Chelyabinsk Mother Shares Honest Life with Quadruplets
Galina Minakina, a dance instructor from Chelyabinsk, became the mother of royal quadruplets – two boys and two girls – in February 2024. The parents have fully experienced what it«s like to raise such a large group of babies of the same age and honestly admit – it»s very challenging. But they manage to view the situation with humor and give the children maximum love and care. We spoke with the mother of many children a couple of days before New Year about how they manage it.
We have already told how the family, which now lives in Kostroma, instantly became super-large. There was no IVF or stimulation, a normal pregnancy presented an unexpected surprise – instead of one, four children at once. Even the doctors were confused, but under the careful supervision of specialists and with the support of loved ones, Galina was able to carry the babies to term, and although they were born prematurely, all were born healthy. Moreover, the couple already had two older daughters, so the number of children in the family immediately became six.
Dreams Come True…
Galina described the first months of life with the babies as non-stop, but over a year and a half, much has changed – the children have grown, and from a small apartment that became cramped immediately after the quadruplets« arrival, the family managed to move to a large country house, which has significantly eased their life. Moreover, even complete strangers helped them afford this incredible purchase for the couple.
– The media wrote that the governor gave us the house, but we bought it ourselves, – says Galina. – How? First, my parents moved from Chelyabinsk to us – they sold practically everything there and gave us the money. We sold our garden, received 100,000 rubles (approximately $1,100 at current rates) per child from the region, and after blogger Elena Pogrebizhskaya made a film about us and told about our dream of a house, many of her subscribers transferred money to us. We saved it and took out a mortgage. The apartment we lived in is also mortgaged, with six children«s shares, it»s very difficult to sell, so my parents live there now.
The purchased house turned out to be completely ready for living, the previous owners even partially left furniture, so the couple only did minimal cosmetic repairs, and the move took place in May.
– This makes everything easier – both walks and having space, lots of it, and the children have their own room. Overall, it«s a huge stroke of luck that we were able to buy this house, because prices are astronomical now. Of course, without support we would never have bought it, – Galya says gratefully.
«Everyone Wants to Be in My Arms»
A year and a half ago, Galina told how the most ordinary procedures – feeding, bathing, walks, putting to sleep – turn into a real quest with quadruplets. Now that all the children have started walking, other difficulties have been added.
– Now everyone wants to be in my arms, but I can«t take all of them, and at such moments one of the babies immediately starts crying and demanding attention, especially Tanya – she»s stronger than the others and seems to understand more, but also demands more. She pushes, kicks, bites if I took, for example, Lyubochka instead of her, and it«s difficult, – admits the mother of many children.
Morning in the large family usually starts at five o«clock.
– Lyuba and Tanya wake up early, usually someone else joins in half an hour, then another, and by seven o«clock everyone is awake. By this time, we need to wake the older ones: feed breakfast and get Lyusya ready for school, Véra – for kindergarten. After seeing them off, usually with the girls, now also with Lenya, we go for a walk. Kolya doesn»t walk with us yet because he just started walking. We walk for 30–40 minutes, sometimes an hour – if they don«t act up. We return home, feed everyone and gradually put them to sleep, they sleep outside in strollers. If a miracle happens and everyone falls asleep around the same time, then we have time for cleaning, cooking, and other household chores, – Galya tells.
Of course, it«s unrealistic to handle all the children alone at once, and it»s not just about dressing four at the same time.
– On a walk, one wants to go there, another – here, one wants a sled – everyone wants a sled, one wants a bicycle – everyone wants a bicycle, they«re now sharing everything, – the mother of the babies laughs. – If there were one adult per baby, it would be wonderful, but since that»s impossible, we have to constantly come up with something, distract them.
It«s the same story with feedings.
– They can eat by themselves, but for them it«s entertainment – tapping the soup with a spoon, throwing the spoon, spilling the soup. It»s fun for them. As a result, they don«t eat much, and if they eat poorly, then there are constant tantrums, – says Galina. – So we feed them with jokes, nursery rhymes, fairy tales.
During the day, Galya«s mother and a nanny help the couple with all these chores, and on weekdays a social worker comes for a few hours. The evenings are hardest, when everyone leaves, especially if her husband is at work. Previously, in such moments, Galya would write to friends, and someone would always rush to help, but now she tries to manage on her own.
– I«m no longer afraid to be alone, – she admits. – I know I can feed them, put them to bed. Yes, they might all cry. If I»m alone with them in the evening, the first hour – it«s a struggle for my attention, everyone will demand, cry, stamp their feet. And then they understand that I can»t give them that, and switch to each other, to some game, to a book. And the next hour and a half is calmer. We can«t play with playdough yet, they put it in their mouths. I don»t give paints yet either, just no strength to clean all that (we already do a deep clean once a week just to wash everything), so we play, read books. We love reading books because everyone gets distracted and can sit quietly, but not for long, because their attention span isn«t long yet.
A separate pain for the mother of many children – is nights. For the second year, she dreams of simply getting enough sleep.
– We have some kind of fragmented sleep. The children are almost two years old, and I still don«t sleep properly. Now each wakes up once or twice a night, and each at their own time, then they fall asleep, but I don»t sleep, I still get up for them, – says Galya. – And then I need to somehow fall asleep quickly again. If I slept from nine to five, of course, it would be easier to bear the daytime load.
And, of course, no problems compare to the situation when suddenly everyone gets sick at once: six children, the parents, and even the nanny. That happened in December: literally overnight, everyone«s temperature spiked. In such moments, it»s tempting to fall into despair, but the parents find the strength to treat everyone and even film funny content for their followers.
«They Think It»s Like Kindergarten«
Despite everything, Galya finds time and energy not only for her family but also periodically organizes children«s fairs in the park and works part-time at a school – choreographing dances for a children»s play. She says it helps to distract from daily cares and spend a little more time with her older daughter Lyusya, who is in third grade. The girl, by the way, besides regular school, goes to dance and music school, and she also needs to be constantly driven to classes. Usually, either Galya herself does the driving (while helpers cover at home), or her husband. The middle daughter Véra goes to kindergarten for now, but in the evenings she also needs parental attention.
And Galya has created pages on VKontakte (VK) and Telegram, where she talks about life with quadruplets. She admits, sometimes it«s hard to handle emotions when in comments strangers start lecturing the mother of many children:
– People sometimes simply don«t realize what quadruplets mean. They think it»s like kindergarten, but children in kindergarten and children at home behave differently, especially with their mother. And besides, they«re still little. When people give me advice, like on feeding, for example, it»s just awful! There are children who eat well, give them anything, they put everything in their mouths. Our children aren«t like that, they»re picky eaters. To feed them, you need to constantly distract them with jokes, nursery rhymes, fairy tales, so they eat at least something, because if they don«t eat, there will be endless hysterics. And from the outside, people think they»ll give advice, I«ll follow it, and everything will be solved immediately, but no, it»s not like that, unfortunately. I«d be glad to maintain iron discipline, but not everything is solved that way.
Of course, there«s no time left for herself at all, but Galya doesn»t doubt that in the coming year it will definitely become easier, because soon the babies will be able to go to kindergarten, at least for a couple of hours.
About New Year
Of course, the large Nikolayev family, like many, awaits New Year and prepares for the holiday, but without nighttime feasts, as is customary in Russia.
– We have a beautiful tree in the yard, we«ll decorate it, hang balls, light the garland. We plan to dress up grandpa as Ded Moroz (Father Frost), I bought a costume. It»s clear that this is more for the older children, not the babies. We discussed a minimal menu, what we can cook ourselves, – Olivier salad, something hot, something sweet. We won«t have 33 dishes because there»s no strength to cook a lot, and no need to overeat, – Galina reflects. – And we«ll go to bed as usual. I»m generally not a fan of waiting for midnight, I need to sleep enough to get up in the morning and be resourceful. And for the babies now, the main thing is routine: if the routine is maintained, we«re all fine, no one cries unnecessarily, everyone sleeps well. I»ll watch the president«s address in the morning.
And before bed, Galya will definitely make a New Year«s wish:
– Health, of course. I«d like us all to get sick less. If we manage to send the babies to kindergarten for two or three hours, that would simply be a gift. Well, what else? That»s all! Just let there be health! The Lord helps us. And we try to take everything with humor, even when everyone is sick, without that we would have fallen into despondency long ago, but this way we joke with each other and hold on.
Read about how Galina learned about her unusual pregnancy and how the royal quadruplets were born in our article.
