Four bundles of joy back home in kilclonfert

The last of the four Kelly Quadruplets has settled into his new surroundings at his home in Kilclonfert.

The boy’s parents David and Anita Kelly, who now have five boys under the age of two, decided to avoid the media glare and allow their boys settle in before releasing any pictures.

James, the smallest at birth weighing just 1lb 9ounces, was the last of the quads to return home. He arrived home on the evening of Thursday, May 14, just in time for his mother Anita’s birthday that Saturday. Coincidentally, the same Saturday would have been the due date for all four boys had their mother’s pregnancy gone full term.    

Anita gave birth to her four baby boys at the Rotunda Hospital on Saturday, February 28. The boys, Tom (2lb 5 ounces), James (1lb 9 ounces), Charlie (2lb 4 ounces) and Luke (2lb 8 ounces) were born at 29 weeks. They have an older brother Matthew, who is one and a half.

Pround parents Anita and her husband David got married on New Year’s Eve in 2012. The quads were conceived naturally, defying odds of one in 700,000.   

The boy’s aunt, Elaine Dunne, said they were now doing extremely well. “They are getting on great, they are flying it now,” she revealed. She said Tom now weighs 9lb 6.5 ounces, Charlie is 9lbs 4 ounces, Luke is 9lb 5.5 ounces and the smallest, James, is now a healthy 8lbs 1 ounce. 

All of the boys were kept in hospital following their birth. They were transferred from Dublin to the Midland Regional Hospital at Mullingar before being released home to their parents. Due to his small birth weight, James was the last one to leave the care of the hospital staff.