A woman has told the amazing story of how she gave birth to quintuplets who were born at only 24 weeks gestation.
Hannah Merton, who had previously experienced fertility issues, received the good news that she was pregnant during a routine ultrasound at 5 weeks gestation. Much to her surprise, however, Merton’s doctor told her that she was pregnant with quintuplets.
“Her face just went completely white”, Hannah said. “She had to pull a stool out from behind her, she sits down, and she reaches over and touches my arm and says, ‘I think I see four or five’”.
“I’m like, ‘Four or five what? What are you talking about? Ain’t no way you’re talking about four or five babies’”, Merton recalled. “I couldn’t even wrap my mind around it”.
Hannah was delighted with the news of “five strong heartbeats” and “wanted to move forward with the pregnancy. We wanted to have all five of them”.
Babies brought home from intensive care after a year
However, since she had struggled with issues such as polycystic ovary syndrome, her pregnancy was not without its difficulties.
At 24 weeks, Hannah went into an irreversible labour and successfully delivered her five tiny children, with the largest being 1 pound and 13 ounces, and her smallest being 1 pound and 4 ounces. Due to their early birth, they were all taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and given breathing tubes and twenty-four-hour expert care.
“I think there were 100 people [looking after them]”, she said. “It was insane”.
The babies all had a difficult first year, with one child tragically losing her life after three days. However, after all of their trials, Hannah and her husband were able to take all their remaining children home, one by one, over the course of a year.
Mum goes viral on social media for sharing her inspiring story
Hannah’s pregnancy was made all the more difficult as it took place during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, she was helped through it by her community, with her town even throwing her a baby shower before she gave birth.
“I did not have to buy diapers for the first year and a half that my kids were alive,” said Merton. “People gave us car seats, we got strollers, tons of clothes, baby toys – anything we needed”.
While her children were still in the NICU, Hannah took to social media to tell her inspiring story. Now, much to her surprise, she has ended up with hundreds of thousands of TikTok followers.
“It wasn’t like, ‘I’m going to post this so I can go viral’”, she said. “I pick it up, and it has thousands and thousands of views and tons of people commenting. I’m like, ‘What is happening right now?’”
“It really is amazing. It feels so good to see that there are people who have consistently cared about me for this many years – they care about my family and they want to see me succeed”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “Hannah’s story is an inspiring reminder that many babies who are born prematurely go on to live healthy and fulfilling lives”.
