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Review links: Articles Nouns Quantifiers (noun forms, count–noncount; determiners, quantifiers; subject–predicate agreement; sentence and paragraph agreement)
Mrs. Jones gave birth to quadruplets. Her friends are sending her warm wishs. Her husband is sending them photos. Four babys will truly change their lifes.
Mrs. Jones' quadruplets occurred naturally without fertility drugs. Her mothers sister also had a set of twins. Some women, like Mrs. Jones, come from family with history of multiple births. However, having quadruplets is a rare phenomena. The quadruplets consist of one boy and three girls. The firstborn girl is larger than her sisters. However, the second-born boy is larger than all her sisters.
Peoples are excited to hear about the birth of quadruplets. Four are a large number. The news are exciting. Business are offering the family special gifts, such as a year supply of diapers. Baby food are appreciated. Furnitures, such as cribs and highchairs, are useful too.
A nanny or a helper with nursing skills are essential for the first few weeks. Any parent of quadruplets are in agreement on this. It takes a lot of times, patience, energies and love to raise quadruplets. It doesn't require much noises or many movement to wake all the babies up. Then they start crying! Some babies are easy to care for. Fortunately, any babies don't have medical problems. The parents usually ask relatives to give little time to take care of few babies for little whiles.
The parents love each of their babies and treat each of baby equally well. Mrs. Jones read in a magazine that one should breastfeed their newborn baby to improve it's immune system, so she is trying to do so. Two of the babies prefer to breastfeed others babies prefer the bottle. Every face, hand and bottom need cleaning constantly! Nearly twenty-five per cent of the time is spent feeding and changing diapers. There are a nurse, a helper, and two parents who are working 24 hours a day. Eight hours are a long time when working with four newborns.
The team that cares for the babies is proud of how well they are managing the work load. Each of the babies requires his diaper checked. Everyone of the helpers has their responsibilities. The bed's head has the name of the baby. The foot of the bed has a check list with notes on the baby's care. The family will receive help for a while. After that, it will need to get by on its own.
Educating four children is a big concern. Sending the children to colleges and universities are expensive. The average cost of raising a child in the U.S. is $235,000 without college. With college, the parents will spend over a million dollars on the quadruplet's upbringing!
Every child will need to do their best to help themself and their family.
a big concern – a worry, a problem, a challenge
crib (N) – a baby bed with sides
diapers (N) – cloths for baby bottoms; "nappies"; Pampers,
energy (N) – the physical and mental strength that makes you able to do things
essential (Adj) – very necessary, important, basic in nature, core
fertility drugs (N) – drugs that help a woman to conceive (begin) a baby, but also may cause multiple births
foot of the bed – the location of the bed where the sleeper places his/her feet
head of the bed – the location of the bed where the sleeper places his/her head
highchair (N) a feeding chair for a baby
immune system (N) – the ability of the body to fight disease
multiple births (adj. + noun) – when more than one baby is born to the same mother at the same time (2) twins; (3) triplets, (4) quadruplets, (5) quintuplets
newborn (N) – a very young baby, recently born
occur (V) – happen
patience (N) – the ability to continue waiting or doing something for a long time without becoming angry or anxious
relatives (N) – family members such as aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc.
siblings (N) – brothers and sisters
team (N) – group of people working or doing sports together
upbringing (N) – the raising of children; clothing, feeding, educating and caring for children