Kimberly Fugate had just delivered identical triplets by cesarean section when a doctor gave the Mississippi mom the surprise of a lifetime.

"There are more feet," Fugate's doctor said before delivering a fourth baby.

Somehow, that fourth baby had managed to hide during the numerous ultrasounds Fugate, 42, underwent during her pregnancy.



Four of a kind beats a pair or three of a kind Courtesy Fugate family, Facebook

The four baby girls -- identical quadruplets -- were born Feb. 8 at the University of Mississippi Medical Center . The babies, who were just shy of 13 weeks premature, are all doing well in the neonatal intensive care unit, the hospital said.

Fugate's husband, Craig, didn't know about the fourth baby until he went to the recovery room to see his wife. She told The Clarion-Ledger newspaper that she he held up her arm adorned with four plastic identification bracelets and told him to count.

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Dr. James Bofill, UMMC’s director of maternal-fetal medicine, told the newspaper that discovering a fourth baby during delivery was a first in his 27-year career.

"I was very embarrassed, obviously," he said. "The news was sent to me by one of my fellows. I thought she was kidding."

Bofill said the odds of spontaneous quadruplets are 1 in 729,000. But in the Fugates' case, the odds are even smaller because their girls split from a single egg, meaning the siblings are identical.

The Fugates said they have named the babies Kenleigh Rosa, Kristen Sue, Kayleigh Pearl and Kelsey Roxanne.

The quadruplets join big sister Katelyn, who is 10. Because they were born prematurely, it is expected to be May before the babies are ready to leave the hospital and go home to Fayess in south Mississippi.

Kimberly Fugate told the Clarion-Ledger she considers the quadruple birth "a blessing," but she's not planning on having more children.

"This. Is. It," she said.

