A set of quads pick 08-08-08 to arrive at St. John’s

Jill Schwartz had a target date in mind, and her four babies hit the mark.Quadruplets were born today at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur. Jill and Chris Schwartz, of south county, welcomed two boys and two girls, at 12:47 a.m.

The first baby, Molly Joan, weighed in at 3 pounds, 8 ounces. The second baby, Kurt Thomas, is 4 pounds; the third baby, Meghan Kay, is 3 pounds, 13 ounces; and the fourth baby, Cole James, is 4 pounds.

Jill has been hospitalized at St. John’s Mercy since June 24. A team of doctors, nurses and other professionals participated in the delivery of the four newborns. I had spent some time with the Schwartzes and their two younger boys last month and wrote a feature about how she’s dealing with hospitalized bed rest. You can read that story here. Back then, she said she set 8.08.08 as her goal. Doctors weren’t sure if she would make it that long.

Bethany Pope, spokeswoman for St. John’s, said Jill was thrilled to meet her goal but joked that people would think she had planned the births. I had been thinking about Jill all day yesterday because I wondered if her babies would listen to their mommy’s first request. This early good behavior bodes well for the Schwartzes, who will have SIX children at home under the age of 5, in a few weeks.

Babies will be in the NICU for at least a month, if not longer. When I spoke to Pope around 10 a.m, she said Jill had not slept all night, but mom and babies are all doing well. They’ve scheduled a press conference at 1:30 p.m. at the hospital (bless her heart).

Since 1990, there have been 11 sets of quads, two sets of quintuplet and one set of sextuplets born at St. John’s Mercy.