Twenty years after making medical history, the world’s first septuplets not only survived but are thriving and college bound.
The seven babies —Kenny, Kelsey, Natalie, Brandon, Alexis, Nathan and Joel McCaughey— were all born prematurely and weighed between two and four pounds.
The fact that they all survived set a new world record. Often times, parents in this situation elect to have a selective reduction but the McCaughey’s wouldn’t have it. And even if they did choose to have all of their babies, not all of the children would survive.
Until the McCaughey’s were born.
The McCaughey’s were born in 1997 after their mother Bobbi received some fertility treatments after the birth of their first child. The septuplets were born 9 weeks prematurely in Des Moines, Iowa. Watching all of these children being born was something that father Kenny McCaughey Sr. will never forget.
“For me, it was seeing each one of the kids come out of the womb,” Kenny told TODAY. “It was really a sight to see.”
Not only did their family celebrate the birth of the septuplets, but the family received support from strangers around the world.
They got a congratulatory phone call from then-President Bill Clinton, a large house that was donated to them, a van, nanny services, and an offer for full college scholarships for all the kids to any state university in Iowa.
“I think early on we had so much help from family and friends,” Bobbi said. “If there was anything we needed, there was always someone there who was willing to help us. We have a super strong support system. we have a super strong faith has been the rock that we have had to stand on.”
The McCaughey kids received lots of media attention after their birth and appeared on TV every year from their birth until they were 14 years old.
As the children grew older, they turned down offers for reality TV appearances and have shied away from the spotlight.
“I really want us to be as normal of a family as we can be,” Kenny said. “That’s the best way to raise a family is just the normal, everyday things.”
Now the McCaughey kids are all grown up and going to college to pursue their individual life paths.
“It will be a little different being without all my siblings,” Brandon told NBC News before he entered the military. “But it won’t be bad since I’ll have contact with them. I think I will have a good experience being on my own, with my new military family.”
No longer having a house filled with the sounds of the 7 children and their older sister was a drastic change for the McCaugheys.
“It will definitely be weird at first,” Kenny Sr. said before his kids went off to college. “It will be easier in the sense of (less) groceries and more freedom to do things, but harder in the sense of wondering how each is doing with classes, basic training and just daily concern for their well-being.”
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