2nd Woman in County Gives Birth to Quads

A 33-year-old Point Mugu woman who, along with her husband, dreamed of having a large family, gave birth this week to the second set of quadruplets born in Ventura County.

Julie Nethercutt and her 31-year-old husband, David, became new parents of three girls and a boy at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura on Wednesday night. The couple also have a 2 1/2-year-old son, Justin.

“I always wanted a big family and I got the bonus plan,” David said Friday afternoon as he sat in a rocking chair and fed Rose, the third baby to be delivered and the smallest at 2 pounds, 2 ounces.

Rose’s siblings are Kaitlin, 2 pounds, 14 ounces, the first to arrive and the only one with blond hair; Sara, the largest at 4 pounds, 2 ounces and second in line; and John Philip, named after the couple’s doctor and weighing 3 pounds, 7 ounces.

The babies were in stable condition Friday night in the hospital’s neonatal intensive-care unit after being delivered in about four minutes during a Caesarean section. Each was sleeping Friday night inside an incubator.

Asked about her biggest fears and most anticipated moments, Julie Nethercutt said she is thankful for healthy children and she can’t wait to take them home.

“I was so into trying to be pregnant [for as many weeks as possible] that I didn’t think about much else,” she said.

Nurses said the Nethercutt foursome can go home when their temperatures, breathing and feeding are regular, with Sara and John Philip probably the first to leave. Julie Nethercutt, in the hospital since late August, will be discharged Sunday.

The babies were conceived by in-vitro fertilization, and Julie Nethercutt carried them for about 30 weeks. She and David believed that based on ultrasound tests, they would be having two boys and two girls. Wednesday night, when the first three to arrive were girls, David said he started to wonder.

“I looked at Julie and said, ‘Isn’t there a boy in there?’ ” David Nethercutt said. “He [John Philip] was a gentleman and let his sisters out first. We started with a boy [Justin] and ended with a boy.”

When the children come home to the couple’s three-bedroom house at the Point Mugu naval base, they can anticipate going through about 1,200 diapers and more than 5,000 ounces of formula each month.

Hospital officials have donated a six-month supply of diapers and formula, and members of the Nethercutts’ church and a new parent support group are planning to volunteer their time. Julie Nethercutt said she will need extra help and support next June when David, a Navay petty officer, ships out to the Persian Gulf for a six-month tour.

The other woman to deliver quadruplets in the county was Tricia Kelly of Newbury Park, who delivered three boys and a girl on Sept. 1, 1996.