It is often said that "good things come to those who wait," and we are sure this couple couldn't agree more. After trying to conceive for 17 years, natives of West Nigeria Ajibola and Adeboye Taiwo welcomed sextuplets – three girls and three boys -- on May 11.
Ajibola was 30 weeks and two days pregnant when she gave birth by caesarean section at the Virginia's VCU Medical Center. All the six infants, who weigh between one pound, 10 ounces and two pounds, 15 ounces, are fine and kept under observation at the neonatal intensive care unit, according to a press release.
The couple was thrilled when they found out that they would be parents soon. During the first ultrasound, the couple was told that there were four heartbeats and that they would be parents to four babies. However, when Ajibola was admitted to VCU, it was found out that the couple was in fact having sextuplets.
"I was excited," said Adeboye Taiwo, the father. "For the very first time we were expecting." Ajibola too is evidently on cloud nine and said: "I hope for the smallest of my six children to grow up and say 'I was so small, and look at me now,'" said Ajibola Taiwo. "I want my kids [to] come back to VCU to study and learn to care for others with the same people who cared for me and my family."
While it was a miracle for the couple, the process too was nothing short of it. A 40-member team came together to deliver the sextuplets as it requires hours of planning and co-ordination.
"The team quickly assembled to begin prenatal management and delivery planning including pre-delivery drills and resuscitation exercises," said Susan Lanni, M.D., medical director of labor and delivery and maternal-fetal specialist at VCU Medical Center, in a statement.
"A typical labor and delivery shift includes one, perhaps two premature births, usually with time in between. We had to coordinate with our colleagues in the NICU for six premature babies to be delivered simultaneously."
The members of the hospital also explained that they were as happy as the couple about the birth of the sextuplets and called it an "extraordinary journey" shares by the doctors as well as the parents.
"It's not every day that parents bring home sextuplets. Mrs. Taiwo was eating, sleeping and breathing for seven. A lot of the support and encouragement we gave her to make it as far as she did was important, and one of the biggest contributions we made as a team."
