Martha Villicana expected some attention when she gave birth to quadruplets earlier this year. She wasn't ready for scorn and undeserved notoriety.
By sheer coincidence, Villicana lives just two blocks away from Elizabeth Whittle, another woman who gave birth to four babies earlier this year.But Whittle is no longer caring for her quadruplets - she is in jail pending trial on 14 charges that she abused them. And the fallout has affected Villicana.
"When I was calling for donations or charity work for Martha, people would ask if she was the same mother (Whittle)," said Lisa Izquierdo, a caseworker for Southwest Human Development. "People have even called her and said, `I thought you didn't have your babies anymore.' "
Izquierdo said Villicana, 28, keeps the babies content, clean and fed all the time.