Couple Spends 17 Years Trying to Have One Baby, Gets Six Babies Instead
After trying and failing to conceive for 17 straight years, many couples would give up on the dream of having children of their own. But one Virginia couple kept trying, and became the new parents to sextuplets earlier this month.
Ajibola Taiwo gave birth to three girls and three boys on May 11, 2017 at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia. It took a 40-person team to make sure all six babies were delivered safely. Taiwo delivered at 30 weeks and 2 days, nearly 9 weeks before the babies would be considered full-term. The babies range in size, the smallest being 1 pound 10 ounces and the largest being 2 pounds 15 ounces, but they're all reportedly happy and healthy.
Ajibola said in a statement released by the hospital that she hopes "for the smallest of my six children to grow up and say, 'I was so small, and look at me now.' "
The couple, who are West Nigerian natives, were overcome with joy in November when they learned they were finally expecting. The shocking news about the number of babies didn't come until an ultrasound in January.
"I was excited," Adeboye, the father, said in a statement from the hospital. "For the first time, we were expecting."
Delivering six babies at one time took a highly skilled crew and lots of practice, according to the hospital. For months the team planned and did drills, but their work paid off - the babies are currently in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, but "given their prematurity, they are doing exceptionally well," said Russell Moores, M.D., medical director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the VCU.
Taiwo was discharged a week after delivery, so here's hoping she's using some of her time before those babies come home to log some series zzz's.
[h/t The Washington Post]
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