Danielle Thrasher and her partner found out they were pregnant with their first child through a home pregnancy test.
Little did the couple know, though, that before they got married they would become a family of six.
A pain in the 32-year-old’s abdomen sent her to the emergency room over a month later to do an ultrasound.
The scan showed that Danielle and her partner Joseph Odom were pregnant with not one baby, but two, which didn’t surprise her because her older brothers were twins.
But then a new ultrasound a week later showed another baby hiding with the twins. The couple was having triplets.
At 13 weeks pregnant, the third ultrasound revealed the final count and doctors informed them they were actually having quadruplets.
The fourth baby was hiding by her belly button.
Danielle gave birth to naturally conceived quadruplets on August 17, a feat that is only done in one and 700,000 women who are pregnant with four children.
Danielle Thrasher, 32, gave birth to quadruplets on August 17 after first being told she was pregnant with twins. From top left clockwise is Zoey, Lyla, Arya and Maya Odom
Danielle (left) and her partner Joseph Odom (right) were planning on getting married but those plans are on hold to focus on the girls. They have been together for three years
Danielle Thrasher and Joseph Odom, both 32, from Noblesville, Indiana, took on the shock of having not one or two or even three children, but four after two false readings on an ultrasound.
The couple first found out they were pregnant with a child when Danielle took a home pregnancy test.
Severe abdominal pain sent her to the emergency room at six weeks pregnant where doctors revealed that she was actually having twins.
The twins were no surprise to her because her brothers were twins and she knew genetically that it was possible for her, too.
But then on an ultrasound one week later showed a third baby hiding in her womb.
Joseph was the one who experienced the largest shock of the news.
‘It took him a good solid month to process all that,’ Danielle said to Daily Mail Online.
Little did they know at the time, but a fourth baby was hiding under Danielle’s belly button.
Doctors revealed Danielle was having a quadruplets when she was 13 weeks pregnant during her third ultrasound.
‘I turned to Joseph and said “What are we going to do” in the middle of the ultrasound,’ Danielle said.
Joseph was the calm one after the big reveal that they were having four.
‘He was like “it’s fine, it’s just one more”,’ Danielle said.
But they couldn’t understand how the fourth baby was missed when the ultrasound technicians first found the three and their individual heartbeat.
Her doctor explained that they didn’t have any reason to check and see if she was having more than three babies.
‘Because of the placement of the babies, they didn’t go searching around for four,’ Danielle said.
The quadruplets were naturally conceived from four individual eggs that were fertilized by four separate sperm.
There is only a one in 700,000 chance of someone pregnant with quadruplets to naturally conceive them.
On that same day of seeing their fourth baby, doctors brought up a potential plan to reduce the pregnancy down to twins.
‘It was very tough to hear all the statistics,’ Danielle said.
The chances of her having a miscarriage had significantly increased with having all four babies.
Also, there was a higher risk of her going into preterm labor where the babies could be born with developmental problems.
The couple decided together that giving up one or two of their children wasn’t an option.
‘We really felt in our hearts that if God wanted to give us four, we would have four,’ Danielle said.
‘We couldn’t live with ourselves knowing we had to pick two.’
This decision brought them down a harder road with the knowledge that the births would cause extra stress on both Danielle and her babies as well as a larger financial burden.
The average mother carrying quadruplets goes into preterm labor at 24 to 26 weeks.
Danielle was able to make it to 27 weeks and five days before having each child by a cesarean section birth.
She wanted to make it longer, but her waist at the time measured at the size of a 53-week pregnancy and her blood pressure was high.
Daniele and Joseph found out they were having quadruplets during an ultrasound when she was 13 weeks pregnant. The fourth baby was hiding under her belly button
Danielle and Joseph are holding their daughter Lyla after she was born. Lyla is easy for them to recognize because she has golden hair while her sisters all have darker hair
Baby D, who is now called Arya, was also getting a lower blood chord flow than the other babies.
This provides oxygen and nutrients from the mother to the baby, so it was imperative to deliver to make sure all the children remained healthy.
We really felt in our hearts that if God wanted us to have four, we would have four.
Danielle Thrasher, mother
Baby A, named Zoey Cheyenne after Danielle’s deceased sister, was born at 2lbs and 2oz as the smallest of her siblings.
The hiding baby was Baby B and the couple named her Lyla Mae, which they came up with in the car on the way home from finding out they were having quadruplets.
She weighed 2lbs and 6.5oz.
Baby C was named Maya Jo after her father and was born weighing 2bs and 4oz.
The final baby was Baby D, named Arya Grace because Danielle is a big Game of Thrones fan. She weighed in at 2lbs and 2.9oz.
The couple stuck with a trend of having each girl have four letters in their name because they are quadruplets and they wanted them to have short names.
‘We both have long names,’ Danielle said. ‘So we thought “let’s keep it short and simple”.’
The doctors were all pleased that the babies all weighed so much considering they were born premature. Their actual due date was supposed to be November 11.
But with this birth has come complications for the quadruplets.
Lyla, Arya and Zoey have done extremely well with gaining weight since they were first born, but Maya has been having more trouble.
Arya Grace was born at 2lbs and 2.9oz. She is named after the character Arya in Game of Thrones because Danielle is a big fan of the show
Lyla Mae was the fourth baby that was hidden during the ultrasound the first and second ultrasound. She was born weighing 2lbs and 6.5oz
She is gaining weight but has developed a heart murmur and can’t always breathe on their own.
A heart murmur is when an extra sound is made in the heart as the blood is traveling through it.
Depending on the murmur, it can cause no problems at all for the baby. But other murmurs could lead to severe problems with the valves or walls of the heart.
Doctors are monitoring Maya closely to make sure it doesn’t develop into something more serious.
All four babies are expected to stay in the hospital at least until the end of October because doctors need them to reach a certain stage of development before they feel comfortable releasing them.
Danielle explained that the doctors are looking for each baby to weigh 4.5lbs, breathe on their own, suck and swallow on their own and pass the car seat test.
This test involves the infant having to sit in a car seat for 90 to 120 minutes while a nurse monitors their breathing, heart rate and oxygen levels.
Weight also plays a large factor in the car seat test because their isn’t one small enough to handle a child that weighs less than 4lbs.
Until then, Danielle is traveling 30 minutes to the Community Hospital North in Indianapolis, Indiana, every day to be with her daughters while Joseph goes to work.
She has been feeding them with her breast milk because doctors think that is the best way to give the children nutrients to help with growth.
But the hard part is far from over for the new parents.
The couple has been together for three years and was originally going to get married, but those plans have been put on hold.
‘The needs of the girls comes first,’ Danielle said.
Financial problems have occurred because they currently live in a one bedroom apartment and do not have a car large enough to fit all four car seats.
Maya Jo was born weighing 2lbs and 4oz. She is named after her father Joseph. Maya is the quadruplet that has had the most difficulty because she developed a heart murmur and occasionally has trouble breathing on her own
Zoey Cheyenne was the smallest weighing at 2lbs and 2oz when she was born. She is named after Danielle’s sister who died when she was only 11
But Joseph is the only one that can go to work because daycare is too expensive for them to both to be at work.
‘We don’t have cable and we cut down on internet usage,’ Danielle said. ‘We are limiting things we would indulge in and really watching what we are spending.’
One of Danielle’s friends reached out to the apartment complex they live in to see if the building could help them pay for a two-bedroom instead of a one, but they have had no luck so far for that to happen.
If the couple paid for a two-bedroom on their own it would add $300-350 a month to their rent.
‘That’s diapers for the girls,’ Danielle said.
A GoFundMe page was created to help raise money for the price of hospital bills and other necessities for the quadruplets.
The couple is focused right now, though, on keeping their girls healthy and getting them out of the hospital.
‘Knowing they have a roof over their head, food in their mouths and basic necessities is enough for now,’ Danielle said.