After Adopting 4 Siblings and Welcoming 1 Into the World, Mom and Dad Decided to Have Another…That’s When She Learns She’s Pregnant With Quadruplets

After getting married in 2016, Maxine and Jake Young were eager to start a family, but they had no idea that in just four years, they’d have quadruplets and be parents of nine. The couple also had a dream of having both biological and adopted children, so soon after becoming husband and wife, they began the process of becoming certified foster parents.

By 2017, the couple took in four children, all siblings. And within two years of being their foster parents, Maxine and Jake made the adoption official in 2019 after having already welcomed their first biological child into the world.

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4 Adoptions, 1 Singleton, & Quadruplets: This Is The Young Family

Maxine, Jake, and their five children were very excited to be a family of seven, especially after dreaming about having a large family one day. But then they were given news they never expected to receive.

According to the GoFundMe description written by Jake’s mother, ArLette, Jake and Maxine “loved the idea of having a house filled with lots of love and laughter, maybe a little bit of chaos too!” They just never imagined how big their family would get so quickly.

In 2017, Maxine and Jake took in a 4-year-old, a 2-year-old, and an 11-month-old before welcoming their newborn sibling less than a month later. “They experienced many struggles along the way, lots of trauma to overcome, an Autism diagnosis and various other challenges,” ArLette shared. “All the while, they were trying for a baby to join their family.”

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We dove in head first, without knowing how to swim. It felt like all we did was tread water for the first few months. Slowly, very slowly we began to learn one another, we got into a rhythm of things and it became second nature. Life was normal, or as normal as having 4 children in foster care could be. We had melted into a unit, we had become a family. Now don’t get me wrong, there were hard days where we went to bed wondering how we could go on. Days where I woke up asking for forgiveness and a second chance to be a better mother, but those days are far outnumbered by the good days, the days where I can’t wait to wake up and do it all again. YOU, you are the hero’s of this world. The silent soldiers who make this world a better place just by being in it. I am in awe of you. All of you. You have shown me what matters in this world. You have given me glasses so that I could see the world through a different lens. Unrelentingly beautiful souls who have persevered through the toughest of circumstances and come out surprisingly kind and trusting. The world needs more people like you in it. Thank you for everything you have done for me. I am eternally grateful for the joy you have brought into my life, the love you have shown me and the unimaginable strength you have displayed. I have had the most cherished honor of taking care of you, loving you and protecting you for the past two and a half years. It has changed me. You have made me better, in every way possible. Now I have the greatest honor of being your mama. You have given me the most meaningful and fulfilling role of my lifetime. Thank you for the forgiveness and grace you have shown me as I navigated my way through learning how to be a mother, for accepting me as I am, despite my flaws and for showing me that wishes and miracles aren’t only in the movies. You, all of you, you are magic.

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And even the journey toward welcoming their first biological child was difficult. Before welcoming their son, Henry, in 2018, they endured miscarriages, chemical pregnancies, a round of IVF, and a round of IUI. But despite all the ups and downs, their home as a family of 7 was happy and they felt their household would be complete with one more.

Little did Maxine and Jake know that when they did get pregnant a second time, they wouldn’t just be conceiving one baby, they would conceive four. That right, earlier this year the Young family welcomed quadruplets into the world making them a family of 11.

“I didn’t even think that I could get pregnant without doing IVF or IUI, which we had to do with our son,” Maxine told WCJB after learning she was having quadruplets. “I remember texting [Jake] and was like, ‘Oh my God.’ The doctors are worried about you, worried about the babies. We were worried, too … about our other kids, adding four more babies to a family with five children already.”

And yes, even though she was scared, Maxine was willing to do whatever she needed to do in order to make sure all four of her babies thrived. She explained how her doctors reacted when they initially learned she was expecting quadruplets on Instagram.

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“The doctor asked me to wait in the room and she brought another senior doctor in. They discussed all the risks with me and strongly encouraged me to consider a reduction. They told me the likelihood that all of our babies would be born healthy was not great and that selectively reducing would give the remaining babies a better chance, not to mention would be less risky for me. I knew before even talking to Jake that we would never go that route. They told me to speak with my husband and think about all of our options, that we had time to discuss it in depth because they normally do the reduction between 12 and 14 weeks. I explained to the doctors that I just didn’t think we could ever do that.”

By May, Maxine revealed on Instagram that they were expecting three boys and one girl. On July 31, at 32-weeks, Maxine went into labor. By August 1, she was introducing each of her quadruplets to her Instagram followers individually.

And by August 29, they were taking their quadruplets home, one by one. The first to come home was their youngest child, baby girl Cecilia Hudson. The following day, their firstborn, Silas Ledger, got to join his sister and five older siblings at home. On September 4, the tiniest baby, Theo Alexander, graduated from the NICU, and then three days after that, Beck Killian got to come home as well.

“There are times that Jake and I will look at each other and we know exactly what the other person is thinking. We have been doing a lot of that lately, I think it’s because we are thinking the exact same thing when we look at the babies, we can’t believe they are here, they are healthy and they are ours. It truly is an indescribable feeling.”

In fact, Maxine admitted on Instagram that she doesn’t want to jinx it “but this has been easier then I thought it was going to be, I think it’s because I am just so grateful that they are here and they are healthy,” she said. “I need to give the credit the babies they deserve, they have been pretty great so far so I’m sure that makes things easier. I just look at them and realize what’s important in this life. I’m the luckiest girl alive.”

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Nonetheless, while Maxine and Jack are extremely grateful for all of their quadruplets and five other blessings, it certainly will be quite the journey raising nine children on just one income. So as a way to help them out, ArLette created a GoFundMe account to raise money to aid in some of their expenses. So far, just over $8,000 has been raised.

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