Imagine waking up feeling a bit sore, thinking it’s just another day in your challenging pregnancy with quintuplets.
Well, that’s what Stephanie Freels thought until nature shouted, “Showtime!”
“Then my mucus plug fell out, and I was like, ‘Yup, this is happening,'” Stephanie, a spirited 27-year-old, told TODAY.com.
The soon-to-be mom burst into laughter recalling how her husband, Graham, entered “freakout mode” and darted around the house, tossing clothes into an overnight bag.
Originally aiming for a 34-week pregnancy, Stephanie was only 27 weeks along.
The babies, it seemed, had their own agenda.
But after yearning to be parents for over five years, the Freels couldn’t have been more ready.
In record time, the couple zoomed to Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.
Stephanie got the news: her cervix was 6 centimeters dilated; she was in full-on labor mode.
“My doctor was like, ‘So, you’re gonna have these babies tonight,'” she recounts with awe.
The delivery room buzzed with a battalion of medical experts.
Surgeons, neonatologists, nurses, respiratory therapists—you name it.
And then there was Dr. John Elliott, a perinatologist who specializes in high-order multiple pregnancies.
Graham, 29, felt a wave of relief. “I knew we were in the best hands,” he said, despite his anxiety about the health of the quintuplets whose technical due date was still months away.
“I was petrified about the whole situation,” Graham admitted.
His nerves skyrocketed when the five little wonders, delivered via cesarean section, were eerily quiet.
Graham managed to keep it together—until after the surgery.
“I started losing my hearing. I went deaf basically,” he shared, recounting the dizzying moments when his world almost spun out of control.
And Stephanie?
She couldn’t help but find humor in it all.
“I wasn’t needing my oxygen mask at that point, so they gave him my oxygen mask,” she said, describing the scene as downright hilarious.
Soon after, tears of joy streamed down both parents’ faces as they met their daughters—Adelyn, Eliana, Linnea, and Harper—and son Fisher.
“We got to see every single baby before they were taken to the NICU,” Stephanie said, still marveling at the moment.
Dr. Elliott swung by with more good news: all the newborns, though tiny, were breathing just fine on their own.
“He was like, they are doing fantastic,” Graham recalled, finally exhaling a sigh of relief.
A month later, an emotional Stephanie cradled all five babies for the first time.
“I couldn’t believe they were once all inside of me,” she said, capturing the magical essence of motherhood.
Their journey to parenthood had been a long one, peppered with setbacks and failed intrauterine inseminations (IUIs).
“When you grow up and your dream is to become a mom and it’s not happening — it’s definitely heartbreaking,” Stephanie confessed.
But on the fourth try, thanks to IUI and what she believes were constant prayers, they hit the parental jackpot.
Fast forward to now, the Freels are back in Washington after 76 days at the NICU and an airplane ride their babies surprisingly slept through.
“They slept the entire time,” Graham said, noting the trip “couldn’t have gone better.”
Currently juggling 50 diaper changes a day, the new parents are enamored with their bundles of joy.
Though, they do have a humorous observation: “When we put them on the floor, they start hitting each other,” Stephanie said, chuckling.
Graham chimed in with, “Too much togetherness in the womb!”
Ah, the joys and quirks of quintuplet parenthood.
Wtahc the quintuplet’s and their parents in the video below.
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