In most cases, pregnancy is a joy to be had.
Pregnancy means the birth of the next generation, means the crystallization of the love of two people, means that a complete family is about to be established, and also means that there will be a child to accompany the parents for the rest of their lives.
But what if the children about to be born are not one or two, but septuplets?
Will such a bizarre number of babies cause parents a headache?
A couple based in Iowa, USA, encountered such a problem in 1996.
The couple finally decided to give birth to all the children, which caused a sensation around the world for a time.
The world-shaking septuagints
The heroic mom is named Bobby McCoy.
She and her husband Kenny had successfully conceived in 1995 and had given birth to a beautiful baby girl.
However, the two still want to give their daughter a few more children as companions.
So they began to go to the hospital regularly for fertility counseling.
During a test, the doctor found some unusual phenomena:
Bobby is pregnant, but the number of embryos in her stomach is not one, but seven!
The probability of conceiving twins or triplets at the same time, although not high in the group of pregnant women, is not uncommon.
However, it is extremely rare to conceive a sextuplet at the same time.
The news shocked the doctors, but also Poppy and Kenny.
Kenny could hardly believe it when he heard the news.
He recalls the moment and remembers asking his wife, "How many do you say there are?" ”
Wife Bobby replied, "Seven." ”
Kenny took a cool breath, thought for a moment, and then asked, "No, it's impossible, are you serious?" How many do you say? ”
Kenny's memory should be clear, because such a reaction could not be more normal, and no couple can accept the fact that they are about to give birth to a seven-fold child without changing their faces.
Bobby and Kenny are terrified of the future and don't know how to raise their seven children.
But that worry didn't last long, because the challenges from real life soon left them no time to take care of it—Bobby's belly began to grow rapidly.
When Bobby conceived her eldest daughter a year ago, she had already experienced a lot of hardships.
She is not a mother who can give birth easily.
When the seven children of the second child grew up in her belly at an unimaginable rate, Bobby felt very frightened.
She didn't know what would happen next.
Soon, as Bobby sat, her stomach could almost touch her knees, which terrified her:
"Now that I think about it, it's horrible, my stomach is getting higher and higher, and I don't know how long my body can hold up."
As Bobby's belly gets bigger, so does Kenny's need to think about more and more.
In addition to taking care of his wife, Kenny has begun to calculate how much the family will have to pay to raise the children when they are born.
At the thought of money, Kenny's head began to hurt.
When he was helpless late at night, Kenny could only ask God to bless him through this difficulty.
Then bigger difficulties arose.
Bobby's pregnancy was very special, so she needed to be in and out of the hospital frequently, and had to undergo medical examinations every once in a while.
On this day, after the medical examination, Bobby and Kenny were told a controversial piece of advice: Hopby and Kenny would consider "selectively removing embryos."
After seeing the results of the recent medical examination, the doctor decided that the danger posed by the seven triplets to the pregnant woman was too great.
If a few embryos could be selectively eliminated and the number of babies reduced to quadruplets or triplets, Bobby would be much less dangerous.
At this time, Bobby and Kenny had already attracted widespread attention as "septuplet couples", and the doctor's suggestions were naturally known to everyone.
People began to fight over this suggestion.
Some argue that it should be done for Bobby's safety, others argue that every life has its own dignity, and that Bobby and Kenny have no right to deprive any child of life.
In fact, the outside world's voices did not have much impact on Bobby and Kenny.
They were very devout believers, and in the end they made the decision not to deprive them of any life, not to accept the "selective removal of embryos.".
Bobby believes that everything will go well, and as long as you move forward with faith, there will be no problem.
Seven children were born
As their due date drew nearer, the couple discussed with their doctors the various ways of giving birth and the problems that might arise during childbirth.
As the days passed, the tension rose day by day.
On November 19, 1997, when Bobby was 30 weeks pregnant, her body sent a birth signal and was rushed to the hospital.
At this time, Bobby's waist circumference was about 140 cm, and for comparison, the waist circumference of pregnant women in the same period was about 90 cm.
In other words, Bobby's waistline is 50 centimeters more than white!
Since it was 9 weeks earlier than the expected date of delivery, the hospital urgently formed a medical team of 40 medical personnel to deal with any situation that might occur during Bobby's birth.
Surprisingly, the production process went very smoothly.
The doctors used a pre-negotiated caesarean section, and then seven babies were born into the world one by one, bringing tears to the eyes of everyone present.
Of the seven babies, three were girls and four were boys, and Bobby and Kenny had already figured out names for them.
In the order of birth, they are called: Kenny Jr., Alexis, Natalie, Casey, Nathan, Brandon, and Joel.
The children looked very healthy and cried like normal babies.
However, they are very light, the lightest is 1.3 kg, and the heaviest is only 1.47 kg.
For comparison, the average healthy baby's body weight is around 2.5-4 kg.
Fortunately, the hospital has already provided a full range of preparations for the seven twins.
In the hospital, seven children spent more than three months.
After making sure all the kids had gone through the initial dangerous period, Bobby and Kenny were finally able to take the kids home.
However, although all seven children miraculously survived, two of them still had sequelae - the second Alexis and the elder Five Nathan suffered from cerebral palsy.
This means that their growth process will be different from that of ordinary children, and they are likely to grow up to be unable to walk independently due to muscle atrophy.
Even so, the fact that all seven children were alive was already a favor of God for Bobby and Kenny.
They are very happy about that.
The whole society "raises" children together
Bobby and Kenny's entire journey from pregnancy to childbirth received constant media attention.
When they decided not to give up any of the children and to give birth to all the sevens, they received a large number of letters.
There are many people who appreciate their actions, think that they have noble souls, and congratulate them on the imminent ushering in a happy family.
However, there are also a small number of malicious letters, which believe that Bobby and Kenny's stubborn desire to have seven children is both an exploitation of children and a waste of social resources.
The malicious letters once made Bobby and Kenny very sad.
Kenny even secretly withheld some malicious letters from his wife.
Until the birth of the seven-fold baby, huge surprises and donations from all walks of life made the couple have no time to care about the harm of malicious letters.
Bobby and Kenny have been worried that they are not financially fit enough to raise the seven-amphits.
All walks of life seem to have heard their concerns, and various donations have begun to appear one after another.
Some donated a lot of their diapers, and some donated enough macaroni for the septuplets to eat for an entire year.
Some volunteered to provide babysitting services after the birth of the child, and someone gave a truck to make it easier for Bobby and Kenny to take the child around.
More people chose to donate directly, and the money went directly to Bobby and Kenny's bank accounts.
The most outrageous thing is that someone donated a large villa of more than 500 square meters, without any monetary return, and gave it to Bobby and Kenny to raise children in it.
The donations of these well-meaning people touched Bobby and Kenny very much.
Not only because they finally had the ability to raise the seven-amphituplets, but also because they felt the kindness from strangers who did not ask for anything in return from the birth of the seven-amphituplets.
That is the brilliance of human nature.
When the seven twins returned home, the global media was a sensation.
Because these seven children are the first fully surviving qistads in the world, many of the previous qibao babies died in infancy.
This gave Bobby and Kenny a huge amount of prestige.
They and the children appeared on the covers of Time magazine and Newsweek, received phone calls from then-U.S. President Bill Clinton, and later received by the next President, Bush.
On the first birthday of the seven-year-olds, bobby's family appeared on the highest-rated talk show in U.S. history, The Oprah Talk Show, where they celebrated their first birthday.
Behind the glamour, however, is the hard work of Bobby and Kenny day after day.
In the months since the seven-bitten children returned home, Bobby and Kenny had barely slept a single day.
During their pregnancy, the couple fantasized about what it was like to have seven cute little babies in the house.
When the seven children were really at home, they were faced with the terrible labor of changing diapers 52 times a day.
In addition to this, the amount of food eaten by babies is also amazing.
One baby may not be able to eat much, but seven babies drink 42 bottles of milk a day.
The 24-hour on-call, 24-hour feeding and changing diapers made Bobby and Kenny very tired.
They have little else to do in their lives, both physically and financially.
Soon, the donations Bobby and Kenny received ran out, and they had to be more calculating.
After Kenny's calculations, he decided to cut the budget through bulk purchases.
Kenny and his wife plus seven twins and eldest daughter, the monthly miscellaneous expenses of a family of ten are about $300.
Normally, a family of four in the United States can achieve this level of expenses, and Kenny's calculation really played a role.
As time passes, babies get bigger and bigger.
As they become more mobile, caring for the septuplets becomes a near-impossible task.
Fortunately, the eyes of the media have always been fixed on this house of seven twins.
When Kenny and Bobby asked for help, there were always volunteers willing to help the couple take care of the children in their spare time.
A total of 35 volunteers came into their lives as the seven-fold babies grew up, helping Kenny and Bobby raise them.
This also made the couple feel warm from the heart.
Although these seven twins were born to Bobby and Kenny, they were raised by all the caring people in society, except for their parents.
Interests vary
Media attention has made the healthy growth of the seven twins possible.
But Bobby and Kenny don't want the kids to be spotted all the time.
They believe that as children get older, they need to give them the space that ordinary children deserve.
So the couple made an important decision – to deny most media interviews and minimize the exposure of the children to the cameras.
But in return for their support from the media, the couple is willing to let the media shoot brief short films and interviews before the birthdays of the seven twins every year as a record of the children of the past year.
As a result, the septuplets appeared in media magazines every once in a while, becoming the common children of all Americans.
Everyone is watching their growth.
When the seven children were in elementary school, they experienced separate actions for the first time.
Until then, they had been studying at home and had been with other siblings since birth.
Bobby was initially worried that the children would not be able to adapt to acting alone, but the truth told her that she was worried.
The kids adapted very well.
Although outsiders always like to see them as members of the septuplets, they have developed their own interests and found different friends.
This reassures Bobby and Kenny.
After entering high school, the seven-fold babies who have become teenagers begin to show more different traits.
Kenny Jr. is good at being funny, and Kelsey and Brandon are athletic.
Brandon, in particular, has the strongest perseverance among the seven and a determination not to give up.
Alexis and Nathan had cerebral palsy and spent most of their formative years using walkers.
But this did not affect their self-confidence and self-esteem, and they always remained optimistic.
Nathan is more obsessed with exercise than Alexis, and with perseverance and persistence, his athleticism has improved greatly.
Many times it is possible to go better and farther every year without the help of a walker than the previous year.
Alexis was not far behind, she participated in a beauty pageant for children with special needs and won a medal.
To Bobby and Kenny's surprise, Alexis has a lot of potential for learning.
When she graduated from high school, her grades were among the top few in the school.
On November 19, 2015, all seven twins turned eighteen and graduated from high school.
The current situation 24 years later
When the seven-folds were born that year, Hannibal Lagrange University in Missouri provided a donation
If the children are of the right age, they can go to the University of Hannibal Lagrange for a free university course.
Iowa has also pledged scholarships to any state university where the seven-in-ones attend.
With these donations, Nathan, Kelsey, Joel, and Natalie of the seven-year-old chose to attend Hannibal Lagrange University.
Kenny Jr. and Alexis studied at des Moines Community College.
Only Brandon, the bravest, most persevering, most persistent kid, chose not to go to college, but to join the army.
Now, the seven twins have each chosen their own path in life:
Kelsey majored in public relations, Natalie studied exercise science, and Nathan and Joel majored in computer science.
Alex West has chosen early childhood education as the development direction, and Kenny Jr. is moving in the direction of a professional carpenter.
As for Brandon, he had become a member of the U.S. Army Rangers.
Whenever the media interviewed members of the seven-amperies, they would be happy to be asked by others.
Because the reporters asked nothing more than questions about the brothers and sisters of the seven of them, and this is the best memory of the seven of them.
Little Kenny once told the media: "Now that I look back on the old days, I have never felt lonely, from childhood to adulthood, there are people to play with me, some people fight together, make mistakes together, be praised together, and open gifts together, which is really a happy thing." ”
Kelsey also said: "Maybe the outside world is curious about what life is like for a sextuplet family, I can't describe it, I can only say that I am happier than everyone thinks." ”
In 2021, the seven twins will be 24 years old and their sister will be 25 years old.
They have long since become independent adults, moved out of the huge villa of 500 square meters, and each pursued his dream.
For Bobby and Kenny, who stayed behind, they also had their own plans.
Bobby rejoices at the children's departure, which means that every child has reached an age where they can pursue happiness alone.
But she also made no secret of her disappointment, because for more than twenty years, she and her husband had been living in noisy but warm days, and now the sudden coldness made her feel uncomfortable.
How should the rest of the day be?
Kenny thinks it's time to pick up his youthful ideals and buy a motorcycle weekly by the nation, but before that, they're going to donate 500 square meters of villa.
Bobby and Kenny donated the house to a nonprofit.
In the future, the house will become the home of some unmarried mothers who are unexpectedly pregnant.
Why did you make this decision? Bobby gave the answer:
"We were lucky to receive such a wonderful gift to support us through so many years, and in the days to come, I hope that others will have this luck too."