Mission couple welcomes quadruplets

MISSION - The phone fell silent when Ester Ramirez told her husband she was pregnant.

The Mission couple had tried in vain for 10 years to conceive children. They had hoped and prayed and even tried fertility drugs.

In October, doctors told the 35-year-old woman she was pregnant with quadruplets.

Her husband, Jesus, 36, was dumbstruck when she called him with the news.

Ester gave birth to the four boys Tuesday morning at Mission Regional Medical Center.

On Wednesday, the new parents rested in Room 274.

On the door hung four blue ribbons that read, "It's a boy."

The couple had bought a larger dining room table for their Mission home, but they said they still didn't feel prepared.

How could they?

Ester's sister offered some advice, including not to always rush to the babies when they cry, as well as some other standard tips. But she had no frame of reference for handling quadruplets. Few in the Rio Grande Valley do.

In McAllen, two sets of quadruplets were born in 2000.

In Brownsville, one set was born in 2002, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

But other than that, no quadruplets were born in the Valley in recent years.

Down the hall from Room 274, the babies were under nurses' care in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.

Named after his father, baby Jesus came out first, weighing 3 pounds 7 ounces.

Next came Adrian, at 3 pounds 6 ounces. His identical twin brother, Fabian, followed him, weighing 3 pounds and 4 ounces.

Ignacio was last, at 2 pounds 10 ounces.

Baby Jesus and little Ignacio are the fraternal duo of the group.

All four were healthy after the 32-week pregnancy, which was eight weeks shorter than a typical pregnancy. Doctors delivered the quartet via Caesarian section, each about one minute apart, starting about 8 a.m.

Dr. Jeselle Mathews worked as the Ramirezes' obstetrician from the start.

Mathews, who practices in east Mission, had never worked with quadruplets before. Neither had anyone in the hospital.

The Ramirez babies are the first set of quads Mission Regional Medical Center has welcomed into the world since the hospital began serving the area in 1953.

But everything went smoothly.

In fact, Ester only required hospitalization twice in the months leading up to the delivery - a rarity for women pregnant with even a single baby. Mathews expects the infants to remain very healthy after such a smooth pregnancy.

With the babies down the hall, Ester recounted the years leading up to their birth.

A McAllen native who works for a cell phone company, she and Jesus, a Tamaulipas native who in works construction, married 10 year ago. They knew they wanted children, but they had considerable difficulty conceiving.

Now, though, they're abundantly blessed.

"We're going to make a lot of changes at home," Ester said. Jesus nodded in agreement.

Sleep schedule, eating and work will all change.

In four big ways.