Kansas Quads Are Two Sets of Identical Twins

By ROXANA HEGEMAN
.c The Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. (April 10) - Genetic testing confirmed that quadruplets born to a Kansas mother were two sets of identical twins - an event likely to occur without fertility drugs in just 1 in 25 million births, her doctor said.

Christina Tetrick, 28, left Wesley Medical Center Tuesday, and her baby boys are doing well and should be home by mid-May. DNA tests confirmed that Peyton Michael and Parker Adrian are identical twins, as are Camden Louis and Christian Steven.

Their father, Pat Tetrick, 34, may not be able to greet them at home. As a member of the Army Reserve, he's awaiting deployment overseas to assist the war on terrorism.

Christina Tetrick said her husband could have probably won a hardship release from his military obligations, but they decided together that he should serve.

''I just think of the women that have lost their husbands forever, and the families that have lost their dads forever,'' she said, ''and sending mine away to help bring those people to justice is a very small price.''

Pat Tetrick also has a 4-year-old son, Dakota, from a previous marriage.

In the last three generations on her side of the family, relatives have counted six sets of twins, five of them identical.

Dr. Margaret H. O'Hara, Christina Tetrick's physician, noted that the chance of two pairs of identical twins by a single pregnancy, unaided by fertility drugs, is only 1 in 25 million.

The quadruplets' birth was overshadowed in part by the birth of sextuplets at another Wichita hospital on Saturday.

But the advertising agency the Tetricks hired to help them find corporate sponsors to help meet the family's new financial burden said there was interest in the quadruplets before the sextuplets came along.

''We are just very happy all the babies are doing well,'' said Jerry Pierce of Lottridge Advertising.

So far the agency has secured donations of a leased nine-passenger van and four car seats for the babies, he said.

The Tetricks' income is suffering because Christina Tetrick, a construction engineer, will not be able to work while raising the quadruplets. Pat Tetrick, put on leave from his regular job because his unit was activated, gets only a small military salary while he awaits deployment.

AP-NY-04-10-02 0307EDT

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