Excitement filled the operating room near the maternity ward at Rabin Medical Center on Sunday, as Shelly Hakimi, 34, gave birth to quadruplets she conceived without in-vitro fertilization.
The birth of quadruplets is rare, occurring in approximately one in 720,000 to one million births, and most often results from fertility treatments.
A team of 30 medical experts from various fields gathered to support Shelly Hakimi's challenging cesarean section. First came the oldest baby boy, followed by his brother, then their sister, and finally another sister. The overjoyed mother expressed gratitude to God, her face beaming with happiness after the rare pregnancy concluded successfully.
"Until the surgery, during which I delivered one baby after another, each developing in a separate amniotic sac, I had only seen them through numerous ultrasound exams. Seeing them healthy and live was incredibly moving," said Dr. Kinneret Tenenbaum-Gavish, a senior physician in the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Department at Rabin Medical Center.
In an interview with Shelly two days before the birth, she talked about the beginning of this life-changing journey: "On the first night of Hanukkah 2023, I prayed for twins, modestly, just one set. During the pregnancy, I discovered my prayer had been answered and even doubled."
Hakimi, an event manager for high-tech companies, and her husband, Israel, a high-tech expert, live in Petah Tikva and are parents to a seven-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son. They felt overwhelmed when they learned about the quadruplet pregnancy.
"I accompanied my wife to a routine ultrasound check, and the doctor casually pointed out one sac, then another, and another, and another," Israel recalled. "I nearly fainted, literally. The news hit us completely unexpectedly. Quadruplets? Now what?"
After the scan, the doctor provided the shocked couple with a referral letter for fetal reduction, a common practice in recent decades. "We needed time to process and understand our new reality, so we postponed the decision week after week," Shelly explained.
Tenenbaum-Gavish supported the pregnancy from the start. "Our role as doctors is to provide the family with all the information, possibilities and risks involved in delivering quadruplets. I informed the couple that research shows lower fetal numbers improve survival and health outcomes, so I recommended the standard protocol of reducing the number of fetuses."
Before meeting the doctor, the couple reached a joint decision against the reduction. "We sat with Dr. Tenenbaum-Gavish after agreeing on a single, comprehensive conversation to gather all the information and make a final decision," Shelly recounted.
Two events solidified Shelly's decision to follow her heart. "In the last ultrasound, we heard all four heartbeats. Although according to halakha it is permissible to reduce, morally it didn’t sit well with us. I felt blessed with four fetuses who wanted to live, so who was I to decide otherwise? Additionally, the events of October 7, where so many people, including infants and children, were killed, strengthened my resolve. I thought maybe I am meant to bring children into the world."