CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A Fort Campbell soldier and his wife have four tiny reasons to celebrate 2017.

Kayla and Sgt. Charles Gaytan are the proud parents of quadruplets born Friday afternoon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center without fertility treatment of any kind.

“It was exciting. It was nerve-wracking. But to see them when they all came out and to hear them crying, that was really exciting,” Kayla told News 2.

Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last January, Kayla had just finished five months of chemotherapy and was in remission when she learned she was pregnant.

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Already a mother-of-two, the 29-year-old was excited to tell her husband Charles, a Fort Campbell soldier.

“She called me on the phone, and we’re in a Humvee and I kinda couldn’t really hear her,” recalled Charles. “It was truly some of the best news I’ve ever gotten in my life.”

Over the course of her pregnancy, Kayla said she had no real complications.

“My original goal to make was 34 weeks because I figured if I could beat cancer, surely I could make it to 34 weeks with quads,” Kayla said. “I just kept trying to tell myself that I could do it.”

About a month ago, she again started noticing symptoms of her cancer. A biopsy then confirmed her fear that it had returned.

“You think you’ve beat it the first time. When it comes back, you’re just wondering why get pregnant with these four babies and then, you know, something like this happens,” Kayla told News 2 through tears.

“She’d worked really hard to [fight] it the first time, and to come back and have to go through it all again, it breaks my heart,” said Charles.

On the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 30, Kayla Gaytan delivered the four healthy babies. She was 30 weeks pregnant.

Lillian was born first, and then came Victoria. Those two girls were followed by two boys, Michael and Charles.

Michael was the smallest, weighing just 2 lbs, 8 oz. The biggest was Charles at 3 lbs, 2 oz. All four babies are expected to remain in the NICU at Vanderbilt for the next month and a half.

Their mother will begin another round of chemotherapy in about two weeks. It’s expected to last about 16 months.

“We know that He’s gotta have a different plan up there for us, and surely everything’s gonna work out in the end,” said Kayla Gaytan.

The Gaytans say doctors have given Kayla a 50-percent chance of survival over the next five years.