Darlene Hensch felt terrible during the first trimester of her pregnancy. She said her pregnancy symptoms were significantly worse than when she carried her daughter.
“I felt sick easily, was constantly nauseous, and my pregnancy symptoms were greatly exaggerated,” she said.
She is currently six months pregnant with quadruplets, three boys and one girl. When she found out, she was shocked.
“I didn't know how to react,” Hensch said.
“I was just overwhelmed with emotion and a little hysterical.”
Hensch is from Westlock County and travels to Edmonton several times a month to visit high-risk pregnancy clinics.
She will be delivered by caesarean section at the Royal Alexandra Hospital between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant, with a high-risk team on hand.
Darlene Hensch attended the gender reveal party for her quadruplets at Westlock.
Provided by: Darlene Hensch
Hensch also has a 3-year-old daughter, but her story is very different from that of her soon-to-be-born siblings.
Her parents tried to conceive for eight years and went through multiple fertility treatments.
“It's been a really long journey,” she said. “I was diagnosed with unexplained infertility and low ovarian reserve.
“I thought I would have one child, but that was it. I was surprised!”
She calls her pregnancy with quadruplets a miracle.
“When I was at a fertility clinic, they prescribed medication to help me ovulate. I tried that for a few months, but it never worked,” she said of giving birth to her daughter.
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“I tried it again this time and it worked really well.”
Hensch is not alone in her journey. Early in her pregnancy, she contacted the Edmonton Twin Triplets Club and connected with Tara Watson.
Watson and her husband welcomed quadruplets in 2024.
“We don't have a large community of women with quadruplets in Canada,” Watson says.
“Every time I want to talk to other quad moms, I can't just get up and go on a trip to America, so I was excited to have someone nearby.”
Darlene Hensch shows off her quadruplet baby bumps.
Provided by: Darlene Hensch
Watson was able to find a community of mothers of quadruplets online.
It was a way to get support and advice from someone who really understood. Now, as she prepares to become a mother of five children, she wants to be part of the support system for Hensch.
“Having higher order multiples is very different from having many children,” Watson says.
“It's such an amazing club to be a part of and I really hope she gets to experience the magic and do it all for the first time. So yeah, she's going to have a really special and special journey.”
“She wasn't hiding anything,” Hensch said of her first conversation with Waston.
“She taught me everything, the good, the bad and the ugly, that this is to be expected. I used that as a foundation for everything I do going forward.”
The best advice Watson gave Hensch was to accept help, even when asking for it is difficult.
“She's going to need help with delivering groceries, delivering meals, delivering diapers, or picking up babies, changing diapers, doing laundry, everything,” Watson said.
“I hope her community grows as much as mine does.”
Meanwhile, Hensch is preparing for her entire life to change in the coming months.
“I definitely feel like it's changed me as a person,” she said. “I can't be who I was before. I need to become someone completely different.”
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