A woman from California has given birth to quintuplets after she and her husband rejected a suggestion to have an abortion and kill one or more of the babies before birth.
From the local CBS News story:
Meryl Ferraro, 39, and her husband, John, last week welcomed the arrival of their quintuplets, whom they have collectively nicknamed GRACE, for their first name initials: Gabrielle, Riley (a boy), Addison (a girl), Cooper, and Emerson (a girl).
According to the family’s blog, the Ferraros – who had already conceived and given birth to a now 2-year-old daughter with the help of fertility treatments – decided to follow Dr. Elliott back to Arizona after being advised by several doctors in Southern California to seriously consider fetal reduction, the practice of killing one fetus in a multiple-baby pregnancy.
“After reading all the information, we were horrified,” the Ferraros’ background page reads. “We decided it was not our place to choose which of our babies would live and which one would die. If God was giving us 5 babies, there was a reason. We made a decision to see them as a precious blessing from God above and not as burdens we needed to eliminate.”
The babies were born following a pregnancy of 32 weeks and five days, Ferraro said. The national average gestation for quintuplets is 28 to 29 weeks.
Hospital officials say the mother is in good condition, and her five babies are receiving care in the neonatal intensive care unit at Cardon Children’s Medical Center. They plan to return home to Fullerton once all the babies have been discharged.
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The family has an update on their blog:
The babies are all doing well on their 1 week birthday. Mom is getting some sleep (finally got to leave the hospital last night) and recovering. Gianna has fun everyday going to see her brothers and sisters. During down time, she also enjoys wheelchair rides around the hospital in her nurse’s hat. We had our press conference on Monday with Dr. John Elliott and Dr. Watercotte (NICU). Meryl and Gianna did a great job!! We spend most of our day trying to settle in and spending time bonding with our little ones. It is a lot of fun, and also tiring. We get to hold about 2-3 of our kids per day. Meryl is seen below holding Addy. Most of the time, the babies are sleeping. Gabby is the best sleeper in the bunch. The girls are learning to eat a little faster than the boys. They are all competing to see which ones will get to come home first!!
