By Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

Rocky family adjusting to life with quadruplets

Oct 31, 2018 | 9:18 AM

It’s four times the joy for a Rocky Mountain House family.

Charlee and Gregory Hainsworth are the proud parents of quadruplets — three boys and a girl born October 18 in Calgary.

Thomas Allan, Connor Dale, Harper Rae and Micheal Neal Hainsworth arrived weighing between three pounds, five ounces and four pounds, three ounces. They are now nestled in at Red Deer Regional Hospital where they’ll stay for the next several weeks.

Charlee says these past few weeks have been overwhelming, but in a good way.

“The communities, both here and in Calgary, have been unreal, more than anything we ever expected,” Charlee says. “There’s been people coming out of nowhere – who we don’t even know – trying to help us and give us support and love. It’s just been very overwhelming and very heartwarming.”

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When it comes to how the four babies are doing, Charlee says so far, so good.

“We couldn’t ask for better babies, they’re superheroes. They have just feeding tubes in, that’s it. They’re not on any oxygen (tanks) or anything like that. They’re just in the NICU to eat, sleep and grow. We couldn’t be happier.”

The fact that the babies were born after 33 weeks, about four weeks longer than average for quadruplets, has helped them get off to a strong start.

“Those extra weeks of being able to grow and develop before they were born has made a huge difference,” Hainsworth notes. “Their lungs were a little bit more developed and their bodies were able to handle life on the outside just a little bit better.”

Having a two-year-old son, Joseph, along for the ride has made for some time management challenges for the Hainsworths.

“Bringing him back and forth to the NICU isn’t something that’s ideal, because two-year-olds don’t like to be quiet and calm all the time. So just sharing our time between him and the babies has been a little bit difficult. But thankfully with the help of Ronald McDonald House we are close enough that (Greg) and I are able to take turns and have quality one-on-one time with him, and also share family time together.”

Charlee says they’ll be staying at Ronald McDonald House until the babies are ready to head home in December.

“It’ll always be something that’s in our hearts, for sure, because they’ve been phenomenal in so many aspects with (Joseph) and our family in general. We just can’t thank them enough.”

When it comes to donations, Hainsworth says there isn’t really anything they need right now but that plenty of diapers and formula will be needed moving forward (they expect to go through about 34 diapers per day).

The family is sharing updates through their “Hainsworth’s Multiplied” Facebook page.