Couple is quadruply blessed

ST. PETERSBURG

They got rid of their coffee table to make room for their ultimate treasures: Jillian, Cameron, Cash and Jack.

The quadruplets, born seven weeks ago at Bayfront Medical Center, made a heartwarming centerpiece in their parents' living room this week. Mostly, they slept.

The word "blessing" flows easily from Jenna and Ryan Walker's lips when they talk about the babies born after a year of trying to conceive and a regimen of fertility treatments.

"The fourth time, we were very blessed and I became pregnant,'' said Jenna Walker, 29, a kindergarten teacher at Fairmount Park Elementary School in St. Petersburg.

That was February. Doctors soon broke the news that there would be several babies.

"It took a while to really sink in,'' said Ryan Walker, 27, a managing partner at Lee Roy Selmon's Restaurant in Bradenton.

The high-risk pregnancy required 11 weeks of bed rest, the latter nine at Bayfront Medical Center. The babies were born Sept. 12 at Bayfront Medical Center at 31 weeks and four days of gestation. At least five doctors were present for the caesarean procedure, said Dr. Jose Prieto of the St. Petersburg Maternal Fetal Medicine Group, which specializes in high-risk pregnancies. The babies were immediately transferred to All Children's Hospital.

The extended family is ecstatic. Ryan Walker's mother, Mae Hogancamp, and sister, Amanda, reluctantly returned to Jacksonville on Monday. Maternal grandparents Ann and Dan Goodwin of Safety Harbor have re­arranged their lives to help with the babies. The Walkers are adjusting to their new role.

"It's so amazing how parents of multiples will adapt. I find that they learn to be real organized real quickly,'' said Dr. Lynne M. Ellis, the babies' pediatrician.

On Monday, Ryan Walker treated his wife to an afternoon birthday dinner at El Cap. She grabbed a hot dog, french fries and root beer.

"You just find joy in this,'' the new mother said of the changes the babies have brought.

"I haven't played golf,'' her husband joked. "I've gone from two days a week to never again.''

Waveney Ann Moore can be reached at wmoore@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2283.