Heather Carroll is an awfully small woman to carry six babies, especially all at once and in her belly.
But Carroll was on bed rest at Brookwood Medical Center awaiting the birth of sextuplets, hoping to hold out for about another week — although on any given day she might change her mind.
“I’m ready to quit,” sighed Carroll, who at 5 feet, 2 inches and usually 115 pounds had packed on 35 extra pounds and didn’t have much room for more. She said she could feel one baby sitting in each hip, three down low in her pelvis and another that moved above and below.
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Carroll had already been at the ʜᴏsᴘɪᴛᴀʟ for three weeks so staff could monitor her health and the health of the new lived growing inside her. She got daily sonograms and fetal monitoring and celebrated her 30th birthday in her ʜᴏsᴘɪᴛᴀʟ room.
She’s required to eat 4,000 calories a day — that means a nutrient-packed milkshake with every meal plus supplements ᴠɪᴀ IV ᴅʀɪᴘ — while nurses, doctors, technicians and others drill to prepare for her ᴅᴇʟɪᴠᴇʀʏ. She had regular ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴs and was on ᴍᴇᴅɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ to hold them off. She and her husband Mitchell also revealed they have named the six alphabetically, after the letters doctors gave them when they were still in the womb: Abbie, Brooklyn, Chloe, David, Ellie and Faith.
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Actually, the couple had sᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇᴅ for years to have children, and Mrs Carroll had four ᴍɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇs before being ᴅɪᴀɢɴᴏsᴇᴅ with ᴘᴏʟʏᴄʏsᴛɪᴄ ᴏᴠᴀʀɪᴇs. She took a ꜰᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ drug to boost her own ᴇɢɢ production, and then had her husband’s sᴘᴇʀᴍ placed into her ᴜᴛᴇʀᴜs. The same ᴛʀᴇᴀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ helped the couple ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇ their almost-2-year-old son, Grant. She went through the same process for her next ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴄʏ. It can sometimes result in twins or triplets – but rarely sextuplets.
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Finally, She gave birth to the sextuplets by planned Caesarian sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ on Saturday morning, 28 weeks and one day into her ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴄʏ, after a month of strict bed rest – including her 30th birthday. They arrived in the space of just three minutes, the eldest, Abbie, at 8.05am and the youngest, Faith, at 8.08am, and weighed between 1lb 10oz and 2lbs 5oz. The babies were welcomed into the world by a team of 51 medical staff, who had rehearsed the ᴅᴇʟɪᴠᴇʀʏ six times before. Each baby had their own group of doctors and nurses.
Dr McKenzie told the Birmingham News: “All of them were born very healthy, and that weight spread is a good sign that there was not one baby that was lagging behind, that all of them had grown and developed well. I’m extremely proud of Heather.”
Dailypostimes.com
