Having children is one of the greatest gifts a couple could ever ask for. This is especially true for a couple on Hawaii who recently had children of their own, a set of quintuplets, just in time for Christmas.
Ray and Marcie Dela Cruz recently had five children, but unfortunately, they were born prematurely. The four identical boys and girl were born more or less two months early on Oct. 10. They were put under intensive care in order to allow their lungs to fully develop.
After spending three months at the hospital to further develop, all 5 children got home just in time to celebrate their first Christmas. "Identical boys Kapena, Kalou, Keahi, and Kupono and girl Kamalii are Hawaii's first surviving set of quintuplets" according to an article posted on Apex Beats. Two of them went home two weeks before Christmas on Dec. 13, while another one went home on the 21st. The final pair was sent home from their extended hospital stay on Christmas Eve.
Ray and Marcie already have a two-year-old son named Makaio, who was conceived through in-vitro fertilization. Last April 2015, they attempted the process again since they wanted to give Makaio a baby brother. Then the embryo split and they thought they were having twins. But then it split a few more times and formed what would eventually become six newborn children.
The nurses and specialists who handled the infants during their three months at the hospital are "the mommies that the babies know," the mother of the quintuplets said. She state that it was kind of bittersweet to take them home, but now it is her turn to be their mommy.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, none of the quintuplets weighed more than three pounds when they were born. Luckily, they now weigh 5 to 8 pounds each. "It's just amazing to see this happen and to see the success," Dr. Charles Neal said. "The thing on everybody's mind in our (unit) was just get them the best outcome possible, and I think that's what we did."
