An Alabama couple thought it would be a great idea to try for a second child – instead, they ended up getting pregnant with two sets of twins.
Michael and Hannah Carmack of Boaz, AL welcomed quadruplets at the UAB Women and Infants Center in Birmingham on March 14.
The couple says although it was quite a surprise they believe it was a part of God’s “intricate and perfect plan.”
During Hannah’s first pregnancy scan in October, she recognized two sacs on the screen.
“She was like, ‘Twins?’ But the ultrasound tech didn’t respond,” Michael told Today.com. “Then Hannah goes, ‘Is it three?’ Then the ultrasound tech put her hand on Hannah’s knee and said, ‘Sweetie, it’s four.'”
Michael was overjoyed. “I started laughing,” he told the outlet, later adding, “I always wanted a big family, but that wasn’t Hannah’s dream.”
“I had to convince Hannah it was a good idea to have a second child,” he continued. “Imagine how she reacted when she found out we were having four!”
However, after an “emergency meeting” with their pastor Hannah was reassured it was a part of God’s plan and purpose.
“I remember thinking that The Lord hand-picked us for such a glorious task, and I had no clue why HE would do that,” she recently wrote on Facebook. “We knew that the journey would be hard and that not every day would feel like rainbows and butterflies, but we knew that this was just the very beginning of a true legacy. HIS legacy.”
The “incredibly rare” set of quadruplets only happens in about 1 in 70 million cases.
“There were only 148 deliveries of quadruplets or higher order multiples in the US in 2021,” Dr. Meghana Limaye, MD, maternal-fetal medicine specialist in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at NYU Langone Health, told Today.com.
She continued, “The rate of triplets or higher is only 80 in 100,000 births. Additionally, to have two sets of identical twins, meaning that both embryos split after fertilization, makes it even more rare.”
Hannah gave birth 56 days ago to her two sets of identical twins – two boys and two girls. Evelyn, Adeline, David, and Daniel were born via Cesarean section at just 27 weeks gestation.
Hours after their birth, their dad was praying for them.
“I was able to lay hands on their incubators and pray blessings over all of them,” Michael wrote on Facebook. “All glory to God for such an intricate and perfect plan.”
The couple says their lives are completely changed.
Michael is encouraging others that God is always at work.
“Behold the work of the Lord! The definition of behold is ‘be sure to see’, Don’t miss it! Don’t believe that it’s only the doctors or only a special diet or only a medicine. BE SURE TO SEE that the Lord is moving in a mighty way in our lives,” he wrote before the quadruplets were born.
For Hannah, it simply has changed her heart.
“In these last 35 weeks, I have learned to fall in love with myself in a way I never thought I could, I have learned to fall in love with my husband all over again, and I have learned to fall in love with each one of children in a mighty way. He changed the desires of heart, and pointed it towards a ‘mother’s heart’,” she wrote.
The quadruplets are expected to remain in the hospital until June, their technical due date. Meanwhile, Hannah and Michael make frequent visits while also renovating their home to make room for the new additions, according to a GoFundMe campaign for the couple.
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN