A desperate dad is struggling to pay medical bills after his 22-year-old partner gave birth to quadruplets nearly two weeks apart.
The mum – who has not been named but who hails from the city of Jinan, in the Chinese province of Shandong – went to the doctor after feeling severe pain at the end of February.
Doctors diagnosed an incompetent cervix, when when weak cervical tissue may cause the cervix to begin to open too soon.
As she was only in her 22nd gestational week, doctors performed emergency surgery to try to close her cervix.
But the woman went into labour and gave birth to the first of the quadruplets, at 25 gestational weeks and six days.
The baby weighed in at just 735 grammes when it arrived, on 22nd March.
The second tot was born weighing 870 grammes four days later.
Finally, the third and fourth babies arrived together, weighing 1050 and 1030 grammes respectively, the next month, on 1st April.
The 27-year-old father, named Chu Zunzhen, said the first two children were delivered normally, while the other two were delivered by caesarean section.
All four babies are now in incubators.
Chu told local media: “The eldest is the smallest, but has a birth score of seven or eight and comprehensive vital signs. That is relatively good.
“I was very worried when the hospital notified me of an intracranial haemorrhage [a burst blood vessel in the brain] a few days ago, but he is improving now.
“I saw him when he was born and saw him with his eyes open when he was taken out.
“He looked like he just wanted to live. Now we just have to pray that the baby is healthy and can leave the incubator as soon as possible.”
Chu said that at first, doctors thought his wife was pregnant with triplets, as the fourth baby had been obscured during the medical controls.
As a result, they found out too late for one of the embryos to be removed and improve the others’ chances.
Now dad-of-four Chu is worried about paying the medical bills.
His monthly income is CNY 5,000 (GBP 601), while the medical costs are CNY 1,000 (GBP 120) per baby.
Now he has appealed for help to settle the bills.
He said his wife is recovering well, although she is sad that she still cannot hold her babies, as they are still too weak.
