FAMILY'S LAST QUADRUPLET COMES HOME.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Staff Writer

At last, their crib is full.

Really full.

More than three months after giving birth to three boys and a girl the only set of nonidentical quadruplets ever to be born at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys - Colleen and Dick Whiteman brought the last baby home Tuesday.

It's the first time the multiple-birth parents have their whole family under one roof.

Not their roof, that's being remodeled and extended to accommodate Garrett, Chad, Cole and Katy. Until the construction workers convert their two-bedroom house in Burbank into a five-bedroom home, the quads, the parents, the toddler they are adopting and their 11-year-old daughter are staying at Grandma's.

The quads will be sleeping four to a crib.

``I'm enjoying every bit of it - except the oxygen,'' said a relaxed Colleen Whiteman, 39, as she rocked Cole. The four-pound preemie must stay attached to an oxygen tank for at least another two weeks.

Colleen Whiteman gave birth to four premature babies Aug. 26, the result of in-vitro fertilization and fertility drugs. Each of the babies weighed less than three pounds and it was only three weeks ago that the first two, Garrett and Chad, were released. The lone female joined two of her brothers two weeks ago and now Cole fills the last empty slot in the babies' crib.

``I guess it's time for me to start getting up,'' Dick Whiteman said, laughing. His wife, he said, has handled feeding the babies one after another by sometimes nursing one while bottle-feeding another. Now, she'll need Dad's nighttime help.

Not that he minds - the 60-year-old father has been through it before, with children from another marriage and then with his and his wife's 11-year-old daughter, Bianca. They're also in the process of adopting the toddler.

On Tuesday, with Cole in Daddy's arms, Katy in Mom's, Garrett in his seat and Chad being fed by Dick Whiteman's 84-year-old mother, Kay, five minutes did not pass without someone needing a burp towel or a pacifier, or trying to locate one or another baby's vitamin-packed bottle.

As Colleen Whiteman cooed to Cole that he had grown so much from the last time she saw him - he gained a pound - she said the hardest part of her instant multiple family has been not being able to frequently visit Cole in the hospital.

With her husband at his job in the city's Department of Public Works and Bianca in school, Colleen Whiteman wasn't able without help to juggle the three babies and the toddler and go to the hospital to hold Cole.

But just for a trip to the bank, or last week's outing for the toddler's first haircut, she had no problem putting two babies and the 20-month-old in a twins' stroller and wearing another little one across her chest. It just takes a little longer to complete the errand.

``We call her super mom,'' Dick Whiteman said, noting his wife still works part time driving a bus for senior citizens in Burbank.

The Whitemans hadn't planned on quadruplets. They wanted to give birth to another child, even as the adoption process of the boy began.

Colleen had two miscarriages, but the couple were determined to have a large family, she said, so they started the in-vitro fertilization process. Five eggs were implanted and four took.

Complications in the womb with Cole forced doctors to bring the whole lot of them into the world two months early.

Since then, there have been times when it was unclear whether Cole would make it. He first had a blockage in his urethra, which backed up into his abdomen, and then he had problems breathing on his own.

In fact, Cole was expected to be released the day before Thanksgiving - and yes, Colleen cooked - but he still couldn't eat by himself and was having trouble breathing.

But he's home now, gurgling and fussing alongside his tiny siblings. The babies sleep four to a crib and Mom tries to sleep on a double bed in the same room. Dad and the toddler get the living room.

When asked how she is not stressed by four babies, crying in unison and all needing every bit of her attention every minute of the day, she just smiled and said it's not hard, it's about love.

And there is a sort of feeding-burping-diapering formula to follow.

``You burp one, and move onto the next,'' she said, exchanging Katy for Chad.

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Photo: Colleen Whiteman holds 3-month-old son Garrett, while the other quads, Chad, Katy and Cole, rest at their grandmother's house in Burbank. Cole, right, was the last to be released from the hospital, and still requires oxygen.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer