Motherhood x 4 = happiness

Costa Mesa High School grad Brenda Wright is a single mother to newborn quadruplets, but she isn’t worried about four times the midnight feedings, four times the dirty diapers and four times the college funds. The prospect of never having children was much more frightening.

Over the last year, Wright endured two unsuccessful intrauterine inseminations, one failed in vitro fertilization and the death of her 3-month-old adopted son Jacob, who died while at day care.

But she never gave up hope, and on May 4 — just 27 weeks into her pregnancy — Wright gave birth by cesarean section to Cassandra, Alexis, Lucas and Kenkaid in the span of two minutes.

“All that just made me want them more,” Wright said. “It’s a lot of money and emotionally draining, but I didn’t want to have to wonder the rest of my life if it would have worked if I tried just one more time.”

Weighing about 2 pounds each, the two boys and two girls will remain in the neonatal intensive care unit at UCI Medical Center for at least two months. Wright was released from the hospital on Tuesday but returns each day, eagerly awaiting the chance to hold her babies for the first time. She plans to spend her first Mother’s Day by their side.

“They’re just so incredible and so tiny,” she said. “Now that they’re born, I can’t wait for them to come home and keep me awake all night.”

Wright, the senior accountant for a Newport Beach firm, knew early on that she would be having multiples — though she was initially told they would be triplets.

So she sought the advice and support of several groups, such as Mothers of Supertwins, a nonprofit network for parents expecting three or more babies.

Most of the tips are similar to those for any newborn “singleton,” she said, adding that she plans to dress them alike only for a short time.

“They’ll match for the beginning, but I want them to be individuals,” she said. “They’re always going to be quads, and people will associate them as quads, but I want them to have their sense of individuality.”

Though tiny and premature, it seems each of the quadruplets has already developed a distinct personality.

“Cassandra doesn’t like to be dirty, so you have to change her diaper right away…. Lucas is a fighter and he liked to kick everybody…. Kenkaid doesn’t like to be messed with, and Alexis is feisty and alert,” she said.

For now, Wright has decided not too worry too much about the potential challenges of having quadruplets, instead concentrating on the joy they have brought to her life.

“Having a child is indescribably wonderful, and times four is even better,” she said.