Kortney and Justin Miller welcomed four new little ones weeks earlier than expected.
When you hear heartwarming stories about couples overcoming major odds to ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇ, ɪɴꜰᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ is usually the culprit. For Kortney and Justin Miller, a couple in their early 20s, it seems as if over-ꜰᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ was at play when they naturally ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇᴅ quadruplets.
Are you ready for the odds? I don’t think you’re ready. The odds of ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠɪɴɢ quadruplets without I.V.F or ꜰᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ ᴛʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏ are 1 in 700,000. As if that isn’t rare enough, the Miller quads are even more extraordinary. Each child came from its very own ᴇɢɢ, which led to four individual sᴀᴄs and ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇɴᴛᴀs. In layman’s terms, that means that, prior to the quads’ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇᴘᴛɪᴏɴs, Kortney Miller released four ᴇɢɢs at once. Busy mama.
Kortney and Justin already had their hands full with their 4-year-old son, Bentlee, when they were told that their family of three would soon become a family of seven. They weren’t quite prepared for the news, but Kortney had a hunch. Multiples, after all, run in her family. “I was sure I was having more than one,” Kortney told Today. “I felt a little different.”
Yep, we’d expect you’d feel a tad different when you’re, you know, carrying four tiny humans inside of you. “I never thought there would be four,” she continued. At the ultrasound, with her mother by her side, she discovered that she would be “carrying on the tradition” with Miller multiples.
The Georgia couple turned to their OB-GYN, Dr. Heather Turner, at Piedmont Newnan Hospital, where a team of doctors and nurses (dubbed the “quad squad”) assembled to prepare for the babies’ arrival. It was the first time the hospital would be delivering quadruplets.
“There was a lot of preparation to do,” Dr. Turner told Today. “Any time we anticipate a preterm delivery, there is a lot of coordination across the labor and delivery unit as well as the hospital to lay the groundwork so everything can be as smooth as possible.”
Weekly interdisciplinary meetings for doctors and conferences with the Millers were hosted to maximize the chances of a successful delivery. So when Kortney came in for a check-up on December 16, a quiet Friday morning, to discover that she was three centimeters dilated, it was all systems go. Her husband arrived just in time to witness the ᴄᴇsᴀʀᴇᴀɴ birth.
Kortney and Justin are now the proud parents of three boys – Brandon, Brayden and Bryant – and one precious little girl, Kenlee. Brandon was the largest of the four, weighing in at 3 pounds, 1 ounce. The babies are currently in the N.I.C.U and are thriving. Dr. Turner says the birth went “amazingly well” and that the babies are expected to grow stronger over time.
Big brother Bentlee is a tad overwhelmed but is quick to remind everyone that his siblings are his babies. It looks like the overprotective big brother gene has been activated. “We are so excited and blessed to have four healthy babies,” Kortney told the Newnan Times Herald. “We can’t wait to go with them on their journey as they grow and progress.”
