Sextuplets delivered by 40-person team in United States

  • 26/05/2017
Delivering the sextuplets was complex and required hours of planning and simulation (VCU Medical Centre)
Delivering the sextuplets was complex and required hours of planning and simulation (VCU Medical Centre)

Photos have been released of sextuplets born earlier this month, after being successfully delivered by a 40 person team.

The three boys and three girls were born on the morning of May 11 at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in the United States.

All six are said to be doing well and are continuing to thrive in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Their mother Ajibola Taiwo, from Western Nigeria, was 30 weeks and two days pregnant when she gave birth prematurely to the children by caesarean section.

Ajibola Taiwo and Adeboye Taiwo with two of their sextuplets (VCU Medical Centre)
Ajibola Taiwo and Adeboye Taiwo with two of their sextuplets (VCU Medical Centre)

She and her husband Adeboye Taiwo had been trying to conceive for 17 years, and saw four heartbeats at their first ultrasound in November.

It wasn't until January when they arrived at the VCU Medical Centre that they found out they were expecting sextuplets.

"I hope for the smallest of my six children to grow up and say 'I was so small, and look at me now," Ms Taiwo said.

"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."

Their father Adeboye Taiwo said "I was excited...for the very first time we were expecting."

Delivering the sextuplets was complex and required hours of planning and simulation.

Sextuplets are extremely rare, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the 4 million live births in the United States in 2015, only 24 were quintuplets or higher order births.

VCU Medical's team of 40 people included experts in many fields including maternal-fetal medicine, labour and delivery, nursing, anesthesia, respiratory, neonatal medicine, social work, nutrition, and cardiology.

Of 4 million live births in the United States in 2015, 24 were quintuplets or higher order births (VCU Medical Centre)
Of 4 million live births in the United States in 2015, 24 were quintuplets or higher order births (VCU Medical Centre)

VCU Medical's director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine Dr Ronald Ramus said "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."

"We're going through this extraordinary journey together with the family," he said.

Mr Taiwo said the medical team exceeded his expectations with their expertise and hospitality.

"We are far from home but the medical team is our family. That is what got us this far."

Newshub.