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A Mexican woman pregnant with quadruplets gave birth recently to four healthy babies: two boys and two girls.

Central European News (CEN) reported that doctors told Laura Patricia and Juan Ramirez their children likely would be born at 29 and 30 weeks gestation. But instead, the babies came at 35 weeks, about five weeks short of a full-term pregnancy. They are reportedly doing well and only slightly underweight.

CEN reported that Patricia and Ramirez knew the sex of three of their babies— the two girls and one boy— but the last remained a mystery because he was always “hiding” during ultrasounds.

For about two weeks, doctors plan to observe Patricia and her newborns at a hospital in Torreon, in the central-north state of Coahuila, and the babies must spend at least five days in incubators receiving their mother’s milk.

Meantime, Patricia and Ramirez are seeking federal and state assistance for items like nappies, milk and clothes, CEN reported. The new parents also are asking for funds to help cover their little ones’ future education.

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"We have heard about people donating milk once a month and things like that,” Ramirez told CEN. “We will take any help we are offered."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), quadruplets in the United States are rare. In 2013, the latest CDC data available, only 270 sets of quadruplets were born.