4 BABY SISTERS! 3-YEAR-OLD BOY SUDDENLY OLDEST OF FIVE CHILDREN.

Byline: Mary Schubert and Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writers

Thank heaven for little girls.

If Martin and Kimberly Jacobsson of Canyon Country have those song lyrics running through their heads these days, there are four good reasons: Sophia Lynn, Hope Elizabeth, Emma Joanna and Natalie Patricia.

Kimberly Jacobsson, 31, gave birth to the quadruplets Thursday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Woodland Hills. Mother and daughters are doing fine, as are the proud papa and the newborns' 3-year-old brother, Ethan.

``They're breathing on their own. Three of them are being bottle-fed, and the smallest one is being tube-fed,'' Martin Jacobsson said Friday. ``Natalie has a tube in her stomach.''

The quads could be ready to come home from the hospital in about two weeks, he said.

Kimberly Jacobsson - a Hart High School alumna - took a fertility drug, but the couple nonetheless was surprised to learn early in the pregnancy that she would have quadruplets.

The Jacobssons were on vacation in his native Sweden when they learned they would have four babies.

``She had some abdominal pain, so she went to the doctor. Because she was pregnant, they did an ultrasound, and that's when we found out we were having four,'' said Martin Jacobsson, a registered nurse in the intensive and cardiac care units at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank and Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Hollywood.

Subsequent ultrasounds showed that all four babies were girls, he said.

The expectant mother was restricted to hospital bed rest to carry the babies as close to full term as possible. ``We were all separated for three months. She was bedridden,'' Martin said. ``It was hard on our son, being away from his mommy.''

Weighing 4 pounds, 1.5 ounces, Hope was delivered at 10:33 a.m. by Caesarean section. Sophia, Emma and Natalie were born a minute later weighing 4 pounds 7 ounces, 3 pounds 11 ounces, and 3 pounds 5 ounces, respectively.

The new parents didn't try to match their girls' monikers with their appearances or personalities, but rather assigned them by order of birth, Martin said.

The quads' middle names, Martin noted, do have significance: Elizabeth for Martin's younger sister, Joanna for Kimberly's best friend, Lynn because that's Kimberly's middle name and Patricia after Kimberly's mother and the Kaiser Permanente obstetrician who delivered the girls, Dr. Patricia Schmidt.

``We love kids, but we never thought we were going to have five,'' said Martin Jacobsson, who married his wife in 1991. ``Probably three (kids) is what we had agreed upon, but God wanted different.''

To prepare for the quads, the couple converted the guest room of their three-bedroom house into a nursery.

They'll also be getting help from about 100 friends, neighbors and fellow parishioners at their church, Vineyard Christian Fellowship.

Volunteers have been cleaning the couple's home and are preparing to bring them meals when Kimberly Jacobsson gets out of the hospital, and they are making sure that someone is always with the couple to lend a helping hand.

Friend Deborah Mann said she and Stephanie Chabot are organizing a fund-raiser for Jan. 23, when they hope to raise several thousand dollars toward supplies for the family, from food to a stroller capable of handling quadruplets to a shed to hold all the supplies.

``I call it the Rummage Sale of the Year for the Fabulous Four,'' said Mann.

Mann hopes community members will join this cause and clean out their garages and closets and donate the goods to be sold.

Depending on how much is raised at the rummage sale, Mann said she and others also might stage monthly fund-raisers for the Jacobssons.

This tremendous outpouring of concern and support is a product of both the close-knit sense of community enjoyed by Santa Clarita residents and a belief by many in the area that the Jacobssons are deserving of such an effort.

``They're an exceptional young couple that have an extreme faith, love and care for their community,'' said Mann. ``They have love in their hearts, and I think it's coming back to them through a blessing in disguise.''

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5 Photos

PHOTO (1--2--Color--Ran in Valley Edition only) Kimberly Jacobsson of Canyon Country holds two of her quadruplets, Natalie, left, and Sophia as Martin Jacobsson helps 3-year-old Ethan get acquainted with Hope in her incubator, left.

(3--Color--Ran in SAC Edition only) Sophia Jacobsson, one of the quads born Thursday, yawns in her incubator.

(4--Color--Ran in SAC Edition only) Martin and Kimberly Jacobsson of Canyon Country hold son Ethan, 3, while their four daughters recover in their incubators.

(5--Color--Ran in SAC Edition only) Martin Jacobsson kisses Emma, who weighed 3 pounds 11 ounces when she and her three sisters were born Thursday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Woodland Hills.

Evan Yee/Daily News