Ashley Ness went to her doctor for a routine ultrasound.
She had no idea what the technician would discover when they examined what was growing inside her.
35-year-old Ashley Ness is a mother of four children. She and her boyfriend Val, who live in Taunton, Massachusetts, had no intention of having more children. They were still overjoyed to learn Ashley was expecting her fifth child.
However, a recent ultrasound revealed that they would not be getting just one more family member, but would be doubling their number of children.
Ashley explained in an interview with Good Morning America:
“When she first started the scan, she was looking at the screen and wrote A, B, so I stopped and looked at her and was like, ‘Wait, I’m having twins?’ And she’s like, ‘Oh I don’t know … I’m going to step out for a minute.”
Waiting and expecting to hear the unexpected, the mother’s concerns were confirmed when the sonographer returned to the room:
“She starts the scan back up, and she’s like, ‘You’re having four.’ I said, ‘I’m sorry. What?’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, there’s four of them in there.”
Ashley and Val already have four children ranging in age from seven to twenty-four. They never expected her to become pregnant again at her age, let alone have four more children.
However, they quickly recognized their predicament:
“I had a very hard time conceiving my daughter and I’ve had miscarriages in the past. So I feel like to be able to be blessed with something so big is so amazing,” Ashley said.
Even more incredible, the four fetuses are actually two sets of identical twins. It’s a very rare pregnancy, according to WCVB. The chances of spontaneously having two sets of identical twins are one in 70 million.
Ashley also described how she and Val’s daughter, Chanel, assisted them in naming the upcoming children:
“I’ve always wanted to keep the whole ‘Ch’ because my parents, all their grandkids besides one is all ‘Ch.’ So I wanted to stay on that whole ‘Ch’ path and we came up with all their names. So it’s Chesley and Chatham are the girls, and then Chance and Cheston are the boys.”
This family is clearly blessed, and they will only show love and support to their four new members when they arrive!
The quadruplets were born in August.
Ashley’s pregnancy was high-risk due to her age and previous miscarriages, so she decided to have the babies in August rather than on their expected due date in October.
However, according to a post on Ashley’s Instagram, the babies were born in July. On August 30, she shared a photo of the quadruplets celebrating their first month of life.
Then, in September, she sent another update to her followers:
”I can’t believe it has already been two months since The quads have entered the world. I will not lie these past two months have been a struggle, with all the ups and downs that come along with the Nicu life and juggling a family at home. The mom guilt hits hard for me, Trying to make sure I’m giving everyone enough attention just can’t wait till the Quad‘s are ready to come home so we can all be together…”