Quadruplets arrive in Ogden family through the power of prayer

Friday, Mar. 25, 2016

OGDEN — Almost 16 years of having their first baby, Maria Monica Dueñas and her husband, Juan, were avid to have another child.

Not an easy task considering that Dueñas, who are parishioners of Saint Joseph Parish in Ogden, had problems conceiving.

“My husband told me that it was not going to be easy but that he supported me, so we went to the doctor, who started me on a treatment to help my body be prepared to give life again,” said Dueñas.

She also began to pray novenas to the Sacred Heart and to the Trinity.

“My grandmother, who visits us frequently because she has to get some dialysis, is a very devoted Catholic. She told me to start the novenas and to also put everything in the hands of Saint Rita of Cascia [patroness of impossible causes], and so I did,” said Dueñas, adding that it was not easy because sometimes she was sad and she even rejected God at times, but she always repented and returned to prayer.

Seeing her grandmother constantly praying also helped her to not lose the faith, Dueñas said.

“She doesn’t know how to read, but she prays two to three rosaries per day, and she always told me to not lose the faith no matter how hard it seems; that God is always listening,” said Dueñas.

Her prayers were answered: She conceived.

At the beginning the doctor told her she was going to have twins, but as the pregnancy progressed what had been thought were two children turned out to be four.

“One day at the clinic the doctor came to me and said that not all my children were going to make it, so I had to choose which ones lived. … Once again the devil was tempting me to turn my back to God. I just closed my eyes, said a little prayer, and told the doctor that they were all my kids and I was going to have them all,” said Dueñas.

On March 13, the couple’s two boys and two girls were born at 28 weeks of gestation. They are now in incubators to help them live.

“They basically sleep most of the day. … It is really hard not to have them with me all day and in the house, but I know they are well taken care of,” said Dueñas.

Belen, Jesualdo, Montserrat and Ander Jesus keep growing every day while the Dueñases are figuring out the details of providing for them.

“I just ask people to pray for us,” said Dueñas, who is researching ways to be able to provide for the new members of her family. She and her husband are hoping that someone might donate some used mattresses for the quadruplets’ cribs.

“With four children we will have to learn to improvise, to save where we can and not stress about the little things,” said Dueñas, whose husband now has two jobs to be able to afford the things that the new babies already need. 

“They’re my life,” she said. “God’s heart is so big and his love is so great that I know that we will be OK.”

To help the family, the parish’s Council of Catholic Women is hosting a fundraiser. See the information below.

WHAT: Baby shower and fundraiser for the Dueñas quadruplets

WHERE: St. Joseph Catholic Church, 506 24th St., Ogden

WHEN: Saturday, April 9, 11 a.m.

For information, call the St. Joseph Parish office, 801-399-5627.