The reality of having quads? Five loads of washing every single day.

Think coping with one little baby is tough? How about four?
Eighteen hours a day spent feeding. Five loads of washing and nappies by the truckload.

Welcome to the world of having quads.

Sharon and Julian Turner had no idea what they were in for once they brought their much-longed-for children home. The first-time parents had conceived quads through IVF and had no idea what they were doing. Born three months premature, in those first few hours, days and weeks, the parents could only focus on their survival. Would their tiny little premature babies ever be strong enough to come home?

Now, it’s been a year since their birth and Sharon, 38, and sales director husband Julian, 44, have opened up about what life is really like with four babies. On their blog Turner Quadruplets they wrote:

“Amazing the quads are now 1 years old! It’s been an amazing year. Cannot believe how much has happened.”

To help you get your head around what these amazing parents have to deal with each day, it looks something like this:

• 18 hours is taken up by feeds helped by bulk formula purchases and now that they are eating solids, feeds take even longer;
• Sharon does five loads of washing;
• Endless nappy changes, around six changes a day, four times, and lives that revolve around Aldi nappies;
• Exhausted nights during which one parent often doesn't get any sleep at all;
• Illnesses that the quads catch from each other, keeping them sniffling for weeks;
• An urgent car upgrade to a mini-van so they can transport their family of six and now the purchase of forward-facing car seats;
• They describe grocery shopping as 'overwhelming'.

Still these proud parents know exactly how blessed they are.

Sharon and Julian struggled for years to conceive. They spent tens of thousands of dollars on failed rounds of IVF and were told to give up. The refused. They decided to travel to a Greek clinic to do a fourth and final round. Six months later they were parents to their amazing quads - two identical boys called James and Joshua and two identical girls named Lauren and Emily.

The odds of having quads are seventy million to one.

They describe it as a 'shock to the system' to go from a life for two to a life for six. After those first few fragile weeks and months, the babies were finally released from Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading in the UK and allowed to go home. Knowing their help would be needed, Sharon's parents and sold their house and moved in with them.

Click through these photos of the Turner quads and see just how complicated life can get!

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