The septuplets whose birth made worldwide headlines are now ready to conquer their next adventure as young adults.
While it’s a very rare scenario to see multiple births that end successfully, these septuplets were the first ever to survive birth.
This mother named Bobbi McCaughey from Carlisle, Lowa, made history by giving birth to 7 surviving babies in 1997.
Bobbi and her husband Kenny Sr. had their first child, Mikayla on January 3, 1996. After her birth, the couple found that they were having trouble conceiving again. So to help her conceive a child, they asked for some medical help and started using a fertility medicine called Pergonal. But it appears that it had worked a little too well for her.
When Bobbi went for her regular check-up, the doctors found seven embryos in her womb. Doctors explained that if a woman carries more fetuses at once, there’s a higher risk that these babies will not be healthy and can be born premature, cerebral palsy, brain damage, blindness, mental retardation or other developmental problems with speech and motor skills.
They even suggested selective termination of some of the fetuses in order to ensure that the remaining babies were born as healthy and normal as possible. But the couple declined it because they believe that it was God’s plan for them to have seven babies, so they decided to try to keep all of them.
Bobbi McCaughey was 29 years old when she underwent a Caesarean section that was performed by more than 40 specialists on November 19, 1997. She gave birth to four boys and three girls, who were born in less than 10 minutes. The biggest baby was 3.4 pounds, while the smallest baby was 2.5 pounds. But the babies were born nine weeks early and had to spend months in the hospital.
Many ethical issues started to arise in the medical world when Bobbi McCaughey became pregnant with seven children at once. Despite ethical concerns, the Septuplets received plenty of media attention from the press and gained nationwide support. President Bill Clinton, the President of America at the time called to congratulate the family, and donations poured in to help with the cost of raising eight children.
When they were kindergartners, they were offered free college education from several universities once they were seniors in high school and they also met President Bush.
The family has stayed very close throughout all of these years.
As much as possible the siblings have tried to stay out of the media spotlight, but they also made occasional appearances to let everyone know that they are all still doing well! They have all graduated high school and are looking towards the future!
The McCaughey septuplets recently celebrated their 21st birthday with their parents Bobbi and Kenny Sr. along with their older sister Mikayla. Right now, each of them is busy carving out their own paths as they move into adulthood.
source: jesusdaily
