After 17 years of waiting, a couple finally got their wish – six times over.
Ajibola and Adeboye Taiwo of West Nigeria had been wanting a child for a long time, and six came all at once when Ajibola gave birth to three boys and three girls on May 11. It took a 40-person team of doctors and nurses at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond to help her deliver, USA Today reports.
The astounding birth marked the end of a chapter for the couple, while welcoming a very big beginning. They first learned that they were pregnant in November, when an ultrasound found four heartbeats. Two months later, an additional two rounded out the sextuplets.
Adeboyo said,
I was excited. For the very first time we were expecting.
The impending birth of six babies at once send the hospital into planning and simulating mode, with everyone from nurses to delivery specialists to chaplains participating. The impressive medical team conducted pre-delivery drills and resuscitation exercises in preparation.
Dr. Susan Lanni, medical director of labor and delivery and maternal-fetal specialist, said, “A typical labor and delivery shift includes one, perhaps two premature births, usually with time in between.” She explained, “We had to coordinate with our colleagues in the NICU for six premature babies to be delivered simultaneously.”
The babies were born prematurely, via C-section. They ranged in weight from 1 pound, 10 ounces to 2 pounds, 15 ounces. Ajibola was only 30 weeks and two days into her pregnancy when she delivered.
According to the hospital, the babies “are doing well.” They are at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond, where the couple are also caring for their children. No further information was released.
Dr. Russell Moores, the medical director of the Children Hospital of Richmond’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, said the births were “an amazing medical accomplishment that would not be possible without the outstanding coordination of our obstetrics and neonatal teams.”
Adeboye said, “We are far from home but the medical team is our family. That is what got us this far.”
As for Ajibola, the new mother said, “I hope for the smallest of my six children to grow up and say, ‘I was so small, and look at me now. I want my kids (to) come back to VCU and study and learn to care for others with the same people who cared for me and my family.”
