The story of the woman who had 4 children at once alone

“Since I was very young, I had the dream of becoming a mother, but, in the face of some relationships that didn’t work out, I established 39 as the age limit for getting pregnant. If by then I didn’t find a definitive partner, I would go into independent production to fulfill my greatest desire.

After all, after that age it becomes increasingly risky for women to bear children. Until reaching this decision, I went through several love frustrations, which made me think better about my life. It was not an overnight decision. It took me years to mature the idea and prepare myself financially for it.

I come from a very close-knit family, with a mother, father, sister and a twin brother – yes, I have a twin brother. Two years ago, we found out that my father had a serious illness, which later turned into leukemia, and we received the news that he would need a bone marrow transplant.

So I decided to anticipate the project of being a single mother so that he could follow the process and meet his grandson – until then, I had not imagined a multiple pregnancy.

I looked for an assisted reproduction specialist and we opted for artificial insemination. I would receive medication to superstimulate ovulation and, during the fertile period, the sperm that I had chosen from the semen bank would be injected directly into my uterus.

I told the doctor that I had a twin brother and, concerned about this, inquired about the likelihood of me having a twin pregnancy. He reassured me that it was only 6%. I produced five follicles – two were considered small and of poor quality. The gynecologist said that probably the two smallest ones would not survive and that they would hardly be triplets. I believed.

On the day of insemination, I went alone. After the procedure, which was very quick, it started to dawn on me that the deal was already done and there was no going back. But how to deal with the anxiety of waiting the 15 days for the positive result? And the fear of becoming twins?

Time passed, and on the 11th day, I could not stand it and did a urine test with a pharmacy test. At the time nothing appeared and I started to cry. But, minutes later, a second very clear line appeared, and then I went crazy. I called the gynecologist, and he ordered a quantitative blood test. When the positive result came out, I decided to surprise my parents, who until then had lived on the beach.

I put a pair of shoes inside a box and wrote them a letter as if I were the grandson talking and telling them the news. They were overjoyed. My father’s first question was: ‘Daughter, what if there are twins’? I said they would be welcome anyway, but I remembered the calculation the doctor had made, a 6% chance. In my head, I would never have a multiple pregnancy.

At 21 days pregnant, I went for my first ultrasound. And, to my surprise, there were three babies. I left the clinic in shock, crying a lot. I wasn’t prepared to be a mother of three. But I got used to the idea. On the second ultrasound, my parents accompanied me.

During the examination, the doctor made the announcement: ‘Luciane, there are not three babies, there are four’. There my world collapsed. We were baffled. I wasn’t prepared to be a mother of three, let alone four! Terrified, I left the office in tears, my head bursting. She told my parents that she wanted to be home alone and that she didn’t want to talk about it right now. They respected.

I spent two days in isolation, thinking about what was happening. I couldn’t organize my thoughts. I started questioning: ‘How am I going to transport four children? Pay school? Adapt my house to receive them?’ You know when so many years of preparation and planning go down the drain? That’s how I felt. From single and independent woman to mother of quadruplets.

After recovering from the emotional blow, I decided to go to my parents’ house in search of support and security. And that’s where everything really changed. They embraced me and brought me solutions. ‘If necessary, we sell the beach house, the car; if necessary, we move closer to you.’ It was at that moment, with that welcome, that I made room for my pregnancy to evolve. It was only then that I started to really enjoy the pregnancy.

Because it was an unusual situation, I looked for a specialized doctor and followed all the recommendations to the letter. At 22 weeks, in a routine consultation, I found out that I was already dilated by a finger and I was forced to go to the hospital to be on absolute rest. My father, even though he was sick, took care of me a lot.

The obstetrician’s goal was to hold the delivery until the 34th week, but we couldn’t. Antonela🇧🇷 Nicolas🇧🇷 Sofia and Valentina they were born at 33 weeks and, despite their good weight – each of them between 1.3 kg and 1.9 kg – they had to spend some time in the neonatal ICU.

All the euphoria of birth, however, turned into pain in a few days. The babies arrived on August 29th and my father died 11 days later. I experienced a mix of sensations and had to do a lot of therapy to work on my emotions.

The moment of hospital discharge is a separate chapter. As I was hospitalized for two months, I had to coordinate the renovation of my house from a distance. I left the hospital before the children – a friend took me away. Despite everything that had already passed, it was only on the course that the penny really dropped.

I was observing the landscape and thinking that I was walking that path alone, single, returning from work. From then on, I would do it as a mother of four children. I cried a lot again, the head gave a bug.

Without my father, my mother came to live with me and even sleeps in the same bed as me – she is my security, my strength. I also hired a nanny to help us. The babies stayed in the ICU between 20 and 30 days and were discharged at different times.

When I entered the house with Valentina, the last one to leave the hospital, the feeling of happiness took over everything. It felt like my heart would explode. I finally had my dreamed children.

The first three months were the hardest. The situations were still very new and we were learning to deal with them. The babies were quite calm, but all the time they wanted to suckle. I breastfed two of them while the other two were bottle fed. Then it took turns.

He still needed to burp, change his diaper and put him to sleep again. A day, she consumed at least one can of milk and at least 24 disposable diapers – 720 in the month! Lucky for me, the government provides the milk cans and I had gotten a lot of diapers at the baby shower.

Being a mother of four requires discipline and routine. So our life is well regulated. Children stay in school full time. It is at work, from 2 pm to 8 pm, that I rest my head. But, on weekends, I’m the one who takes care of it. My kids wake up around 6 am. I take the bottle and keep them lying down for a while longer.

The beds are Montessorian, they are on the floor. That way, I can lie down together and take a nap. Around 8:30 am, I go to the living room to play. At 9:30 am, I give a piece of fruit, and grandma comes to help me. Right now, I dedicate myself to the pages I created on Instagram – @4vidasnaminhavida, which has 111 thousand followers – and on YouTube – Quatro Vidas na Minha Vida, with 141 thousand. In them, I tell a little about our daily lives, share experiences, receive words of love.

At 11:30 am we serve lunch. Two children are on the high chair and the other two on the table. They eat alone; imagine the mess… After that, we took the afternoon nap. I make the four of them sleep together; otherwise it’s too messy. Around 3 pm, we go back to playing, taking a walk in the park or square. It’s always an adventure.

Around 5:30 pm, I start serving dinner to fix it with a bath. If all goes well, by 8 pm everyone is asleep. And so we live one day at a time. Currently, my children are in the stage of imitating their brother. One cries because he wants to be held, the other cries too. And the other one too. If one cries because he wants to play, the other starts right away. It’s comical.

Besides, of course, they get sick together, always on a stepladder. One behind the other. Despite all the difficulties and perrengues we’ve been through, I don’t regret anything I’ve done. It would do everything exactly the same. Things happened the way they had to be. It’s perfect like that. I am the happiest mother in the world.”

Read too: Rare appearance: Sandra Annenberg poses with her daughter

🇧🇷 Lucas Lima posts rare photo of the moment between Theo and Sandy

Follow CLAUDIA on youtube