Quadruplet kindergartners adapting to life in Bigfork

Chances were slim to none that Wendy Stanislao would ever have children.

The quadruplets she gave birth to Nov. 17, 2005, proved everyone wrong.

Wendy and her husband, Brett, are the parents of Bella, Vincenzo, Valentino and Giovanni, the bubbly, bouncing 6-year-old “quads” who have livened up the kindergarten class at Bigfork Elementary School.

The fearless foursome made its performing debut recently at the annual Cowabunga Variety Show that raises money to support Bigfork schools. The quadruplets sang with their fellow kindergartners and performed with a local gymnastics team.

Drawing a crowd is nothing new for the Stanislao siblings, though. Since their very public birth in Denver, the children have been in the limelight simply by virtue of their numbers.

“It used to take six hours to go grocery shopping,” Wendy said, recalling how shoppers would buy disposable cameras and then ask to take photographs of the quadruplets.

The family moved from Bailey, Colo., to Bigfork last July when Brett received a call to be the pastor of Community United Methodist Church. This is his first full-time position as a pastor. He served part time at the Methodist church in Bailey after graduating from Iliff School of Theology in Denver.

“They [the church] decided to put us here,” Wendy said. “We panicked at first; we’d never been to Montana. Then we saw Bigfork.

“We’re blessed to be here. It’s a very good place to raise our kids, and it’s genuine friendly.”

The Stanislaos had all but given up hope of ever having a family. A couple of years before the quadruplets were born, Wendy’s doctor gave her an ultimatum: Have a hysterectomy or take Lupron, a drug that essentially would put her into premature menopause.

She had struggled with endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome, conditions that make it difficult to conceive.

“I was told I’d never have kids, and I had been told that since I was 18,” she said.

She took the Lupron for a while but didn’t like the side effects.

Wendy struggled with a weight problem, too, and at 340 pounds was morbidly obese. She underwent gastric bypass surgery, hoping that losing 165 pounds would improve her chances of pregnancy.

Still, the doctors warned her there was so much scar tissue from her various problems that her chances were slim.

Then it happened.

As the doctor performed an ultrasound after it seemed she had conceived, Wendy saw the shock on his face, then saw what looked like a four-leaf clover on the computer screen.

“The doctor was freaking out,” she said. “This was rural Colorado. He ran out saying, ‘I need to find you a different doctor.’”

The specialists who took over her care advised her to abort two of the fetuses.

No way, the couple said.

The pregnancy was complicated by the fact that Wendy was able to eat only 3 ounces of food at a time because of the gastric bypass.

She had to eat every two hours, all night long, to get enough nutrition to her babies. Fruits and vegetables were juiced, and during the last six weeks an intravenous drip at night delivered the needed calories to her foursome.

Because the Stanislaos lived nearly three hours from the hospital, Wendy was hospitalized at 24 weeks.

“I had my Netflix delivered there; the nurses joked how I was moving in,” she said with a laugh.

At 30 weeks, the quadruplets were delivered by Caesarean section: Bella, 1 pound, 15 ounces; Giovanni, 2 pounds, 5 ounces; Vincenzo, 2 pounds, 10 ounces; and Valentino, 2 pounds, 11 ounces. Brett made the long commute just in time to see the first baby born.

“It was a miracle times four,” Brett said.

Even with the low birth weights, none of the babies suffered mental delays or vision and hearing problems. Vincenzo “Vinnie” struggled the first year, though, and at 13 months only weighed 12 pounds.

The quadruplets spent their first birthday in the hospital because Vinnie was hospitalized with the flu.

Today the four are largely healthy, though they still have low immunity and tend to catch any bug that’s going around, Wendy said.

The first few months were a blur, and a financial hardship.

“We couldn’t afford diapers. I was panicked,” Wendy recalled, remembering how she even wondered if disposable diapers could somehow be rinsed out and reused.

At the time, Brett was working as a probation officer, and his salary couldn’t make ends meet. They lost their home to foreclosure.

“There were a lot of hardships,” Wendy admitted.

They were exhausted most of the time, with few options for help with caring for the four babies.

“People will say, ‘I’ll baby-sit,’ and then there’s the deer-in-the-headlights look and they’re thinking, ‘Please don’t take me up on the offer,’” Wendy said.

Then a little divine intervention stepped in.

Because of Brett’s job, the couple had an unlisted phone number, but that didn’t stop a woman from the Methodist church in Vineland, Colo., from tracking down the Stanislaos and arranging for assistance. The church women began dropping off diapers and other supplies regularly, and they invited the family to church.

“The first Sunday the ladies were fighting over who got a baby,” Wendy said. “It’s like we had all these surrogate grandparents.”

The Stanislaos were searching spiritually around that time. As the Methodist pastor got to know Brett, he suggested he think about going into ministry.

One sleepless night, as all four of their children were in the hospital at age 2 for respiratory syncytial virus, Brett got his calling.

After eight years as a probation officer, he started theology classes with the blessing and a little financial support from Vineland Methodist Church.

“My plan from high school really was a calling to help people,” Brett said.

Wendy’s mother, Carol Patterson, recently moved to Bigfork to be closer to her grandchildren and help with their care.

With the extra help around the house, Wendy is able to help out at the church and is the volunteer high-order-multiples coordinator for the national organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs. She also writes for the magazine The Notebook.

The Stanislaos’ world can’t help but revolve around their quadruplets, though.

“We are really blessed. They’re good children,” Wendy said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.