By Gugu Mbonambi
A Durban couple could not contain their excitement after the wife gave birth to a healthy set of quadruplets at Westville Hospital on Easter Monday.
Sharne and Cornell Pretorius, of Hillcrest, said they could not wait to take their three girls and boy - named Taylor, Cailee, Jordan and Josh - home.
"Our babies are a wonderful miracle. They are our first and last babies because we are not planning to have any more children," said Cornell.
Josh and Cailee were strong enough to breathe on their own, while Taylor and Jordan were being kept in incubators until they were able to do so.
Sharne said they were told they were having quadruplets three months into the pregnancy. "When I went for my second scan the doctor told my husband and I that we were having quadruplets. We were shocked because we didn't expect to have so many babies," she said.
Westville Hospital Unit Manager Ann Leslie said the babies were delivered by Caesarean section.
"The babies are doing very well considering that they were born premature at 31 weeks' gestation, because a normal pregnancy takes 40 weeks. The quads were all born in just six minutes and their weights range from 870g to 1.3kg," she said.
Leslie said the babies would be kept in the hospital until all four were well enough to go home.
Cornell said his wife had had no complications during her pregnancy and that she was recovering well.