British mother told to have an abortion by doctors celebrates first birthday of quadruplets

Sometimes mother really does know best.

Medical staff told Emma Robbins, 31, of Bristol, England, that aborting two of her naturally conceived quadruplets would increase the chances of survival for the other two.

"Each time I went to the hospital it was all about the risks and asking me to consider aborting the twins to save the other two babies. But I knew that each time I looked at my surviving babies I’d also be thinking about the ones I’d lost. The thought of it broke my heart," Robbins told the Daily Mail.

Robbins refused, telling doctors, "I'm keeping all four."

On February 29, 2012, she gave birth 11 weeks early to four healthy baby boys: Zachary, Joshua, Reuben and Sam.

The odds of conceiving quadruplets naturally are 750,000 to one. To have them born on a leap day: 3.5 million to one.

"Never in a million years did we think we’d have four babies at once. I’d be lying if I said it was easy, but we’re so glad we never gave up on our babies," Robbins told the Daily Mail.

Her lucky leap-day babies, who she calls her "little miracle Peter Pans" just celebrated their first birthday.

"My little Reuben, Joshua, Zachary and Samuel have conquered their first year of life but the strangest thing for me is not having a real day to celebrate their birthday on. We will have to wait another three years to celebrate properly for them on February 29th. It still seems incredible that they decided to make an appearance on that day rather than any other. We are one of only two sets of quads on record ever to be born on a leap year, now that’s special! I will never forget the moment the doctor examined me and told me I was 3 centimeters dilated and that after 7 long weeks of bed rest and at only 29 weeks gestation I was finally going to be meeting my four little stars!" Robbins wrote on her personal blog, Emma's Quad Diary.

Watch moments from the quadruplets' first few months below:

Robbins and her husband, Martin, are also parents to 4-year-old Luke.