“This mom was heavily pregnant, and her prognosis appeared as though she would be the mother of twins. But doctors discovered an extremely shocking thing. Lauren Perkins was seated in front of her vanity, applying lipstick. She smacked her lips and turned her head this way and that, trying to confirm from her reflection in the mirror that she looked all right. Her husband, Dave, stood at the door and grunted.
“I promise, honey, you look beautiful. Now let’s go, we’ll be late for the doctor’s appointment,” he pleaded.
Dave had patiently waited for her to get dressed since morning, complimenting whatever dresses she tried on whenever she asked his opinion. After trying on no less than three dresses before making a choice, she had wondered what to do with her hair and the amount of makeup to wear. She wanted to look presentable and refreshed. Lauren had told her husband that she didn’t want to be one of those pregnant women who always looked tired. After a little more cajoling from Dave, she finally accepted that she was good to go to the doctor’s office.
They were relieved; today was a big day for them. It was the day the doctor would confirm that they were going to be parents of twins. They were excited. In their first consultation with the doctor, he had told them that Lauren had high levels of human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG. It’s a hormone produced by the placenta during pregnancy. It helps thicken the woman’s uterine lining to support a growing embryo and tells the body to stop menstruation. HCG levels rise after conception and continue to rise until about 10 weeks in pregnancy. The high levels of HCG meant Lauren was pregnant with more than one child.
Lauren and Dave had gasped in amazement. The thought that they would be having twins was thrilling. It felt like a reward after trying for 18 months to get pregnant. Initially, they had blamed the delay of getting pregnant on Lauren’s almost extreme fitness. She had a habit of running a lot, and the couple believed that it had contributed to why she had been experiencing irregular periods. However, Lauren had found it difficult to reduce how much she ran because running distracted her. It served to divert her thoughts when she had been consumed with having babies.
Lauren was 28 years old, and she worked as a school psychologist for children with special needs. Dave was not much older than her, and he worked in a corporate environment. Together, they pulled in a decent income and could afford to have twins, although that hadn’t been part of their original plan. Originally, the couple had planned to have two kids, a boy and a girl, who would be 2 to 3 years apart. However, when conceiving naturally hadn’t worked out, they had started looking into assisted means. It had cost a large sum of money, but they had been willing to risk it because they wanted children—children.
Lauren had been placed on ovulation-stimulating drugs weeks before going for intrauterine insemination. That involved two weeks of shots, a 25% chance that the procedure would work, and another 25% chance that twins would be conceived. The odds of conceiving triplets, quadruplets, and other multiple babies were slim, as low as 1%. However, 2 weeks after the shots, a pregnancy test had shown that Lauren was pregnant. It had also been observed that her HCG level was high. For this reason, an ultrasound had been recommended.
During the ultrasound, the doctor started counting how many embryos he could see on the monitor. He counted one, then two. Lauren and Dave grinned at each other, happy that they had received confirmation of their hope. They expected the doctor to declare that the ultrasound was over, but they got the greatest shock of their lives. The doctor continued counting.
“I see three, four, and five embryos. Wow, that’s a lot,” the doctor said.
The couple was dumbfounded. They looked at the doctor as if he’d grown horns. Surely he was joking, right? It was rare for people to have triplets, not to talk of quadruplets or even quintuplets. They didn’t even want that many children; they just wanted two. But it wasn’t over; the doctor said that given the circumstances, he felt like counting again to double-check if he was correct. The couple encouraged him to, hoping he had made a mistake and they weren’t having quintuplets.
As it turned out, their prayers were not answered. Things got worse because the doctor discovered the sixth embryo he’d missed on the first count. They were expecting sextuplets. Several seconds ticked by; there was complete silence in the examination room, save for the beeping of the medical equipment. The doctor’s jaw looked like it was about to hit the ground. It was the first time in his life he was witnessing a woman carrying that many embryos.
As for the couple, they had mixed feelings: excitement that they would be parents, overwhelmed that they were having so many at once, and fear of many things going wrong. Lauren reached for David’s hand and squeezed it; he kissed the back of her hand to assure her that he was right there and wouldn’t leave her side. The couple drove home with heavy hearts. Would they really be having six children? They tried not to think about it because it felt worlds away.
A few days later, the doctor called them to return to his office. He had consulted with other OBGYN doctors, and they had counsel for the couple. They went straight to business and told the couple about the option of selective reduction. It was a case where they could abort some embryos to give the others a better chance of survival since six children were too many and would compete for nutrients and oxygen. The couple took a few weeks to think about it.
During that period, Lauren kept staring at the sonograms. She watched each embryo closely, admiring each one as if they were already babies and had been born. The more she did this, the more love welled in her heart for her babies, and she couldn’t find it in her to lose any of them. Dave was more logical. He pondered on each embryo, marveling at how amazing it was that these lives were forming inside his wife’s body. But he was mindful of what the doctor said about giving the children better chances of survival. He talked Lauren into seeing reason.
She cried and pleaded with him not to make her do it. How could she stand to deliberately lose any of her children? Understanding her predicament because he was in it too, Dave was patient with her. He was hurting too, but it was something they needed to look into. Resigned, Lauren accepted, and together, they considered which embryo to abort. But the more they looked, the less they saw. All the fetuses seemed healthy and were developing normally.
It looked to the couple like all six of the children would be fine. They informed the doctor of their decision, and he gave his full support. It was tough to decide to keep all the children; the couple knew that it would challenge them in every way. It wasn’t something they could do alone, so they started informing close family and friends months earlier. They needed all hands on deck to support them in the children’s early years.
If it took a village to raise one child, how many were required to raise six children? A lot. Together, the couple also put their trust in God to keep Lauren and the babies healthy. As Lauren’s pregnancy progressed, it was taxing on her health. Her stomach was swollen enormously; her feet and her face swelled up too. She was always uncomfortable and was constantly adjusting her sitting or lying position.
Although she wanted to give birth already, she couldn’t because having the babies too early reduced their chances of survival, the doctor told her and Dave. It was safer for the sextuplets to be born closer to 30 weeks. He used an analogy to drive his point across: triplets born at 25 weeks are more at risk than sextuplets born at 30 weeks. Also, children born prematurely are generally at risk of having severe mental or physical disabilities.
In Lauren’s 30th week of pregnancy, there was a scheduled c-section. On the day that she gave birth, there were a total of 35 medics in the room, and they formed teams to take care of each of the babies. As they were brought out from Lauren’s stomach, the sextuplets were delivered between 10:26 and 10:30 a.m. Dave was present in the room and beside Lauren, who chose to be conscious for the surgery. She saw her tiny babies before they assigned teams of medics to whisk them away to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
The heaviest child weighed 2 lb 15 oz, while the lightest weighed 1 lb 10 oz. Neonatologists said that low birth weight babies were susceptible to complications. Weeks after delivery, they needed to be protected and watched over for a long time. Lauren met her babies four days after delivery. The first baby she held in her arms was Allison. Allison had been fussy and crying, refusing to calm down. But the instant that Lauren held her, she quieted. It was as if she recognized her mother had come for her; tears of joy filled Lauren’s eyes.
Altogether, Lauren gave birth to three boys and three girls: Andrew, Noah, Benjamin, Luke, Levi, Thomas, Allison, Kate, Caroline, Grace, and Leah Michelle. Lauren checked in on all her babies, and they were doing well. But doctors noticed something terrible. It was Leah Michelle; her lungs and organs, including the brain, didn’t fully develop, and she was barely hanging on to life.
This happened because Leah had been buried beneath her brothers and sisters in the womb, so she had gotten the least nutrients and oxygen. The doctors were frank with the couple: Leah could be an invalid for the rest of her life and would live with her parents. Hearing this, Lauren stormed out of the doctor’s office and angrily marched down to the hospital passageway. The nurses jumped out of her way; people could sense her dark mood, and they turned away.
Dave pursued her, but she was moving too fast. He was able to catch up with her when they were outside. Before he could ask what the matter was, she put her hands on her knees and screamed. From screaming, she broke out in wild tears. Dave gathered her in his arms and held on; he didn’t know what to say that would make it better. In between hiccups, Lauren admitted she felt guilty for Leah’s state.
“If only she’d listened when the doctors had asked her to do selective reduction, there might be no Leah who would be suffering like this,” Dave forced Lauren to look in his eyes, and he firmly told her that it wasn’t her fault. She gave everything to give life to her babies, and that was one of the greatest acts of selflessness. Lauren crashed into his embrace and thanked him for saying that, stroking her back, he told her that they would do their best; they would be fine.
After four months at the hospital, the babies came home, one after the other. Leah was the last. This gave Lauren the chance to recover and adjust, so that by the time all her babies came home, she was able to care for them. She had a lot of help, though; family and friends were often around. Lauren and Dave developed the shift system so that those volunteering would know exactly what they were needed to do.
Friends signed up to come and do feeding shifts in the middle of the night, give the babies baths, and do laundry. Lauren would wake up each night to prepare bottles for the next 24 hours; then, she’d set them in the fridge with labels so everyone could know which bottle belonged to which baby. This was necessary because the nutritional needs of the sextuplets were different. At one point, she was using four different types of formula milk.
Volunteers were so generous; they even brought Lauren and Dave dinner for an entire year. Many people also donated essential supplies. The formula was expensive, and it often finished rapidly. To cope, Lauren relied on secondhand clothes. She asked their friends for diapers when they threw baby showers, and on the children’s birthdays, she asked for clothes and more diapers. Eventually, Lauren didn’t have to buy diapers for the first 2 years, although it was because she was so careful and limited the number of diaper changes.
She managed to potty train the children, although there were a few accidents, and it felt like a nightmare. Lauren and Dave tried to soak in their children’s childhood because it was the only time they would experience raising children; there would be no other first walk or first day at school. As the sextuplets approached 10 years old, they all adjusted. They went on trips, played soccer, swam, and biked, except Leah.
She still didn’t talk or walk, and she attended a school for children with disabilities. Lauren’s experience as a psychologist for children with special needs helped her raise Leah. Leah’s condition had a name: cerebral palsy. She often experienced musculoskeletal pain. On one particular night, Leah couldn’t fall asleep because she was in deep agony, and she couldn’t cry out loud. It was one of her siblings who woke to pee that found her in that state and woke up everyone.
Her siblings surrounded her, held hands together, and prayed for her. They cried with her and begged her not to cry because she would get better. When they were done, Lauren and Dave were already set to rush Leah to the hospital. Leah continued to undergo physical therapy and get all the help that the doctors recommended. Nothing looked like it was yielding results; it seemed as if she was stuck in a cycle of simply existing.
Her siblings loved her to pieces, and it showed in how much they creatively found ways to include her in whatever they were doing. They brought her along on walks, trips to the park, and to the children’s playground. They would carefully adjust her body on the slide and push her down. She loved it because she always smiled and would indicate that she wanted to keep going.
It was true that Leah couldn’t talk, but it didn’t stop her from developing a unique way to communicate with her family members. She was always smiling, brightening everyone’s day, and giving her 100% to enjoy life in the way she knew how. She even had a special swing, and her siblings would take turns pushing her on it; that always made her so happy.
But one day, something unexpected happened. Leah was propped up against the tree, watching her siblings play soccer in the backyard. One of them kicked
the ball, and it landed right in front of her. They made to go get it, but to their shock, Leah leaned over and slowly picked up the ball. She attempted to throw it to them, but it fell out of her hands and rolled a few feet away. After a few seconds of silence, her siblings started jumping and shouting for joy.
They told their parents what had happened; it was a major progress for her. Everybody gathered around her to celebrate. This gave the family hope that maybe, just maybe, Leah would defy all odds, and that she would someday walk on her own. Now 12, the sextuplets are closer than ever. Leah still hasn’t been able to talk or walk, but she is a happy child. And the good thing is that she has five siblings and loving parents who are willing to give her the world.
Her family isn’t worried about her future; they’re taking one step at a time and hoping for the best.”
This is quite an extensive and engaging family story, showcasing the challenges and joys of parenting, especially in such a unique situation. It’s heartwarming to see the love and support within the family, and the resilience they demonstrate in facing adversity. As for Leah’s future, it’s difficult to predict, but with the love and dedication of her family, there’s hope for her to continue making progress and leading a fulfilling life.
