This time last year, Christina and Jared Harp were disheartened that after years of trying, they still didn't have a new baby to add to their family of four.(photo on canvas Acrylic canvas printing)
"I write notes to myself when I'm packing up Christmas stuff, about my goals for the next year, and as I'm unpacking I'll remember them," Christina said. "Last year, I wrote 'I will have a baby or be pregnant by next year.'"
Her prediction was right ... sort of.
The Harps did have a new baby by the holidays this year - and three more. Quadruplets Emma, Payton, Liam and Elijah were born at 29 weeks on September 20. Now that the family is complete - and then some - Christina Harp will need to find a new wish for next Christmas.
Sleep, perhaps?
In a word, the new mother of six sums up what life with quadruplets is like: "Exhausting."
It takes fourtitude
At three months, the Harp quadruplets look pretty similar to an outsider: tiny and cute. But the siblings' different personalities are already emerging.
"Emma can sleep through anything," Christina said. "She's just a good girl. She's the least fussy."
Elijah, though, is almost always awake, and often fidgety. Payton is a "drama queen," according to her mum; she's the loudest crier and always needs attention.
"Liam we call our 'little man' because he looks like a man, not a baby," Christina said. "He's like 'As long as you meet my needs and I'm fed, I'm all right.' He's very alert and always looking around."
As with many multiple births in the US, the Harps' bounty was helped along by a fertility doctor. After years of trying to conceive after the birth of their seven-year-old daughter (their oldest son is adopted), Christina, 31, was given a fertility treatment in March.
The couple, married for nearly 10 years, were optimistic, but knew it could take a few rounds of injections before they were successful. The possibility of twins was high, but anything more than that was rare, the Harps were told.
But the Harps didn't need much help. The first injection did the job and then some, as they learned at the first ultrasound in April.
"The doctors were shocked," Christina said. "Even before the ultrasound, they said 'Don't be upset if nothing's there.'"
Four babies were gestating, but they didn't all make their small-screen debut at the same time. The couple's first ultrasound showed three babies. The second, a week later, showed four.
Jared, 36, remembered not wanting to go back for fear of more babies appearing.
The quads' birth
The babies were born in the Los Angeles Medical Center after a rupture was detected in Emma's amniotic sac on September 11. Weighing in at about 1.13kg each, the babies were small but otherwise healthy.
"We are so lucky and blessed that there were no other issues," Christina said.
Littlest Emma, who somehow was healthier than her siblings despite her size, was first to go home. Two weeks later Liam was cleared, and the next day Payton and Elijah were, too, all just in time for Thanksgiving.
The staggered homecomings helped ease the Harps into their new life and gave Christina a unique experience.
"I know what it's like being a mum to a single baby, I know what it's like being a mum to twins and I know what it's like being a mum to quads," she laughs.
The babies are fed a special high-calorie formula six times a day, Jared explained, at 1, 5 and 9 o'clock, day and night. In between, there's laundry, and spending time with 15-year-old Kristopher and 7-year-old Samantha.
With a little luck, there will be some sleep, adding up to about four or five hours for each parent throughout the 24 hours.
"I think we work pretty well together," Christina said. "We definitely gotta be on schedule. If we get off schedule, it's a disaster. We plan shopping trips, sleep, anything by their (feeding) schedule."
The Harps do have help. In addition to the help Kristopher and Samantha give, friends and families also stop by regularly to help with feedings. Two baby showers have yielded tons of clothes and equipment and even more nappies.
But all the work of taking care of four babies, now about 3.17kg each, is a good thing, the Harps remind themselves, because it means they're home and not in the hospital. Christina counts herself among a lucky few when it comes to mothers of preemies.
The 60-or-so days in the hospital, with no major health problems, is a blessing not all families in the NICU get.
"We always knew it would be a lot of work," Christina said of caring for the quadruplets. "We never doubted that. When I get really tired, instead of being sad about being tired, I just think, 'I'm so happy they're healthy.' It gets me through that moment of exhaustion."
Thinking of the future, the Harps of course foresee the expense of raising six children but are ready for the excitement and joy the kids will bring, and have already brought.
"There will never be a dull moment," Christina said. "There will never be quiet in our house again."
When they get the chance, the Harps reflect on their "four blessings," an answer to Christina's Christmas wish last year, times four.
"We have small moments where it's quiet and we can kind of absorb everything," Christina said. "Those don't last long before someone starts crying."
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