Bundles of Joy

Twelve months ago, Ryan and Tricia Kelly were at a company Christmas party with friends, when, one by one, the couples expressed their hopes for the new year.

When it was their turn, Tricia Kelly mentioned the dream she and her husband had been pursuing, unsuccessfully, for five years.

“We were hoping for a family,” she told the group simply.

Their prayers answered--fourfold--the parents of Ventura County’s first quadruplets are more than willing to share their joy this Christmas, patiently answering the most personal questions.

Although they’ve been warned by other parents of multiples that they will quickly tire of strangers’ incredulous stares and sometimes rude questions, the Kellys aren’t there yet. Without a car that seats six, they haven’t gotten out of their Newbury Park home much these past 3 1/2 months.

But oh, the few times they have.

Riding in a specially made quadruplet stroller, the Kelly quads--three boys and a girl--created quite a stir when they visited Santa earlier this month at the Janss Marketplace. The very sight of them tends to skew cognitive abilities.

“ ‘Oh, you have triplets,’ ” Tricia Kelly recounted one woman saying. “No, I have quadruplets,” she responded.

The Kellys don’t mind the attention. After five years of infertility treatments, with all their emotional highs and lows, the couple decided to give it one last try with the most intrusive method, in vitro fertilization.

It wasn’t a decision the Kellys made easily. Committed Christians, they knew the method, in which an egg is fertilized in a petri dish and then implanted in the womb, also sits on the edge of an ethical quagmire despite its growing popularity.

They understood that they would likely create more fertilized eggs than could be implanted. And they expected they would be encouraged to abort one or more fetuses should Tricia become pregnant with multiples.

The Kellys decided to freeze the leftover eggs to buy some time for reflection. And, as soon as the first three heartbeats were detected in February the pressure was on to “selectively reduce” the pregnancy down to one or two fetuses.

“That was not an option,” Tricia said. “Obviously, God wanted us to have four kids or he wouldn’t have allowed that to happen.”

Instead, Tricia, now 36, read everything she could get her hands on about multiple births, and followed her doctors’ orders to the word. When she was given bed rest in May, she didn’t try to outfox the doctors. She laid down, and got up only for doctor appointments, to go to the bathroom and group Bible study.

Her diligence paid off. On Sept. 1, appropriately Labor Day weekend, daughter Morgan and sons Aidan, Jackson and Brendan arrived 35 weeks into the pregnancy. Not bad for multiples who usually wait no longer than 36 weeks.

For quadruplets, they were big. Most individual quads weigh in somewhere between 2 and 4 pounds. Morgan was almost 6, Aidan and Jackson were well over 5 and Brendan was 4 pounds even.

Their phenomenal growth spurt has continued. All have more than doubled their birth weight in their 3 1/2 months. Morgan weighs 13 pounds, 7 ounces; Aidan 14 pounds; Jackson is 13 pounds, 12 ounces; and Brendan tips the scales at 10 pounds, 14 ounces.

Unable to afford help--Tricia has stopped working and Ryan has accepted a job as director of choral music at a Calabasas private school--the Kellys rely on a steady stream of volunteers from their current church home, Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, and their former place of worship, Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village.

The help has been so consistent, Tricia has had to face only a few feedings solo.

“When I found out they were pregnant with quads, I said, ‘Call me if you need help,’ ” said Kealani McCandliss, 19, of Newbury Park, whose family has been close to the Kellys for years. It was one of many offers gratefully accepted. “It’s been so much fun,” McCandliss said, “and it feels good to help someone out.”

Getting the tykes on schedule has been the key to Tricia’s sanity, she said--that and getting them to finally sleep through the night on a regular basis. Before the birth, the couple attended a parenting class that pushed clock-dictated feedings and nap times. The way Tricia figured it, with four on the way, what choice did she have?

Currently, the quads sleep in pairs in two cribs. Tricia is hoping they’ll make it to six months before she has to separate them into their own cribs, two to a room.

Daily life has pretty much consisted of eating, changing diapers and sleeping: the typical lifestyle of an infant, times four. Mead Johnson Corp. is supplying the baby formula, as much as $900 worth a month, Ryan guesses. And diapers are paid for with a monthly $100 gift certificate from Costco Wholesale in Oxnard. They average 30 diapers a day.

Hollywood has also called. Gearing up for four college funds, the youngest Kellys have landed roles in several commercials and television shows.

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So far, the parts for which they have auditioned were for a single baby. Directors are attracted to the Kellys for their ability to instantly provide a replacement baby should the one first selected be experiencing a moment of fussiness. Brendan is currently featured in a Levi’s commercial and Morgan has appeared on TV’s “High Incident.”

The quads shot a Pepsi commercial this past weekend, and Ryan has called it quits for the year, so they can focus on the holidays and family. Not surprisingly, they’re staying in the Conejo Valley this year. If relatives want to see them, they have to make the drive.

Thinking back on last year’s Christmas wish for a family, Tricia marveled: “Here we are, we have four.”

“It’s the best Christmas present next to Christ being born,” Ryan said.