By Maggie Downs
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Big brother Evan Leugers, 8, (center) helps Shane Postich and Tracee Leugers Postich keep the 1-year-olds lined up. From left: Gavin, Roan, Morgan and Brennan. On Saturday, Tracee's family will watch her receive her graduate degree at Xavier University. The Cincinnati Enquirer/ERNEST COLEMAN

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP - A couple years ago, Tracee Leugers had what she thought was the perfect plan for her family, her education, her life.

She was going to earn her MBA from Xavier University in spring 2003, just before the birth of her second child.

A year later than planned, Leugers will receive her degree Saturday when she walks at XU's commencement ceremony. She will join 701 other graduate students and 1,281 undergraduates receiving diplomas that day. (She won't officially finish school until this summer).

And Leugers, 32, got the baby - times four.

The Liberty Township woman started off on track. She was working at Procter & Gamble while attending grad school. Then she had two embryos implanted through in vitro fertilization.

"I had carefully planned the pregnancy to happen after I graduated," she said.

Four classes shy of graduating last year, Leugers had to put school - and her plans - on hold.

Nine weeks into the pregnancy, Leugers had a weird feeling and thought she might be losing her embryos.

When her doctor gave her an ultrasound, four heartbeats were detected.

"It never crossed my mind there could be four," she said. "We were initially told we would be having twins."

Her husband, Shane Postich, was just as surprised.

"We said, 'There can't be four! We only put in two!' " Leugers laughed.

Doctors told the couple that one embryo split twice, giving Leugers one girl and three identical boys.

Leugers was put on bed rest at 16 weeks, which is standard practice for a mother of quadruplets. She was in the hospital at 23 weeks and spent the last six weeks of the pregnancy there before they were born May 4, 2003.

"It interrupted a lot of things, but they're definitely worth it," she said.

Bed rest was the polar opposite of days spent working and studying.

"You would think it would be nice to lay around all day and do nothing, but it gets very boring," Leugers said. "I was always the type of person who is doing five different things at once. And bed rest is so not like that."

She spent the time watching TV, reading, learning to crochet. She also received many visits from her parents, her aunt and her family. Her son, Evan Leugers, 8, even had several sleepovers in the hospital room.

Though life has completely changed for Tracee Leugers, she returned to classes for the spring semester, taking on a full-time load.

"It felt very strange returning to school, because my life right now is as far from the business world as you can get," she said. "It felt very natural when I was working. But now it feels pretty silly when you're at home studying and the babies are crawling around by you."

Though it was difficult juggling a house full of babies with schoolwork, Leugers is proud to be getting her diploma.

"That was a goal in my life, and I wanted to make sure it still happened, even if right now I'm on the mommy track," she said. "It's the first thing I've really done for myself, since the kids were born. That's very important to me."

On Saturday, the 1-year-old quads, Brennan, Gavin, Roan and Morgan Postich, will share in the joy.

"I really wanted them to be there even if they won't remember. I want to let them know they were a part of all this," she said. "You always want your family there on important occasions in your life."

Even though it'll be nap time.

"We'll see how long they last," Leugers laughed. "We'll be in the back row with them, just in case we have to make a quick exit."

E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com