A young Florida couple has had the experience of a lifetime — giving birth to four babies in one year.
Nicolas and Megan del Rosal had babies Mateo and Celeste in December 2021. One year later, in December 2022, Ezra and Melody were born. Their parents lovingly refer to the first set of twins as the “Alphas,” and the second set as the “Bravos.”
Mateo and Celeste were born prematurely at 32 weeks and both had to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) before they were able to go home with their parents. Ezra and Melody faced a bigger uphill battle, as they arrived at 25 weeks, each weighing less than two pounds.
“At 24 weeks and 5 days, Megan started experiencing preterm labor,” Megan’s father, Robert Cosgrove, explained on a GoFundMe page set up for the family. “She immediately went to the hospital to try and stop the labor. Within a couple of days, the doctors realized that Ezra’s umbilical cord only had a minimal amount of blood flowing through. Due to the danger to him, the babies had to be delivered immediately.”
The babies have had a number of serious health issues, and there were multiple times that Megan and Nicolas believed the children might not pull through. “That first month was the worst. They had a lot of issues,” Nicolas said. “It got to the point where we were terrified to get a call.”
Both newborns are still in the NICU, with the hope that Melody will be released in April or May, with Ezra to follow in June or July. They both have some hurdles, but doctors are optimistic.
“We look forward to them going home strong and healthy in the future,” said Dr. Maryam Abubakar, neonatalogist at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. “We do have concerns regarding their neurodevelopmental outcomes due to some brain bleeds they had very early in life. However, newborns do have an amazing, almost miraculous, ability to compensate for brain injury by forming new neuronal connections and through healing.”
Even though it has been overwhelming to have four babies in such a short time period, Megan says it’s also incredibly rewarding.
“It’s honestly such an insane experience. My whole life I wanted to be a mom, and so while it’s tiring and stressful, at the end of the day it just feels so rewarding because I know I wouldn’t want it any other way,” she said.
“I was not expecting to have four kids within a year of each other when I was wishing to be a mom. And yeah I definitely at times feel super defeated and just sit down and cry,” she said, “but one of the Alpha twins always comes over and it kinda just makes everything feel OK again, even for just a moment.”
