Tracy Britten, a British woman, is already deserving of all praise for deciding to become pregnant and give birth at the age of 51. Moreover, the woman already has not only three adult children, but also eight grandchildren. But the fact that she gave birth to not one, but four children in her years can only be described as a maternal feat. The amazing story of the oldest mother of quadruplets in the UK was told by journalists from The Sun newspaper.
Tracy broke up with her first husband in 2003. From this marriage, she has two adult sons, who are 31 and 22 years old, and a 32-year-old daughter. All of them have already started families and gave their grandmother 8 grandchildren, who are 1 to 11 years old.
Mrs. Britten met her current husband Stephen (by the way, 11 years younger than her) in 2005. Steven is a bricklayer by trade and works for one of the construction companies. Almost immediately after the wedding, Tracy became pregnant but decided not to keep the child and had an ᴀʙᴏʀᴛɪᴏɴ.
“Now I realize that I made a ᴛᴇʀʀɪʙʟᴇ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇ. After all, I ᴛᴇʀᴍɪɴᴀᴛᴇᴅ the pregnancy at 19 weeks, when I already had a real baby in my sᴛᴏᴍᴀᴄʜ. But then I thought that I was not yet ready for motherhood because Steven and I still did not know each other enough and the Lord sᴇᴠᴇʀᴇʟʏ ᴘᴜɴɪsʜᴇᴅ me for this sɪɴ,” recalls Tracy.
And indeed, after only 6 weeks, Tracy’s beloved mother suddenly ᴅɪᴇᴅ. The woman was very worried about the ʟᴏss and vowed that she would definitely become pregnant and give birth to a child. But, unfortunately, Tracy’s vow could not be fulfilled. For 10 years, all her attempts to ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇ a child turned out to be fruitless.
On the eve of her 50th birthday, Tracy realized that she would no longer be able to get pregnant naturally and she and Stephen decided to use the services of I.V.F. To pay for the treatment, the woman decided to use the funds that she inherited from her mother.
After studying the information on the Internet, she and her husband chose the Team Miracle Clinic in Cyprus. The entire procedure cost the couple £7,000. “10 ᴇɢɢs were taken from me and only one of them was ꜰᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴢᴇᴅ. The doctors suggested introducing 3 ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏs to me and ꜰʀᴇᴇᴢɪɴɢ 6 more for the future. But I said: “I am already 50 years old and I will not make more attempts. And she asked me to enter 4 ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏs,” says Tracey.
Of the 4 ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏs that were ɪᴍᴘʟᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ in Tracy’s ᴜᴛᴇʀᴜs, three took ʀᴏᴏᴛ. But one of the ᴇᴍʙʀʏᴏs split, creating identical twins. Thus, Mrs. Britten was pregnant with quadruplets. Doctors suggested that Tracy ʀᴇᴍᴏᴠᴇ two ꜰᴇᴛᴜsᴇs to increase the chances for the remaining ones, but the woman did not agree. “How can I decide which of them to keep alive and which not. Let all four stay,” she said.
Tracy was ᴅᴜᴇ to give birth in early January 2019. But at 31 weeks, one of the babies had ᴘʀᴏʙʟᴇᴍs with ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ supply. Therefore, the doctors of the London University Hospital, fearing for the life of the babies, decided to perform a ᴄᴀᴇsᴀʀᴇᴀɴ sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ. For this, a team of 35 doctors and nurses was assembled.
And on October 26, 2018, tiny babies were born: twins Francesca and Frederica, their sister Grace and brother George. The largest of the four was a boy, he weighed as much as 3 pounds 10 ounces (1.64 kg). The smallest was Frederica, at only 1 pound 15 ounces (880 g). A few days after the birth, Mrs. Britten was discharged, and the babies were ᴛʀᴀɴsꜰᴇʀʀᴇᴅ to another hospital.
“As soon as I woke up from ᴀɴᴇsᴛʜᴇsɪᴀ, I immediately asked to be shown my children. I so wanted to hug and kiss them. But the doctors only allowed me to look – they were lying in boxes so tiny, surrounded by various ᴛᴜʙᴇs and ᴅᴇᴠɪᴄᴇs,” says Tracey.
In the first weeks of life, the babies had to go through many ᴛʀɪᴀʟs and there were moments when one of them was literally on the ᴠᴇʀɢᴇ of ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ. But everything ended happily: babies George, Grace, and Francesca were discharged home on December 8, 2018, two days before Tracy’s 51st birthday. And a week later, little Frederica joined their house.
Now four peanuts sleep peacefully in their cozy cradles, which stand near the bed of their parents. And loving mom and dad do not cease to be touched by their crumbs. “At first, we forgot where someone was, so we left name tags on the children’s legs. And they constantly kept a piece of paper with notes on the table, which of the kids ate how much formula, so as not to confuse anything,” says Tracey.
Mrs. Britten says her babies need 224 bottles of formula and 168 diapers per week. And this is just the beginning. And the ᴡᴏʀsᴛ thing, according to a young mother, is when the kids start crying at the same time. “Listening to their cries, I imagine with ʜᴏʀʀᴏʀ what I will do when they all crawl at the same time and then run in four different directions,” she laughs.
