Welcoming six newborns into your family is a cause for celebration, but welcoming six new babies when you already have three kids deserves an additional round of applause — and perhaps a shot of whisky.
On Dec. 11, Alabama couple Eric and Courtney Waldrop welcomed fraternal sextuplets — three boys and three girls — into their family. The infants were all born in "good condition" at just under 30 weeks' gestation, but will need to spend several weeks in Huntsville Hospital's NICU before going home with their parents.
"They're oh so very little but absolutely perfect!!" the couple shared in a Facebook post.
The birth of the sextuplets means that the Waldrops' three eldest boys are now big brothers. The couple welcomed their first son, eight-year-old Saylor, in 2008, and welcomed their five-year-old twins, Wales and Bridge, in 2012.
The Waldrops always knew they wanted a big family, but never expected to have nine children. According to People magazine, Courtney suffered multiple miscarriages while trying to conceive their second child. She and her husband then ended up with twins as a result of fertility treatments.
After suffering another miscarriage while trying for a fourth child, the couple underwent fertility treatments again and conceived their sextuplets.
"It took several weeks of coming to terms with it," the mom told AL.com. "It's a shock to people when you tell them. Sometimes you have to repeat yourself, or explain to them what you're talking about."
But now that their new babies are here, the Waldrops couldn't be happier, as evidenced by their Facebook page. The couple has named their newborns Blu, Layke, Rawlings, Rayne, Rivers, and Tag.
According to Huntsville Hospital, the Waldrop babies are the first sextuplets to be born in Alabama since 2011.
Conceiving sextuplets is extremely rare, especially without the help of fertility treatments. CBC News reports that chances are one in 4.7 billion and as of 2009, there were roughly only 160 recorded sextuplet births worldwide.
But regardless of this, another couple welcomed sextuplets in the U.S. earlier this year. Ajibola and Adeboye Taiwo, who are originally from Nigeria, welcomed six babies on May 11 at a hospital in Virginia. The couple struggled to conceive for 17 years before their babies were born as a result of IVF.