Family of four welcomes quintuplets after four miscarriages and loss of premature twins
They were hoping for their third and final child when they found out Amy was pregnant with five
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Your support makes all the difference.A family of four has become a family of nine after the mother gave birth to quintuplets.
What’s more, the parents had previously suffered four miscarriages and the loss of twin boys born at 22 weeks.
Amy and Chad Kempel, from Mountain House, California, had had their fair share of trauma when it came to pregnancy and birth, but the couple was finally able to have two daughters, now aged three and one.
Amy has an incompetent cervix which means she’s struggled to carry babies to full-term in the past.
Given their experience, Amy, 34, and Chad, 36, were concerned about making sure they got the proper care and their five babies would have the best chance of life.
Fortunately, all five babies - three boys and two girls - were born at 27 weeks on January 11 by caesarean section, and all are healthy.
The babies weighed between 2lbs 5oz and 2lbs 12oz and will have to stay in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit for 10 weeks until their parents can take them home.
“So far everything’s going as well as it can at this point,” Chad told the Mail Online. “There are no major complications, oxygen levels are good, brain scans showed they’re healthy but we’re still on edge everyday.”
The couple were hoping for their third and final child when they found out Amy was pregnant with quintuplets.
The Kempels’ two daughters, Savannah and Avery, were born as a result of Amy undergoing fertility treatments, which was also the case for her other pregnancies.
Knowing that carrying multiple babies in the womb can lead to complications and premature birth, the couple were extremely worried during the pregnancy, especially when they found out their health insurance provider Kaiser Permanente would not provide doctors specialising in multiple births.
“Kaiser recommended that they ‘selectively reduce’ the number of foetuses in order to improve the odds for the remaining babies,” a GoFundMe page set up by family members explains.
“Chad and Amy laboured over the decision and at the last minute decided that, in good conscience, they could not terminate any of the babies.”
After struggling to find a suitable doctor, the couple wrote letters to President Trump, Barack Obama and California lawmakers.
“In the end we did not get the referral we wanted,” Chad said.
However, Amy ultimately spent 36 days in Walnut Creek Medical Center over Christmas where she would finally give birth to Lincoln, Noelle, Grayson, Preston and Gabriella.
The babies are set to come home at the beginning of March, and their parents are trying to spend as much time with them as possible.
“It’s going to be chaos no doubt, but it’s a welcomed chaos,” Chad said. “Things are going to be turned upside at the house very soon but the focus right now is day by day.”
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