The Guinness World Records holders for the most premature surviving quadruplets celebrated their first birthday on May 31, 2025, marking a milestone many once thought impossible. Born at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Hospital at just 23 weeks and 4 days’ gestation, the Bryant quadruplets — Lainey, Kali, Lennon, and Koen — have defied staggering odds to reach their first year of life.
According to a news report from UAB, the babies were delivered via emergency cesarean section in the early morning hours of May 31, 2024, by a team of approximately 30 maternal-fetal and neonatology specialists. The team mobilized when Becca Bryant, who had been admitted for high-risk monitoring, developed signs of infection following a premature rupture of membranes.
“When Lainey, Kali, Lennon, and Koen were born, they were 115 days premature,” said Becca Bryant. “A year later, we were surrounded by family and friends to celebrate their first birthday. It was a moment we were not sure we’d ever see.”
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The Bryants, residents of Auburn, Alabama, had learned they were expecting quadruplets during a February 2024 ultrasound. Initially anticipating a single baby, they were stunned when the technician counted four heartbeats. Becca’s pregnancy was later identified as trichorionic quadra-amniotic — four babies in four sacs with three placentas — a condition estimated to occur in just 1 in 7 million pregnancies, UAB reports.
Dr. Ayodeji Sanusi, Becca’s maternal-fetal medicine physician at UAB, explained that three eggs were fertilized, one of which split, resulting in a pair of identical twins and two fraternal siblings. The unusual and complex pregnancy required close monitoring, and Becca was hospitalized at UAB around 19 weeks when her cervix began to shorten, increasing the risk of premature delivery.
Although the goal was to delay birth until at least 28 to 32 weeks, Becca’s condition deteriorated rapidly following her water breaking at 23 weeks. Signs of infection prompted an emergency delivery. Within five minutes — between 2:15 and 2:20 a.m. — all four babies were born.
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Immediately after delivery, the babies were transferred to UAB’s Level IV Regional Newborn Intensive Care Unit (RNICU) and placed under the hospital’s Golden Week program, which is designed to minimize complications during the critical first week of life for extremely premature infants.
“The highest risk of complications and mortality for extremely preterm babies occurs during their first week of life,” said Dr. Colm Travers, director of the Golden Week program. “The program focuses on minimizing complications in babies through that first critical week because it typically means a greater chance of survival and going home.”
Each baby faced severe challenges, including brain bleeds, chronic lung disease, and infections. All required multiple forms of ventilation and continuous care for months. After five months in intensive care, the quadruplets were moved to UAB’s Continuing Care Nursery, and by December 2024, all four were healthy enough to go home, just in time for Christmas.
As the babies grew stronger, Travers began investigating whether any other quadruplets had been born as early and survived. Unable to find a comparable case, he confirmed that the Bryant quads had indeed broken the Guinness World Record previously set in 1997.
“Hearing our babies were the most premature quads put into perspective how lucky we were that all of them made it,” Becca said.
As of their first birthday, Lainey and Koen continue to use nasal cannulas, and Lennon uses a G tube to supplement feeding. The family remains in close contact with UAB’s Newborn Follow-Up Clinic and Children’s of Alabama to monitor the children’s ongoing development.
“I think it is a testament to the quality and kind of care that we can provide to these families at UAB,” said Sanusi. “It shows how well trained and how closely we work with all specialties to make world records like this possible, even though that is not the intention going into it.”
Sherri Blevins is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You may contact her at [email protected].
