Quadruplet mom 'shocked' by viral response to her side-by-side photos

By Genevieve Shaw Brown

A mom of four babies said she's "shocked" by how many times a side-by-side photo she posted to Instagram has been shared.

Lindsay Hay posted a photo of herself pregnant at 30 weeks and four days with her now 30-week and four-day-old babies in her arms. It's been shared more than 75,000 times.

"It was something I had envisioned doing during my pregnancy should I get the opportunity to bring four healthy babies home but I never anticipated it to gain viral attention," the New Jersey mom said. "For me it was a celebratory way to acknowledge the time I was able to spend growing them and comparing that to how much they’ve grown since."

View this post on Instagram

IN & OUT DAY! I carried these sweet babies for 30 weeks and 4 days on the inside and here they are at 30 weeks and 4 days on the outside! Full hands, full heart is an understatement! They have surpassed every hope and dream I had envisioned during my pregnancy and even though time is passing quickly I know the best is yet to be. Behind these babies are new marks, rolls, and skin you can’t see but they also came with new strengths I didn’t have before either. We have been so BLESSED and I won’t ever let myself take this life for granted. 💛 #strongasamother

A post shared by L I N D S A Y • H A Y 🌻 (@heylindshay) on Feb 22, 2020 at 10:24am PST

The road to birthing the babies was "long and dark" at times, Hay said. "We conceived the quads after three rounds of follistim which is an injectable hormone and timed intercourse. I suffered from recurrent pregnancy loss and was diagnosed with poor egg quality."

There's been an overwhelmingly positive reaction, she said. Still, there have been critics too.

"While we’ve had some rude responses like people calling it 'grotesque,' or saying 'they’d end it all if that was them,' we don’t let it get to us," Hay said. "We actually read through those comments and laugh because to us we hit the ultimate jackpot."