A Determined Dream for One Baby Leads Quadruplets
We find someone. We fall in love. We marry. We start a family. That’s the storybook version. Real life, though, is more complex. Anne Marie and Randy Hamlet know this all too well. Their pregnancy journey was extraordinary, and difficult. Sharing their experience is a gift to young families who want to have children and a spark of hope for those who root for a love story with a happy ending.
Once Upon a Time
“I’ve been with Randy since 1985. We met in college, and we had a lot of fun,” says Anne Marie about the start of her story with her husband. They were young and happy and took all the usual steps, from moving up in their careers and to finding a lovely home. They didn’t anticipate health challenges ahead of them.
To begin, the young couple faced issues with pregnancies. “We had a lot of trouble,” Anne Marie clarifies. “We went through six IVFs. I actually was pregnant when one of the treatments worked, but I fell on the ice and lost the baby.” While they did conceive, after their commitment to the tough treatments, Anne Marie faced yet another medical challenge: “I got breast cancer.”
Their lives were filled with health-related care, and they found support at Greenwich Hospital. “I was with [oncologist] Dr. Lee. I asked if we could try IVF, because they said no more for me. I asked if he could be part of the process. He said yes, just stay close to me. So that’s exactly what I did. He was the key to the whole thing.” Anne Marie went through radiation treatments.
“We passed one hurdle after another,” she says. “We really wanted to have kids.”
Joy Times Four
Anne Marie and Randy turned again to IVF, but this time also with a surrogate. After seeing all that the couple had been through to have children, Randy’s sister offered to help. Eventually, she would carry two embryos, and Anne Marie two more. She knew it would be difficult, saying, “They didn’t give me a due date; they just said take it day by day. The take-home rate wasn’t very high, and I understood that.”
Randy and Anne Marie went through the pregnancy trying to temper their hopes — but she admits, “I signed up all the classes, and I was so excited.”
Finally, the big day arrived. Anne Marie went to Greenwich Hospital to deliver her babies. “The doctors were great,” she says, recalling her nausea from the medicine, worries about bleeding from the blood thinners, and labor at two in the morning. “Everyone, medically, was right there and on top of everything. It was a real gift.”
She also fondly recalls Randy walking in and picking up the babies “like he did it his whole life. It was new for me, so I asked the nurses how. They gave me a lot of training and really emphasized scheduling, because that’s how to survive with four babies and working full-time.”
Ten days later, her sister-in-law gave birth to two baby girls. “We picked the names together,” says Anne Marie. “I always wanted to have a Michael or Michelle, so I was happy. She picked Madison and Marissa.”
Full House
From shared birthday parties in elementary school to bulk driving lessons as teenagers, the children have grown up with a unique bond. They say their thoughts center around being quadruplets, not the incredible journey to be born. Their parents’ devotion and commitment, over each health hurdle, led to a happy, full house of their dreams. What would Anne Marie tell other families? “Never give up. Use your strengths.”
The family was celebrated at this year’s Benefit for Greenwich Hospital. This annual event also presented the Arc of Care Campaign Luminate Health and Medicine Award to Barbara Netter and recognized Physician Honorees neurosurgeons Murat Günel, MD, and Zion Zibly, MD.