Family adjusting to identical quadruplets

Thursday, May 26th 2005, 9:33 am

By: News On 6

HOUSTON (AP) _ Shelley Breedlove used to tease her mom about not being able to tell her apart from her identical twin sister. Now, as a 24-year-old mom, Breedlove has a new identity crisis: identical quadruplets.

``Everything I complained about, or picked on my mom about, or about being a twin, I am going to pay for four times over,'' said Breedlove, whose daughters were born March 24 and conceived without fertility drugs, which can increase the chances of multiple births.

Although no one knows for sure, medical literature indicates there are only about 50 sets of identical quadruplets, said Dr. Jamie Grifo, the director of NYU Medical Center's Division of Reproductive Endocrinology.

``Identical quadruplets are almost unheard of,'' he said. ``It is kind of nature doing its own cloning experiment.''

One set of identical quadruplets in Alabama is just more than a year old.

Christine Webb, 33, of Guin, Ala., gave birth in March 2004 to the quadruplets _ also girls without the use of fertility drugs. She said Wednesday that taking care of four babies is a financial challenge and can strain the best marriages.

``They are fixing to find out it is a very unique situation to be in,'' she said. ``I feel for them.''

Right now, though, Breedlove is only feeling exuberance.

She plans to mark the bottom of her daughters' feet with markers, paint their toenails and may even consider tattooing tiny dots on them to tell them apart.

For now, lace ankle bracelets, with different shaped buttons, help hospital workers and family members tell the babies apart.

The girls _ Adelle, Bonnie, Chloe and Daphne _ each weigh about 5 pounds and could be home with their parents and 15-month-old brother within the next seven to 10 days, said Dr. Jayne Finkowski-Rivera, who has helped care for the babies. The girls weighed about 2 pounds at birth.

All had heart surgery and some suffered brain hemorrhages during their first few days after birth.

The oldest, Daphne, could leave The Woman's Hospital of Texas as soon as Friday.

``It is so exciting and unreal,'' Breedlove said. ``I always said I would love to have twins, but I never thought I would.''

On Wednesday, Breedlove and her husband, Eric, got their first glimpse at a new five-bedroom home a local builder has agreed to let the family live in free for the next year. A Houston furniture store owner said he'll furnish it.

``We feel so incredibly overwhelmed and grateful,'' Shelley Breedlove said. ``It is the icing on the cake to be able to bring home four healthy daughters. We were going to make do with 10 people in a four-bedroom home and that was going to be wonderful because we have four healthy daughters.''

But not having to live with relatives and the generous donations have relieved a lot of stress and worry, Breedlove said.

``We are just going to take it a day at a time and that is really all you can do for the next 20 years,'' she said.

Webb said there's been little sleep since her girls were born and it's especially difficult when one gets sick, because that normally means the other three will also soon be ill.

``The first year, it is like a blur,'' she said. ``When you look back, you don't know how you got through it.''

Webb's husband, Kevin, said his family's life has forever been altered, but he finds ways to make do. Like when his daughters are competing for his attention and he can't hold them all, he gets on the floor and lets ``them crawl around on me like a litter of puppies.''

``It's a lot of work, but it's worth it,'' he said. ``We are head over heels in love with them.''