Premature quintuplets born prematurely are reported to be doing "remarkably well."
Four girls and one boy were born in North Texas on Thursday, an Associated Press news release reported. All of the babies were able to breath by themselves after birth but four were later put on a breathing machine; all are expected to be free from the machines in the near future.
"Overall, they've done remarkably well. They're premature and they're quintuplets, but they've done pretty good," Doctor Vijay Nama, director of neonatology at the Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, said in a press conference, the AP reported.
The babies were born about eight weeks early to mother Michelle Seals: "Mia weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces, Tessa 2 pounds 14 ounces, Gracie 2 pounds 7 ounces, Rayleigh 2 pounds 8 ounces, and Brant 3 pounds 6 ounces," the Associated Press reported.
Seals had been taking fertility drugs after experiencing a few miscarriages. Her and husband Steven believed early on that she was pregnant with multiples.
"I was thinking multiples meant twins. There at the beginning we'd go back every week and they'd find a few more," Seals told the AP. "We were shocked."
Friends and family are planning to help out the couple, who also have a two-year-old son, when they return home from the hospital.
"They are so precious. They are tiny and I just love it. I thought I'd be scared because of all the machines and tubes, but I just love it," Seals said. "I want to hold them so bad."
Dr. Anil Pinto, a fertility specialist at Baylor who did not work with the family, told the AP that taking fertility drugs increases the chances of multiples by between six and seven percent. Other medications the new mother was taking could increase the chances by up to 15 percent.
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