The worst news a pregnant woman can receive is that her unborn child will not survive. But for this mother, the news was three times worse. Namely, she was carrying quadruplets, and she was told that only one baby would survive.
Tori Keller, a mother received bad news during her pregnancy – only one of her four children would survive. But she decided to carry all four babies in order to save that one.
In 2017, 19-year-old Tori Keller sʜᴏᴄᴋᴇᴅ doctors when she and her partner Tyler ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇᴅ quadruplets naturally.
Although their hearts were beating beautifully, the doctor explained that three babies share a ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇɴᴛᴀ and one has only her own ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇɴᴛᴀ.
Tori struggled with ɴᴀᴜsᴇᴀ and received the first bad news at the ultrasound at 15 weeks – one of her four girls had ᴅɪᴇᴅ.
After a few weeks, two more babies ᴅɪᴇᴅ. Doctors said Tori would have to carry the pregnancy to term if she wanted one baby to survive, but that meant the other babies would have to stay with her until then.
“I had to carry on, I knew that I couldn’t give up,” the mother of quadruplets said. “I didn’t know how to feel about carrying them with no heartbeat, but I didn’t have a choice. It’s a feeling with multiple feelings. It was hard.”
Knowing that 3 of the quadruplets she carried were ᴅɪᴇᴅ, was extremely hard for Keller, but she kept going to keep her last surviving baby girl alive. She turned to God for help — something she had not been used to. “I was worried and scared,” she said. “I prayed every day until my next appointment.”
At 23 weeks, Tori felt contractions. The doctors performed an ᴇᴍᴇʀɢᴇɴᴄʏ ᴄᴀᴇsᴀʀᴇᴀɴ sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ, and she gave birth to little Athena, who weighed only half a kilo at the time, and her eyes hadn’t even opened yet.
“I was very sad that she had to be on all those machines and not in my stomach, but I also loved her very much,” explained Tori, “Love got the better of me.”
Athena spent 127 days in the hospital before being released. Tori could only hold Athena every two weeks. But it was worth it because her baby survived.
“I have never experienced anything more beautiful than the moment I held her for the first time,” Tori recalled. “I waited two and a half weeks to hold her. It seemed so natural. We connected. There is no other word for it than ‘perfect.”
Now Athena is a healthy and happy big sister to her little brother and knows that she has three sisters in heaven who watch over her and protect her.
Tori said, “It all taught me to appreciate the smallest detail and to be patient. Athena taught me how to be strong. She taught me how to survive hard times – she saved me. She is my hero without even knowing it.”
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