Edmonton couple welcome 4 times the joy after having quadruplets

When Tara and Tommy Watson found out they were having quadruplets, it was a shock. 

“That was a really intense moment. We found out in our first ultrasound around eight weeks,” Tara Watson told CBC News at their home. 

“We went into the ultrasound thinking it was one baby, maybe two. Never in a million years, would have expected four.”  

Theodore, Sydney, Kenna and Maxwell Watson were born on July 8. 

The family have been documenting their journey on social media on the Instagram account emmylous.quad.squad, named after the couple’s two-year-old daughter Emmy Lou. 

When having quadruplets, it’s important to have a schedule.

“We are living in kind of four-hour cycles over and over again. We start with diaper changes, then feeding,” Tara Watson said, adding that the couple go through at least 50 diapers a day. 

“And then a nap. So nap for them, not always us.”

Tara Watson said while it was overwhelming to find out they would be having four babies, she wishes she could tell herself it was going to be ok. 

“It was extremely scary. We had so many questions immediately running through our head, and immediately we knew it was going to be a high-risk pregnancy,” she said.

“And I just wish that we could go back and tell ourselves back then that it was going to be okay and we were going to come out with healthy babies.”

Tommy Watson, who works as a firefighter, said he tries to help out as much as possible before heading to work. 

“Feeding all the quadruplets with bottles and kind of taking it upon myself to be the master bottle washer, sterilizer and kind of having everything ready to go as much as I can, even when I go off to work,” Watson said.

“I’m a pretty quiet person, but … there’s been quite a bit of attention,” He said adding that not many people around him know other people who had quadruplets. 

“It’s easy conversation … about how it’s going and just all the challenges and all the special moments that we have with the quadruplets.”

Tara Watson said the experience has been a profound lesson in leaning on community.

“My nature is to do it all on my own,” she said. 

“It’s been a really important lesson for me to lean into the help and to accept help and ask for help.”

“This really is going to take a village in so many ways, and we’ve seen that village show up for us already so many times.”

The Watsons hope to hire a nanny to join their growing village and help take care of the family.