Quads born at local hospital, mother, father all doing fine

Quadruplets delivered unexpectedly Monday evening at Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center in Waco were all doing fine Wednesday and so were their 34-year-old mother and 58-year-old father.

Vivian Van Gorder and her husband Chris were expecting triplets, but got a surprise delivery with the arrival of a fourth infant.

"I was like ‘oh my God, oh my God are you serious are you serious,’" Vivian Van Gorder said during a news conference Wednesday.

The quads were the hospital’s first and although nine doctors and nurses were on hand for the delivery, they could have used a few more hands.

"We deliver those 3 babies that we expected and then I reached in and felt an elbow and said ‘we've got a surprise,’ which was a happy surprise,” Dr. C. Tony Dunn said.

The fourth infant, a girl, was hiding behind her siblings in the womb.

“When we start to see somebody in labor and pregnancy, it really is hard to keep all the numbers of arms and legs straight because you're only looking at one area of the abdomen at a time with the ultrasound,” Dunn said.

“At the point where she (Vivian) came to us, you can't even get one whole baby on the ultrasound screen,” he said.

The couple agreed on the names Erik, Tristen, Clare for the triplets they expected.

The fourth hasn’t been named, yet.

The first of the four was a boy who was 18 inches and 4 pounds 15 ounces at birth.

He arrived at 5:31 p.m. Monday

The second, also a boy, was 17.5 inches and 5 pounds 1.7 ounces at birth.

He also arrived at 5:31 p.m.

The third was a girl who was 17.25 inches and 5 pounds 4.7 ounces at birth.

She arrived at 5:33 p.m.

And the surprise delivery was also a girl, who was 17.25 inches and 4 pounds 6 ounces at birth.

She arrived at 5:36 p.m.

The quadruplets were carried to 33 weeks and 3 days, the hospital said.

Van Gorder and her husband, a Baylor religion professor, have three other children, ages, 10, 9 and 4.