‘Four Before Their Time’: Have tissues handy while reading this memoir

Anne is an army officer, physician and wife. When she and husband Rob decide to start their family they become pregnant with quadruplets.

As the title indicates, Anne delivers the babies much sooner than they had hoped due to conditions that put her life and the babies in danger. Anne's father, Timothy Spillane, shares the intense roller coaster ride that Anne and Rob, the babies, and their extended family and friends go through as the babies fight to stay alive. Timothy writes as a parent trying to support his exhausted and emotionally drained daughter as well as from the perspective of a grandparent, praying for the lives of his four precious grandchildren. The entire family relies on faith, hope, and resilience to get through the hours and days of these precious babies' lives. They dare to believe in not just one, but four miracles.

A single baby who is born four months premature has a tough road ahead let alone quadruplets born four months early. Imagine each of these babies weighing the same as a half a cup of coffee. Their fight to stay alive seems unimaginable when you realize how tiny each one of them is.

This journey for Anne, her husband Rob and their family was daunting. I was in awe as I read through the daily, even hourly decisions that they had to make regarding their babies' health. I was overwhelmed with their exhaustion, their dedication to being with their babies, and the life-changing decisions that seem to dominate their days.

Without the support of each other and a strong faith that God would see them through, I am not sure any of them would have survived. Each one of the quadruplets have mounting medical issues, many times one condition making another condition more difficult. Nearly every day, the news Anne and Rob had to handle was more than one person could take in a year, let alone multiple times in one day. But, even when there seemed to be no more room for hope in their lives, they never lost hope in a miracle or actually, four miracles. What this young family overcomes is nothing short of amazing and is most definitely a miracle. This book will encourage any reader to believe in miracles, to have faith and hope in good things, and to find the desire to power through any struggles. In the epilogue, the reader will again be shocked by what this family must go through in 2013. This memoir shares their remarkable sacrifices and proves they can survive anything with their love for each other and faith in God's plan.

Keep a tissue box close by while reading.