Mom of Quadruplets Had Heart Failure Before Preemies Were Born: “It Hit Me So Quick,” She Says
When Jenny LeBrun discovered she was expecting quadruplets, the 39-year-old mother of three felt shocked but grateful that her pregnancy had been progressing smoothly. But everything changed when she reached 28 weeks — suddenly, she went into heart failure.
“My heart was pumping for five people,” Jenny, a former middle school language arts teacher from South Dakota, recalled. “It just couldn’t keep up anymore.”
Luckily, Jenny was already at the hospital for a routine appointment when she began coughing and struggling to breathe.
“The doctor said my lungs sounded like tissue paper moving around,” she said. “They were filling with fluid.”

Doctors immediately placed her on strict bed rest. Just five days later, in October 2022, her quadruplets — sons Cru, Levi, and Grayson, and daughter Oakley — were delivered at 29 weeks.
“It was really terrifying,” Jenny said of the sudden medical emergency, which left both her and her husband, Dusty, shaken.
“For the first 28 weeks everything was going great, and then suddenly, it all happened so fast,” she explained.
Today, the quadruplets are two and a half years old, healthy, and keeping the family constantly on the move.
“We’re grateful because things could have been much worse,” Jenny said. “Preemies and multiples can come with so many health challenges.”
Jenny and Dusty’s optimistic outlook helped them cope with the difficult months before and after their babies’ arrival.
The couple, who married in 2013, had been hoping for a fourth child and used fertility medication to help them conceive. Jenny did not undergo IVF, and early medical checks showed no signs that she was carrying more than one baby.
But during her first ultrasound, doctors discovered there were actually four babies.
Dusty, a farmer in their hometown of Coleman, South Dakota, was working in the fields when Jenny went to the appointment. At the time, the couple already had three children: Jack, now 10, Addy, 6, and Hunter, 5.
When Jenny called to tell her husband the news, he thought she was joking.
“He didn’t believe me at first,” she said. “He thought I was playing a prank on him.”
Her immediate thought after hearing the news was practical.
“I remember telling him we were going to need a bigger vehicle,” she laughed.
Months later, however, the situation became far more serious when Jenny experienced heart failure late in her pregnancy.
After the quadruplets were born 11 weeks early, they spent two months in the neonatal intensive care unit at Avera Health in Sioux Falls.
Just when the family believed the worst was over, another frightening moment followed.
Only two weeks after the babies were discharged, Cru suddenly stopped breathing.
Doctors diagnosed the newborn with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a potentially dangerous infection for infants, and he had to be airlifted back to the hospital.
Soon afterward, his sister Oakley also contracted RSV.

Jenny spent weeks in the pediatric intensive care unit with the two babies around Christmas while doctors worked to stabilize them.
“The PICU stay completely caught us off guard,” she said. “We truly almost lost Cru and Oakley.”
During that difficult time, the LeBrun family received tremendous support from relatives, friends, and even strangers — including an anonymous family that bought Christmas gifts for their children.
More than two years later, the quadruplets are thriving.
Their older siblings also play an important role in helping out. Jack enjoys his younger siblings but still values his personal space. Hunter loves playing with the little ones, while Addy enjoys helping care for them.
Even so, life with four toddlers is incredibly busy.
Jenny spends many hours each week taking the children to therapy appointments to support their development, including improving their mobility, speech, and feeding skills.
Now that they’re more active, the toddlers often climb onto countertops — something Jenny finds both exhausting and amusing.
“They’ve done so much physical therapy to learn how to climb,” she joked.
Despite the challenges, Jenny says their household is full of gratitude.
“We’re very busy,” she said, “but we’re also incredibly blessed.”