Parents speak out after welcoming identical quadruplets
A Rhode Island couple who welcomed rare identical quadruplets is opening up after bringing their four new babies home.
When Rachel Vargas went in for an ultrasound for her third child, she received what she described as a "complete shock."
"She said, 'Right now, there are four of them.' And I just kind of went blank. I don't know. I think I was in shock," the mom of six recalled.
Rachel Vargas and her husband Marco Vargas learned they were going to have not just one, but four daughters spontaneously, without the help of fertility treatments or any interventions -- a situation medical experts say can happen only in about 1 in 11 million cases, according to a news release from Banner Health, where Rachel Vargas received care.
The couple faced an uphill pregnancy journey and traveled from their home in Rhode Island to Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, for specialized care.
"This was something that could have cost her, you know, [her] life, [her] health," Marco Vargas said.
"We looked into seeking a specialist who was not just a maternal fetal medicine specialist, but who was also a specialist in high order multiples," Rachel Vargas explained.
They met Dr. John Elliott, a world-renowned physician at Valley Perinatal Services who has delivered more than 100 sets of quadruplets in his career, but who said he had never seen anything like the Vargases' case.
"Rachel's pregnancy was one I had never seen before. Marco and Rachel -- they never wavered," said Elliott, a founding partner at Valley Perinatal Services.
Despite multiple risk factors, Rachel Vargas successfully gave birth via cesarean section on Jan. 24 at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix. The family welcomed Sofia, Philomena, Veronica and Isabel at 30 weeks and three days gestation.
"It was glorious seeing these girls being triumphantly being pulled out," Marco Vargas said.
"I felt a huge sense of relief because I felt like they had made it, they were going to be OK," Rachel Vargas added.
The family of eight is now settling into their new life back home on the East Coast, and the Vargases say their older children are adjusting to life with their new siblings.
According to the couple, their 3-year-old son Walter has already assumed the role of big brother, helping with diaper changes, while 1-year-old Stella is still getting used to the idea of four younger sisters.
