MIAMI – A very special delivery made history at a Miami hospital on Wednesday.
The first-ever quadruplets to have been born at HCA Florida Mercy Hospital came into the world.
On Monday, Local 10 News spoke with Mayra and Devon Bradley, who shared their life-changing experience.
In December 2022, Mayra Bradley was excited to learn she was going to be a mom, but when she and her husband Devon Bradley went in to confirm her pregnancy, they got some unexpected news.
“The doctor was like ‘Oh there’s four’ and I said, what? And I just passed out on the bed,”' she said.
According to the latest numbers by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, quadruplet births in the U.S. are extremely rare.
The CDC says there were only 148 quadruplets or higher-order births in 2021.
Doctors gave the Bradley’s the option to abort some of the fetuses since they said quadruplet pregnancies are also very risky.
“We just decided to let nature take its course and hope for the best,” said Devon Bradley.
That’s when they turned to Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist Dr. Ruben Quintero, known as the leading doctor around the world in fetal surgery, to help with the rare pregnancy.
“We agreed to support her in that wish,” said Quintero. “The issue was how can we possibly still have a good outcome despite the overwhelming odds.”
Fulfilling the mission required constant monitoring every two weeks and sometimes even once a week. It was no easy task said the couple from Jupiter.
“Almost a 2-hour drive down, 2-3 hours of ultrasound measuring every body part and organ for the babies, and then a 2-hour drive back to Jupiter,” said Devon Bradley.
At around 24 weeks, Mayra Bradley was found to have excess amniotic fluid which caused her to go into preterm labor.
Quintero recommended a special medication to help reduce amniotic fluid and keep the babies in longer.
“That medication goes to the babies and makes them urinate less,” he said. “So basically, we took a uterus that was this big at 24 weeks and we shrunk it and brought it down to a manageable size for the uterus to keep the babies.”
Doctors said the babies lasted until just over 30 weeks when a scan found at least one of them wasn’t growing as much as she should’ve.
Suddenly, it was time to bring these four miracle babies into the world.
“All of a sudden, I have to deliver four babies. That was a little bit scary,” said Mayra Bradley.
Devon Bradley told Local 10 News that there were close to 40 people in the operating room but the experience was one that they’ll never forget.
“First baby coming out crying flailing their arms, it was a beautiful moment,” he said.
Dia, Lua, Liv and Mar, four baby girls, were all born on June 21st.
“We’re convinced that Dr. Quintero and his team are angels,” said Devon Bradley.
“Literally every day is a miracle. There’s no other way to treat this,” said Mayra Bradley.