Sextuplets thriving after delivery at Va. hospital

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia hospital says its staff has successfully delivered sextuplets and the three boys and three girls are thriving.

VCU Medical Center in Richmond announced the births in a statement Wednesday, saying they were the first sextuplets delivered at the hospital. The babies were born prematurely on May 11 to parents who had tried to conceive for 17 years.

Their first ultrasound in November indicated that the couple would be having quadruplets, but it wasn’t until January that they learned they were actually expecting sextuplets.

The first sextuplets, three boys and three girls, to be delivered at VCU Medical Center in Richmond. (Courtesy Allen Jones, University Marketing)

The babies were born prematurely on May 11 to parents who had tried to conceive for 17 years. (Courtesy Allen Jones, University Marketing)

The statement says a 40-person team was involved and the delivery required hours of planning. Ajibola Taiwo, a native of Nigeria, gave birth via cesarean section. (Courtesy Allen Jones, University Marketing) — “I hope for the smallest of my six children to grow up and say ‘I was so small, and look at me now,’” said Taiwo. “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.” (Courtesy Allen Jones, University Marketing)

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The statement says a 40-person team was involved and the delivery required hours of planning. Ajibola Taiwo, a native of Nigeria, gave birth via cesarean section.

The babies ranged from 1 pound, 10 ounces, to 2 pounds, 15 ounces.

“I hope for the smallest of my six children to grow up and say ‘I was so small, and look at me now,’” said Taiwo. “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.”

Sextuplets are quite rare. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of the nearly 4 million live births in the U.S. in 2015, only 24 were quintuplets or other higher-order births.