Proud mom of quadruplets, Ashley Crandell, remembered what she felt exactly when she snapped her final bump picture. The 37-year-old told TODAY Parents it was bittersweet because she loved being pregnant. She knew she would miss feeling them move around as it was always like a party.
She added that her entire body hurt at that point, especially her back and feet, and she could barely walk up the stairs in their house as everything was swollen. The photo was taken hours before Crandell delivered her quadruplets after carrying the four babies for 31 weeks, or roughly seven months.
Quadruplets born via cesarean section in Arizona on February 11
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, pregnancy usually lasts about 40 weeks, but nearly all higher-order multiples are born premature. Babies Wesley, Emma, Leah, and Nora, were born via cesarean section at Dignity Health St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, on February 11.
The infants spent 70 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), learning how to breathe and eat on their own. Crandell posted before-and-after pregnancy pictures on the social media platform Instagram on September 16.
In the first slide she posted, Crandell was 31 weeks pregnant and about to leave for the hospital. In the second slide, the mom is now 31 weeks postpartum and holding all four of her children.
Crandell wrote in part that it is crazy to think they all ever fit in there. She revealed that they were starting to crawl and sit up on their own. She added that looking at them now, you would never know they were preemies as they are so healthy and alert.
Crandell also shares with her husband, Luke, a 5-year-old daughter named Isla. She said she was proud of how quickly her oldest child had adjusted to life with her four siblings, who attract attention everywhere they go.
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The Crandells struggled with infertility
She said that she was impressed with the way Isla had handled everything. Crandell said Isla even wanted to feed the quadruplets and change their diapers unless her siblings were pooping; in that case, she was out.
The couple struggled with secondary infertility for nearly four years after welcoming Isla back in 2017. She suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), while her husband Lance has low sperm motility.
At the suggestion of her doctor, the couple decided to do intrauterine insemination (IUI), a procedure where healthy sperm is placed in the uterus as close to the time of her ovulation as possible.
The procedure proved to be a success for the Crandells as they learned they were expecting just a few weeks later. She remembered looking at the quadruplets' four heartbeats and thinking if they should be excited or terrified. She decided they could be both at once, and now she is a proud mom of five.
