Beyond Expectations : Woman Has Quadruplets Without Benefit of Fertility Drugs

At first, she told her family she was expecting one baby. Then she told them she was expecting two. Then she told them she was expecting four.

After that, Consuelo Candelaria’s family didn’t know what to expect.

On Thursday, the 40-year-old Boyle Heights woman checked out of the County-USC Medical Center Women’s Hospital after giving birth to what doctors say are the first quadruplets ever born there without the benefit of fertility drugs.

The three girls and one boy were seven weeks premature when they were born last Friday, officials said. Adriana, Candido, Beatrice and Daniela Candelaria are expected to stay in the hospital for about a month.

At the busy county facility--where as many as 18,000 births a year are recorded--44 babies were born last Friday. “Spontaneous” quadruplets are born in only one of every 700,000 births, officials said.

“You can expect this to happen here once every 40 years,” said Dr. Carolina Reyes, who helped deliver them a minute apart during their Cesarean births.

Once is enough for Candelaria, who has three sons at home.

“I was uncomfortable. I just wanted it to end,” said Candelaria of her pregnancy. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard I was going to have quadruplets. I kept telling them I wanted to get this over with.”

Cautious physicians wanted to stretch the pregnancy out as long as possible for the safety of the babies, said Dr. Carlos Rodriguez, who helped in the delivery. So they kept Candelaria in a hospital bed for about half of the pregnancy.

The infants ranged in weight from 2 pounds 5 ounces to nearly 4 pounds when they were born, according to Dr. Robert deLemos, director of the hospital’s infant intensive care unit. Although one of the infants briefly had a breathing problem, all are off respirators. “We have every expectation” all four will lead healthy, normal lives, DeLemos said.

Candelaria said she and her husband, Leopoldo, 54, a truck driver, have been saving money and collecting hand-me-down baby clothes in anticipation of the quadruplets’ homecoming. They plan to refinance their home to pay for a one-bedroom addition, she said.

Leopoldo Candelaria did not take off from work Thursday when his wife and their three older sons stopped to thank doctors and nurses at the hospital’s front door.

Julio, 12, said he has been practicing diaper-changing on a nephew.

“We were surprised when she came home from the doctor and said she was going to have two babies,” Julio said. “Then the next week she found out it was four. I said, ‘Please, no more!’ ”

Juan, 10, said he has not yet told his friends about the quads because “I didn’t want them to blab it around.”

Said 8-year-old Ari: “I don’t think we’re going to have much peace and quiet for a while.”