For most parents, finding out you're expecting quadruplets would be enough of a shock, but after getting the happy news, a Texas couple found out something devastating.
Mother Katie Sturm found out she had a brain tumor and needed surgery to remove it.
"I found out I was having quadruplets, I straight up cried for like two days," Katie told KTVT.
Katie and her husband Chris were shocked to learn about the babies, then a seizure led to a second diagnosis.
"It became one of those moments where, holy cow, the possibility that something could happen to my wife and my kids is very prevalent and very real," Chris said.
Katie underwent brain surgery before her boys were born in July at 32 weeks.
Sturm conceived the quadruplets naturally, which is estimated to happen in about 1 in 700,000 births. Doctors also believe she’s the only woman to have a glioma brain tumor while being pregnant with quadruplets.
"If you didn't know she had brain surgery, you wouldn't know she had brain surgery," Dr. Toral Patel said. "She looks really great and she has coped with this better than anyone could have ever imagined. She's remarkable."
"At that point, I just had to turn it over to God, and I guess he wouldn't give me quadruplets if he didn't want me to be around for them," Katie said.
After a few weeks in the NICU, the Sturm boys got to join their big brother Ryan at home.
It was not a bad haul for a Katie, who was told as a teen that a medical condition would prevent her from having biological children.
"These babies are a lot to handle but they are a blessing," Katie said.
