Roxboro quadruplets celebrate first birthday as personalities blossom

One year ago Thursday, a young Roxboro couple became parents of quadruplets, an already daunting undertaking made more sensitive by the babies' early birth.

The children, who were born four months early, spent their first five months of life at Duke University Hospital under expert care. But as Christian, Elsie Colton and Marshall Edwards approach their first birthday, doctors say they still face challenges.

When the children were born, they each weighed about a pound and a half, and, at times, their mom said their lives were hanging by a thread.

"One of them could drop their heart rate or stop breathing," Katlyn Edwards said. "That was a hard five months to go through."

But now they're about to hit a big milestone.

"Their first birthday," Devin Edwards said. "I think it's going to be big."

They've been home for eight months with nothing more serious complications than ear infections. But Katlyn Edwards said she knows it could have been different.

"I'm frequently reminded when I go to infant care (by) the doctors, that not all 25-weekers turn out like this," she said.

They're not crawling yet or standing like most 1 year olds, but developmental delays were expected. So, the quads receive regular physical therapy.

What has developed, though, are smiles and personalities.

Said Devin Edwards: "Marshall, he's a nap taker during the middle of the day."

And Christian? "Christian is the more fussy one at this stage," Devin Edwards said.

Colton is the "quiet, lazy one," and Elsie is outgoing. She's going to be a talker, her dad said.

Christian will live with an implanted shunt - to drain excess fluid from the brain.

The couple goes through more than a pack of diapers and more than a can-and-a-half of baby formula per day. The costs are heavy, but their needs are met.

"I just want to thank all my friends and my family and my church family for helping us out with everything," Devin Edwards said.

For all they've been through the past year, this family of six has a lot to celebrate.

"We're going to have a cook out, we're going to have a pig on the grill and we're going to have family and friends and we're going to have a house full," he said.

WRAL Health Team's Dr. Allen Mask said babies born at 25 weeks of pregnancy are considered extremely preterm, which often involves complicated medical issues.

Duke's expert care helped get the Edwards quads through a difficult time, but those developmental delays are common and could include things like impaired learning, vision issues, hearing problems, dental concerns and chronic health issues like asthma or feeding problems.

But for the Edwards babies, those do not yet seem to be a problem, Mask said.

The babies are getting monthly evaluations and regular physical therapy that could help them catch up with their peers and excel.