A woman found out that she was pregnant with quadruplets after going to the doctor’s office for a sore throat.
In an interview with Today, 20-year-old Illinois nursing assistant Katelyn Yates shared how an ordinary trip to the emergency room turned into a life-altering revelation. Upon arrival, doctors informed her that she needed an X-ray but required a pregnancy test beforehand due to the potential harm radiation could pose to a fetus.
When the test results came back, her hCG levels – the hormone indicating pregnancy – were described as “off the charts.”
“I was completely in shock,” Yates recalled, admitting she initially thought the doctor was pulling an April Fool’s prank on her. Her now-fiancé, 21-year-old Julian Bueker, whom she’d been dating for just six months at the time, was “so excited” and helped her stay calm.
What followed was a challenging pregnancy. Yates was eventually diagnosed with preeclampsia, a serious condition that causes dangerously high blood pressure, and her health rapidly deteriorated during her third trimester. “I couldn’t breathe on my own,” she said, explaining how her liver and kidneys also began to fail.
At just 28 weeks and 4 days, Yates gave birth via C-section on October 17 to quadruplets: Elizabeth Taylor, Zya Grace, and identical twins Max Ashton and Elliot Ryker. Born at HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Illinois, the babies arrived prematurely, with Elizabeth weighing just one pound, two ounces, and Max, the heaviest, at two pounds, six ounces.
Despite their fragile start, Yates is overjoyed with their progress. “They’re doing phenomenal. They are gaining weight and growing,” she told Today. “Elizabeth is about six grams away from reaching two pounds.”
According to the Journal of Family and Reproductive Health, the odds of naturally conceiving quadruplets are staggeringly low – less than one in 500,000. Spontaneous quadruplet pregnancies like hers are exceptionally rare across the U.S. In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported only 121 births of quadruplets and higher-order multiples nationwide.
The incidence of higher-order multiple births has declined significantly over the past few decades. From 1998 to 2023, the rate of triplet and higher-order multiple births in the U.S. decreased by 62 percent, from 193.5 to 73.8 per 100,000 total births.
This decline is largely attributed to advancements and changes in assisted reproductive technologies (ART), which have implemented guidelines to reduce the number of embryos transferred during procedures like in vitro fertilization (IVF). These measures aim to minimize the risks associated with multiple births, such as preterm delivery and low birth weight.
