Without a doubt, being pregnant is a beautiful experience that every mom will remember for the rest of her life. Nevertheless, it’s not always easy. And while most of us only have to carry one baby, this mom fell pregnant with quintuplets!
Already parents to two beautiful children aged 7 and 2, Megan Hulenand her husband, Joshua, decided to try again and they were hoping for a little girl to add to their family. Because Megan has polycystic ovary syndrome, she does not ovulate naturally, so she had always had to use fertility treatments in order to conceive a child.
Trying Again
Megan says she fell pregnant before even needing to start intrauterine insemination (IUI). This is a commonly used fertility treatment where sperm are placed directly into a woman’s uterus due to problems conceiving. Surprisingly, she did not need much help!
“We had decided to try again for a daughter and I became pregnant before we even got a chance to begin IUI“
“I started to feel really weird and I thought, surely there’s no way I could be pregnant because I never actually ovulated on my own. But the one time I did we found out we were pregnant and that was a surprise enough in itself.
“But then we found out that we were having five babies and nothing could have prepared us for that.”
Finding Out The Good News
After finding out she was pregnant with quintuplets, Megan and her husband went for an ultrasound. They were specifically told that it was unlikely all 5 babies would live as they could only locate a single heartbeat.
“We went back a week later and saw five heartbeats. I was so shocked – the ultrasound technician worried they were hurting me because I was shaking and I said ‘I’m shaking because you’ve told me I’m having five babies.”
“After the ultrasound, I told my husband I couldn’t go home because I needed time to freak out away from the kids so I sat in the corner and cried for about an hour.”
Megan Hulenand
Being Pregnant With Quintuplets
It would be stating the obvious that there massive difference between being pregnant with five babies at once instead of one. Megan recalls not being able to do simple tasks without needing breaks. Particularly while vacuuming or just doing her makeup.
“Standing in front of the mirror to put my makeup on I would become too winded or too tired from holding the weight up and would need to sit down. Even half-an-hour was too long to stand!”
Image Credit: The Sun
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Welcoming Quintuplets To The World
Megan was 32 weeks pregnant when doctors noticed a large surge in her blood pressure. Consequently, Megan was admitted to Fargo hospital in Sanford where she delivered her five precocious babies via c-section.
Megan recalls how the birth seemed so quick and easy, saying each baby was born within four minutes from one another.
By 2:20 am each of the quintuplets was born; Allison weighing 1.5kg, Adam 1.82kg, Madison 1.53kg, Emma 1.6kg, and Chloe 1.4kg.
“It actually took a lot longer to get my bleeding sorted and me stitched up than it did to get the babies out.”
Megan was discharged after only 3 days. Although doctors did warn she may need a blood transfusion, she recovered well. Furthermore, Because the babies were born prematurely, they were kept in ICU for three weeks. None of the babies had complications!
“After a week and a half I was even at the point that I could stop taking pain medication, I can’t complain about recovery.”
Image Credit: The Sun
Life With Seven Children
Megan and Joshua are now proud parents of seven beautiful children. The quintuplets older siblings, Jacob and Mathew are thrilled to have sisters.
However, it’s been quite a learning curve and a lot of adjustments had to be made.
“My husband and I were up pretty much 24 hours in the first few days because feeds were taking us up to three hours.”
“Life with the quints is chaotic but it’s a good chaos – we’re just so happy to have everybody under the same roof”
Image Credit: The Sun
Being a family of nine is not easy, as you can imagine. Joshua and Megan are having to upsize everything, including their car. They also hope to get a new house in a couple of years, in order to accommodate their large family;
“We’ve been looking for a bigger vehicle but we haven’t come up with the perfect solution just yet.
“Everything we’ve looked at has eight seats and we need nine so we have started to look at larger commercial vans.”
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