NORMAL - Tiffany and Jon Michaels knelt on the floor in the family room of their Normal home and began to change Gavin's and Maggie's diapers. They smiled and chatted breezily as they expertly did their business while being careful of the children's breathing and heart rate monitor lines. | Photo gallery | Video: Living with quadruplets | Normal woman is Illinois Young Mother of the Year | Family still first for mom, owner of salon

Tiffany turned to Reese, lying in an infant cradle behind them, knowing her diaper would need to be changed soon.

"This is what goes on every three hours," Tiffany, 28, said with a laugh.

Soon, Gavin, Maggie and Reese will be joined at home by Lauren, who, late last week, remained in the neonatal intensive care unit of Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.

The Michaels' quadruplets were born Feb. 19 at Carle and are doing well. Tiffany hopes her Mother's Day gift will be bringing Lauren home. But even if she's not ready to leave, she knows all four children are healthy.

"My plans for Mother's Day are to just enjoy each one of them," she said, adding, "It's a dream come true to be a mother."

She and Jon, 31, had tried for several years to have children.

"It's still sinking in that I'm a mom," she said. "When I'm changing diapers, it sinks in."

Tiffany's mother, Jan Samuels of Mattoon, who helps Tiffany and Jon Sunday through Tuesday, said, "It takes special parents to have four babies and they are definitely it."

Quadruplets are rare. According to IVF-Infertility.com, the incident rate for quads is 0.5 percent for couples - like the Michaels - who underwent infertility treatment. The incident rate for spontaneous quads is 0.0001 percent.

According to Pantagraph records, before the Michaels, the most recent quadruplets born to a Bloomington-Normal couple were born to a Normal couple in November 2004.

But numbers didn't matter to the Michaels, who will be married six years in July. All they wanted was a healthy, happy baby.

Jon is the quiet half of the couple - a Bloomington High School and Illinois State University graduate who is a lead planner in systems at State Farm Insurance Cos. and a varsity tennis coach at BHS.

Tiffany, an ISU graduate from Charleston, is a self-proclaimed cheerleader. She is a teacher at Montessori Children's Centre in Bloomington and is the varsity cheerleading coach at BHS.

Both love children

The couple shares the same values and faith and both love children. They have volunteered in the nursery at Eastview Christian Church in Normal, where they are members.

"We wanted to have kids," said Jon, an elementary education major. "I love children. And there's something about having your own children and continuing the blood line."

He nodded to Gavin, Maggie and Reese, who were sleeping in their cradles.

"Just look at them now. Why wouldn't you want to have children?"

After being unable to conceive children, Tiffany and Jon tried artificial insemination three times but weren't successful.

The next step was in vitro fertilization, which involves fertilizing the ova with sperm outside the body, then injecting the fertilized ova into the uterus. The first attempt, with two fertilized eggs in September 2006, and the second attempt, with three fertilized eggs in early 2007, weren't successful.

"When it didn't work, we were devastated," Tiffany said. The couple thought adoption was the next step.

"We believe in the power of prayer," Tiffany said. "We knew God had a plan for us."

Dr. John Jarrett, a reproductive endocrinologist, wanted to try something else. He performed a laparoscopy on Tiffany, discovered endometriosis (the growth of endometrial tissue on the ovaries) and removed the tissue. Then a third attempt was made at in vitro fertilization, with four fertilized eggs.

"We were 0 for 5 and hoped, 'Maybe one or two will hit,'" Jon recalled. "We knew we had an increased chance at multiples. I guess I never really envisioned four."

Fourteen days later, Tiffany took a blood test. A hormone level of 50 or more meant she was pregnant. Her hormone level was 1,954.

A Carle nurse called the Michaels and told them Tiffany was pregnant. Both Jon and Tiffany cried. They'd been looking forward to this moment for years.

"I was ecstatic," Tiffany said. "I thought I was having twins."

The first sonogram was 12 days later, in early October. The nurse detected four strong heart beats.

"I was speechless," Jon said. Tiffany was thrilled.

"But that night, we did ask each other, 'How are we going to pay for four wedding and four college expenses?' " she recalled.

Even Jarrett was surprised, telling Tiffany that he'd never had a patient with quadruplets in 18 years.

The Michaels were asked if they wanted to "selectively reduce" the number of embryos. "That wasn't an option for us because of our faith," Tiffany said. "We chose to put four in, so that was not an option."

Smooth delivery

Tiffany was put on bed rest at the end of November. Doctors wanted her to be at least 28 weeks pregnant before she had the babies.

On Feb. 19, the Michaels were celebrating that Tiffany made it to 28 weeks when her water broke. When she was brought into the delivery room at Carle, 20 medical professionals were waiting.

"It couldn't have gone smoother," she said. "None of the babies were in distress."

She was given an epidural and the four babies were born by Cesarean section between 10:29 p.m. and 10:31 p.m.

"It felt awesome," Jon said.

"When they held up Gavin, it kind of hit me and I was like, 'I'm having babies!' " Tiffany said.

While none of the children had major complications, Lauren, the smallest, was placed on a ventilator for 30 days because her lungs weren't fully developed, Jon said.

Tiffany was released from Carle on Feb. 23, Reece on April 10, Gavin on April 16 and Maggie on April 29. Lauren no longer needs a feeding tube and is expected to be released soon.

She and Jon admit they couldn't handle all their responsibilities without help from their parents, other family and friends who help with things like grocery shopping and cooking.

Last Sunday night was the first night they used Loving Arms, a group that helps with middle-of-the-night care. That meant for the first time since Feb. 19, they slept through the night.

"They definitely have been two of the most involved parents," said Sara Dalbey, a registered nurse in Carle's neonatal intensive care unit. "They always did their research and had a lot of questions for the doctors and were very reassuring to the nurses that they appreciated the care."

As the children grow, they will be followed not only by their pediatrician, but by Carle's developmental clinic, where they will go for follow-up checks from time to time, Dalbey said.

As parents of quadruplets born prematurely, the Michaels will have to know and do more than parents of children born full term.

"But they are amazing and seem like they're up to the challenge," Dalbey said.

"How will we take care of four?" Jon asked. "We don't know any other way."

What about their future plans? Tiffany laughed.

"These are our first - and our last."

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The Michaels quads

The Michaels quadruplets were born to Tiffany and Jon Michaels of Normal on Feb. 19, 2008, at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. Here's how they size up:

Gavin Christopher

Born at 10:29 p.m.

2 pounds, 13 ounces; 15.25 inches long

Now: 7 pounds, 1 ounce; 19.5 inches long

Reese Suzanne

Born 10:30 p.m.

2 pounds, 2 ounces; 13.75 inches long

Now: 5 pounds, 8 ounces; 17.5 inches long

Maggie Ray

Born 10:31 p.m.

2 pounds, 8 ounces; 14.5 inches long

Now: 6 pounds; 18.5 inches long

Lauren Kay

Born 10:31 p.m.

1.66 pounds; 12 inches long

Now: 5 pounds, 3 ounces; 16.25 inches long

SOURCES: Tiffany and Jon Michaels