Building A Family, Two By Two

After Trying For 12 Years, Couple Has Two Sets Of Twins

(CBS)  After trying for almost a dozen years to have kids, Jeffrey and Sheryl McGowen had a miracle, four miracles to be exact. Last Monday, March 15, Sheryl gave birth to a two sets of identical twins. Doctors say the odds of having two sets of identical twins is roughly one in 11 million.

Jacob, Jacoby, Justin and Jason are with their parents at The Woman's Hospital of Texas in Houston.

The proud father tells The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen it is still hard to tell the babies apart. He says, “As long as they’re separated the way they are now, I know exactly who is who, because they have name tags. But they look a lot alike. Justin and Jacob are smaller than Jason and Jacoby and that’s the way we can tell the difference between the two sets.”

They were all born healthy, ranging from 3 to 5 pounds, and now they are out of the ICU and breathing "room air."

Sheryl McGowen says that once the babies are home, she has a system to set them apart, “Marking their undershirts and cribs," she says. "Everything is going to be marked with the name tag.”

For the past four weeks, while his wife has been at the hospital, Jeffrey McGowen says he has been getting their house ready for his expanded family.

He says, “I finished up the babies’ room and things like that. That’s basically what we’ve been doing. Really, I’ve never had children before, so I’ve asked my parents: What do I need to do to get ready? And they’re, ‘You know, I forgot. I don’t know what you need to do.’ So we’re on our own, I guess.”

His wife says many people have come forward “to volunteer to help, to come in and cook and help with the babies. We haven’t got any help from any stores or anything like that. We haven’t heard anything from anyone. But, of course, our family members and everyone has offered help.”

Sheryl McGowen gave birth by Caesarean section during her 30th week of pregnancy. The 35 year-old had been taken fertility drugs. Overwhelmed by the excitement of being a mom for the first time, she says, "I'm just very, very blessed and very, very happy."

Asked if he is ready for fatherhood, Jeffrey McGowen says, “I’m as ready as I can be. Don’t have much of a choice, so I have to be ready.”