HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) — Jurors begin hearing testimony Thursday morning in the sentencing phase of capital murder trial of a Texas woman convicted this week in the drowning deaths of her children.

Defense attorneys said Thursday they would call between four and eight witnesses — including the woman's husband — in a bid to save her life.

Yates was convicted Tuesday on two capital murder charges in the deaths of 7-year-old Noah, 5-year-old John and 6-month-old Mary. Charges have not been filed in the deaths of Paul, 3, and Luke, 2.

If Yates receives life, she would have to serve at least 40 years before becoming eligible for parole. If sentenced to die, she would become the eighth woman on Texas' death row.

Jurors have two punishment options: life in prison or death by injection. Prosecutors, who did not comment after the verdict, were seeking the death penalty. (What the jury could decide)

Under Texas law, the decision comes down to how jurors answer two questions: Does she pose a future danger to society? And, are there mitigating circumstances to sentence her to life as opposed to death?

Jurors must be unanimous on both questions — that she is a danger and that there are no mitigating circumstances — in order for a death sentence to be imposed.

On Tuesday, jurors deliberated for less than four hours before rejecting defense arguments that the 37-year-old defendant was insane when she held the children underwater until they stopped breathing.

Yates met Tuesday's verdict stoically, nodding, with the twitching of a jaw muscle her only sign of emotion. Her husband Russell, who steadfastly supported his wife throughout the trial, sat in the courtroom after the verdict with his head in his hands.

During the trial, the prosecution did not contest that Yates suffered from a severe mental disease, but contended she knew killing her children was wrong and that the acts were premeditated.

Prosecutors also suggested that Yates might have killed the children to get back at her husband.

"I think anyone who has a mental illness [and] who watched that should be offended," Russell Yates said after the closing arguments.

Andrea Yates, who was heavily medicated with a cocktail of antipsychotic drugs during the trial, had attempted suicide twice and was hospitalized several times before she drowned the children.

She confessed to killing the children but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.