A Mum Has Shared Her Miraculous Story Of Becoming Pregnant With Five Babies, It Was All Natural
Couple Hannah Merton, 23, and her husband Jacob, 24, had feared she was infertile so she took medication to stimulate ovulation. Incredibly – she fell pregnant with five babies, with tots Philomena, Evangeline, Meredith, Gideon and Elliot all born ᴘʀᴇᴍᴀᴛᴜʀᴇʟʏ at just 25 weeks.
A mum of quintuplets has shared her miraculous story of becoming pregnant with five babies and explained that I̴V̴F̴ had nothing to do with it. Something that never seemed to happen. The mother-of-five regularly posts pictures of her gorgeous brood and shares snippets of their life as a family. Mum Hannah Merton took to TikTok to address a question she frequently gets asked about her pregnancy.
A follower posed the question: “Was this I̴V̴F̴?” Hannah responded explaining that she didn’t have I̴V̴F̴ at all.
She said: “I wanted to address this comment because I’ve gotten it so many times. Everyone thinks or assumes or asks if it was I̴V̴F̴. No, it was not. I took a ᴍᴇᴅɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ called Letrozole and it was just to help me ᴏᴠᴜʟᴀᴛᴇ and boy did I! The chances of that happening are not very high though. Our chances for [twins] they told us was 10% and triplets was 1%. So needless to say we were sʜᴏᴄᴋᴇᴅ when we had five.”
The birth of her five babies was a time of huge celebration for the family but also a time of ᴘᴀɪɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴏᴜʀɴɪɴɢ. Sᴀᴅʟʏ one of the five children, Meredith, ᴅɪᴇᴅ three days after she was delivered. Hannah was just five weeks into her pregnancy when she first was able to see her five babies on a scan – but she recalled her pregnancy rushing by and shocked. At just 25 weeks pregnant, she was rushed into hospital on March 5, just a fortnight before she turned 21.
The five babies were delivered by ᴄᴀᴇsᴀʀᴇᴀɴ sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ 15 weeks premature after doctors became concerned for their health. The babies were so tiny – each one less than 2lb – and Hannah said they could fit in the palm of her hand. The babies immediately needed to be hooked up to endless machines and wires to keep them alive. After 3 days, they said goodbye to one of their daughters, Meredith, at just three days old following a Fᴀᴛᴀʟ ʙʀᴀɪɴ ʙʟᴇᴇᴅ. The remaining four tiny babies – Philomena, Evangeline, Gideon and Elliot – had to spend varying lengths of time in NICU because they were too small and weak to go home.
Hannah and Jacob visited the tots in hospital every day as they Fᴏᴜɢʜᴛ to live – with Gideon suffering a collapsed lung and spending a long time on a ventilator. By five months old, Philomena, Evangeline and Elliot had made it home, but Gideon remained in hospital. Gideon still has breathing problems and a tracheostomy, and Evangeline has ᴄᴇʀᴇʙʀᴀʟ ᴘᴀʟsʏ.
Since getting all four of the babies back home, Hannah and Jacob discovered the reality of looking after four tots at once. It was made more of a challenge by the pandemic which left them with less support than they would have had. It’s pretty much go-go-go every day – ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ, chaotic and loud.