That was just the beginning of a years-long struggle through homelessness, debt and other hardships. But she weathered all of it, finding love and having more children along the way. And in 2009, at the age of 31, she launched Stuff 4 Multiples, a company based in Elkridge, Md., that makes baby carriers, clothing, bath supplies and other necessities for parents of twins, triplets or, simply, multiple children.

“It wasn’t easy,” Newman, now 39, says. But the struggles “made me the strong human being that I am now. When I’m being told ‘No, you can’t do it,’ I say, ‘There’s got to be a way.’”

At first, Newman and her son lived out of her car. By day, he stayed at a daycare, where caretakers watched over and washed him. At night, the mother and son slept in the parking lot of a local Walmart. Once she found an apartment, she focused on working her way up the ranks at the hotel -- from laundry to housekeeping to the front desk to office manager and, finally, to general manager.

A first round of in vitro fertilization put the family $20,000 in debt, and it didn’t work. But she refused to give up. In secret, she pursued a second round -- and was shocked when she became pregnant with twins. That surprising news would prove the start of several new adventures in her life.

Though the U.S. baby product industry is enormous -- consumer data firm Nielsen estimates that baby food, formula and diaper sales alone totaled more than $59B in 2015 -- its biggest players tend not to cater to parents of multiples, as they are rare. Think tank Pew Research Center says that, in 2014, 3.5 percent of all babies born in the U.S. were parts of multiples -- a marked increase from past years amid the rising age of parents, researchers say, but still a small minority.

She is also trying to help her own family on the island, who are in distress following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria. She didn’t hear from her mother for a week, and Newman says her relatives lack resources like food, water and electricity. "Hopelessness does not begin to describe the feeling when you just can't help," she says. "I am hopeful that things will start moving a little quicker now and pray that my family can get the necessities that they need."