Couple's reaction to expecting quadruplets goes viral

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Ashley Gardner, 27, always wanted “three or four kids.”

After struggling with infertility caused by endometriosis for eight years, and after four failed intrauterine inseminations, Ashley and her husband Tyson turned to in vitro fertilization this summer.

“Between all the medication and procedures and tests that go into it, we were looking at about $12,000! A small price to pay to make our dreams come true, though. We cleaned out our savings and happily handed it over,” Ashely told BabyCenter.

Doctors implanted two embryos. Endometriosis comprised the other seven embryos created for implantation, making this the Gardners’ last chance at conception without started the process all over again.

A few days later, Ashley had a blood test.

“Finally a positive!! I’ve never ever had that feeling before. IT WORKED! I couldn’t believe our dreams finally came true. We were hoping for twins since this was our last shot at trying to conceive, but we would be happy with anything,” she wrote.

The Pleasant Grove, Utah, couple got the “surprise of their lives" at their 7-week ultrasound in July: Quadruplets.

"I couldn’t think straight!" Ashley said of the moment she learned they were having quads. “I had never been so excited and terrified in the same instant. We waited so long to have babies so we were so happy…But at that time we literally had NEVER even thought once about this being a possibility.”

"We’ll get our whole entire family here in one shot," Tyson told ABC News.

Alicia Hallock, a photographer friend, captured their shocked expressions at the appointment. Shortly after the Gardners posted their reactions on Facebook, the photos went viral.

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Now 18 weeks pregnant with two sets of identical twin girls, Ashley told BabyCenter that she and Tyson decided to document their infertility journey, regardless of outcome, to help create an open dialogue about what so many couples are going through.

“When we decided to make the jump and do IVF I knew that I wanted it documented. As hard as it was going through it, and not even knowing how the ending was going to turn out, I knew it was our story no matter what happened.”

Ashely first opened up about her struggle to get pregnant about a year and a half ago on Facebook.

"It was an amazing feeling to not be hiding this awful disease of infertility anymore and openly talking about it! I found that so many others were going through the same thing! And I’ve since been able to help so many others struggling and feeling so alone during this heartbreaking journey," she told KTLA.

Ashley could deliver the babies around 30 or 32 weeks, even as early as 28 weeks.

"The honest answer is I don’t know if you can prepare for this," said Tyson Gardner. "It’s happening so fast we’re just trying to survive every day. The only thing we really care about at this point is the health of our babies."

Follow the Gardners’ story on Facebook and YouTube.