Meet our 2023 March for Babies: Mother of a Movement ambassadors, The Reed Family! Team Page: http://marchforbabies.org/team/t2997703 Our journey began as a young couple who unknowingly needed help achieving a pregnancy. After some time of receiving help from a local infertility clinic we found out the procedure was successful and I was pregnant! At our first confirmation ultrasound the nurse practioner told me to hold on while she continued to look around. We were all holding our breath and then she said, “there is four”. Quadruplets? Four babies?! We all just looked around at each other, shocked and fearful of the future. From then on out my pregnancy was filled with lots of ups and downs. It was a very high-risk pregnancy and I wasn’t expected to carry them very far. When we were told about viability and the long NICU stay we likely would have we left the hospital feeling defeated. We clung to our faith and the support of our families and ultimately prayed for the best. Unexpectedly, at only twenty-three weeks gestation I went into labor and a few hours later our quadruplets were born. Their birth was traumatic. There were dozens of unfamiliar faces rushing around trying to save our babies. While still on the operating table, a provider brought me our first daughter- Pippa. And with tears falling down her face she told me that Pippa was passing away. They had done everything they could but Pippa endured the greatest impact of a womb filled with four babies. Her premature lungs were tired and she fought fiercely for as long as she could. I held our beautiful, tiny baby girl as she left this earth. I was completely shattered. I had no idea the condition our other three survivors were in but I knew they had survived birth. Our three surviving quads would go on to endure all the scary things life of a micro-premature baby has to offer. They were each exactly a pound and 11 inches long. They were so fragile they couldn’t stand to be touched even by their mom. At 4 days old we had them baptized because I had lost all hope that we would be bringing them home. Over the next several months we watched our tiny babies fight for their lives as they developed in clear boxes. With tubes all over them, ventilators helping them breathe, ingesting my breast milk through a tube they began to thrive. It wasn’t without deep valleys though. We almost lost one of our sons, Wells, the week of Pippa’s funeral. He survived three intestinal surgeries and major sepsis due to NEC and all the complications that go along with that diagnosis. They endured heart surgery, eye surgeries, a brain bleed and countless days on and off a ventilator before they were healthy enough to come home to us. It was nearly six months before our three survivors were all home. We think very often of how differently their outcome could have been. For months we feared we wouldn’t bring any of our children home and questioned the quality of life they would have. But thanks to the amazing work done in the NICU and most importantly our God our surviving quadruplets are now healthy, active and thriving three-year old’s. We are so grateful for the latest research, cutting-edge technology and all the resources we received during and after our NICU stay. We know this played an imperative role in their successful development and believe all parents and babies should have access to the same level of care.