A couple welcomed their sextuplets last May 11 with the help of a 40-person team from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Medical Center. The proud parents welcomed their six babies after 17 years of trying to conceive.
Sextuplets After 17 Years
After trying to conceive for 17 years with no luck, Adeboye and Ajibola Taiwo were happy to learn that they were finally going to have their dream come true. In November, the couple was overjoyed to learn that their first ultrasound revealed four heartbeats.
That in itself was already a surprise for the couple, but January had an even bigger surprise when they learned, upon arriving at VCU Medical Center, that they were having six babies and not four.
At 8:26 a.m. on May 11, Ajibola successfully delivered three boys and three girls via caesarean section with the help of her medical team. The babies, whose weights ranged from 1 pound and 10 ounces to 2 pounds and 15 ounces at the time of their birth, are all doing well as they are continuously monitored while they are at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU.
A Successful Medical Accomplishment
Because the birth of sextuplets isn't a typical occurrence, with only 24 births of quintuplets and higher order births in 2015, a team was quickly put together to ensure the safety and success of their delivery. Ajibola's medical team comprised of experts in neonatal medicine, social work, nutrition, maternal-fetal medicine, nursing, anesthesia, cardiology, labor and delivery, respiratory, and chaplain services.
Their tedious preparations included hours of coordinated team effort, planning, and even simulation which included predelivery drills and resuscitation exercises. They also coordinated with the NICU so that they will be prepared for six premature babies to be delivered simultaneously as Ajibola was merely 30 weeks and two days pregnant at the time of the delivery.
"Given their prematurity, they are doing exceptionally well, but should they require subspecialty care, we have all that they could need at CHoR," said Russell Moores M.D., medical director of NICU at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU.
The father of the sextuplets praised the medical team of VCU, stating that they performed beyond his expectations, and that they were excellent in both medicine and hospitality. What's more, Adeboye said that though they are far from home, the medical team is their family.
"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.
