born at 2.46pm weighing 2lbs, Caroline followed at 2.46pm weighing 2lbs 3oz. Elisha was born at 2.47pm weighing 2lbs 14oz and the last was Alexis, born weighing 3lbs at 2.48pm.

Mr Clark, 43, said he and his wife had been able to take the biggest, Alexis, out of the special unit and added: “It was the first time either of us had pushed a pram.”

The proud parents said three weeks after the single embryo was implanted, a pregnancy test confirmed Mrs Clark was pregnant.

The 36-year-old said: “When we found out we were having four babies, I just couldn’t believe it. I was speechless and to be honest, I didn’t believe it until I saw them for myself.”

Mr Clark, a lorry driver, said: “It was a very emotional time for us as we’d been trying for nine years to have one child and had no luck.

“We had given up hope, but now we were going to have four. We were happy, but also worried about the logistics of how we were going to bring them up.”

During the pregnancy, Mrs Clark suffered from the same extreme morning sickness as the Duchess of Cambridge - known as hyperemesis gravidarum.

She said: “When the news came out about Kate, I knew exactly what she was going through. It didn’t stop until 27 weeks and it was exhausting.

“I felt sick all the time, and I was tired and lethargic. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”

At 24 weeks, Mrs Clark was taken into hospital with breathlessness, but doctors managed to keep the pregnancy under control until week 30, when the girls were born by Caesarean section.

Mr Clark said: “They are the first set of quads to be born from a single embryo, which then split into three. One of these three then split into two, to make twins.

“On the birth of the children there were two placentas so we’re not sure yet if we have two babies and the twins, or triplets and a singleton.

“Tests will have to be carried out when they are 10 to 12 weeks old to confirm this.”

Adel Shaker, medical director at CARE Sheffield, who treated Mrs Clark on the NHS, confirmed the quads were extremely rare.

He said: “I have been working in IVF for over 20 years and this is the first case I am aware of where a single embryo transferred resulted in a quadruplet pregnancy.

“I have seen two embryos transferred resulting in triplets and a single embryo resulting in twins. Even those pregnancies are very unlikely.

“Previous IVF quadruplets have seen babies from both sexes (boys and girls) and were reported after transferring two embryos at least.

“This is to my knowledge, the first time a quadruplet pregnancy is reported after a single embryo transfer and all the babies are of the same sex.”

Doctors hope the babies will be sent home in June and Mr Clark said he and his wife had been grateful for help they had been given by other parents of twins and triplets from the Sheffield Twins and Multiples Group.

He added: “It will be a very special day in our lives when we have all the babies at home. It’s a heartache leaving them at the hospital but fortunately we know they are in wonderful hands.”

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