Couple Conceived Rare Spontaneous Quads. 1 Pregnancy Loss Followed, but Mom Says Daughter Is ‘Watching Over Them’ (Exclusive)

"She'll be in the house with us," Marae Hanson tells PEOPLE

NEED TO KNOW

• Marae Hanson’s story of hope and heartbreak began when she found out she was expecting quadruplets
• After learning that she’d lost one of her babies, she took to TikTok, asking her followers if she could still call herself a quad mom
• In addition to offering her support and comfort in a time she needed it the most, sharing her story led to an outpouring of donations that fully stocked the nursery and diaper room

When Marae Hanson found out she was pregnant again, the Iowa mom and her fiancé Patrick Fischer were excited to become a "two under two" family, only to learn they were expecting four girls instead.

Their shock was compounded by a heartbreaking loss: When Hanson welcomed her babies in May, daughter Rivie Sue was stillborn. 

But the Iowa mom says her girls, who came home from the hospital earlier this week, will grow up knowing they have a guardian angel sister.

"She'll be in the house with us," Hanson, 24, tells PEOPLE. “She was cremated and has her own little shelf in their room, they'll grow up to be able to look up to her and know that somebody's there watching over them.”

Hanson and Fischer, 25, couldn't believe it when they found out they were expecting spontaneous quadruplets, a term for pregnancies where four babies are conceived without fertility treatments. According to the National Library of Medicine, the occurrence is incredibly rare, occurring in 1-in-512,000 to 1-in-677,000 births.

The pregnancy was complicated by a twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome diagnosis, which occurs when identical twins share a placenta, affecting one of the babies.

In Hanson’s case, Baby A was receiving a full 50% of the blood supply but Baby B was only getting 25%. A procedure to separate the twins into their own placenta was suggested for Baby B, but complications delayed it.

Still, at first, all the babies seemed to be doing okay. 

“We had our gender reveal at about 21, 22 weeks and she was doing fine then,” Hanson says. But at her next appointment, "We found out she had passed away."

Hanson questioned whether she could still call herself a quad mom after hearing the devastating news. So she took to TikTok — where she'd been sharing her entire pregnancy journey — to ask her followers.

“If you don’t remember me, my name is Marae and I have ‘quadruplets’ on the way," she said. "Unfortunately, I don’t know if I can necessarily say that anymore due to the fact that we did lose miss Baby B."

The response was an overwhelming yes, which gave Hanson some comfort.

Then her story went viral and was featured on news outlets across the country, leading to donations that fully stocked the nursery and diaper room. This eased financial pressure as she commits to being a stay-at-home mother for at least five years.

“I didn't think it'd blow up like that. And then after it blew up is when I was like, 'OK, maybe I'll take them along for the journey and see how it goes,’ " Hanson says. “I'm very, very thankful for everyone that's contributed because the situation we're at is Patrick's working and I plan to be a stay at home mom for at least five years until they're in school.”

Formerly a veterinary assistant, she left her physically demanding job for medical reasons during the pregnancy but hopes to return in the future.

“Lifting dogs and heavy animals was not in my deck of cards for that situation,” Hanson says. “But I left on good terms and they said they’d take me back.”

Growing up in Sioux City, Hanson says she "didn't have the best upbringing," but she found a "savior outside of the home" in one of her middle school teachers, who happens to be her fiancé's mom.  

But she never knew her teacher even had a son until years later, when she happened to meet Fischer by chance while working at a restaurant.

The first time she met his parents, her former teacher was surprised and thrilled to see her again.

“She claims she kept a picture of him on her desk, but I never saw it,” Hanson says with a laugh. “Everything worked out beautifully.”

It's been almost a month now since Hanson delivered her babies, who spent the first weeks of their life in the NICU.

Two of her babies, daughters Hartley and Whitley, came home on June 15. The third, Renlyn, came home on Tuesday to round out the family that also includes older brother Atticus, 1.

“It’s been pretty calm,” Hanson says. “They are really good babies.”

Hanson and Fischer won't be alone in caring for three infants and a toddler. The couple lives with Fischer's parents in the upstairs of their home. The grandparents already help with Atticus, and Hanson says they are eager to help out with their three new granddaughters.

Now, as she and Patrick plan a future that may include buying his parents’ house and raising their children in the same community where they both grew up, Hanson emphasizes going “day by day,” staying active, and embracing both the grief of losing Rivi and the joy of raising Atticus and his three sisters.

“I definitely wanted to have kids young. I had Atticus at 22 and the girl's at 24," she says, noting that by the time they're her age, she'll still be in her 40s.

She adds, "It's definitely going to be a wild ride."

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