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Gregory Robinson
A woman with endometriosis defied the odds by giving birth to quintuplets, admitting to being 'shocked' by the news.
The odds of having quintuplets naturally are extremely rare, with it only occurring in 1 in 55,000,000 births.
Kim Tucci and her husband Vaughn were surprised when she fell pregnant and found out she was expecting not one baby, but five naturally conceived little ones.
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The doting parents from Perth, Australia, were already parents to daughters Ava and Indiana. Kim also had a son named Kurt from a previous marriage, making them a family of ten.
“It’s like a dream I suppose,” Kim told 60 Minutes Australia in 2018. “It’s like I’m doing it but I try not to think about it too much because I have so many lives depending on me."
The couple decided to try for another child because Vaughn wanted his own son. Little did they know Vaughn would get the son he wanted, plus four more daughters.
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Kim recalled the moment she was told there were five heartbeats during a pregnancy scan and she was understandably confused. “I just said ‘What?! There’s five heartbeats?’ And she said ‘Yeah’ and I said ‘What even is there?’ and they said, ‘That’s quintuplets’.”
Admitting she ‘didn’t even know the name for’ quintuplets after being told she was having five babies in one go, Kim said: “I laughed at first and then my body went into shock – started to shake and then they said ‘I think you need to call your husband’.”
In January 2016, after carrying five babies in her womb for 30 weeks who were all above average size, Kim gave birth. Kim estimated she was carrying ‘about seven kilos of baby and placenta’ just before giving birth.
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The couple welcomed daughters Ali, Penelope, Tiffany and Beatrix and son Keith via C-section in the span of two minutes weighing between 1.2 and 1.3 kilograms each.
“Seeing them for the first time when they came out was the greatest thing,” Vaughn gushed. “One coming out after the other and doctor Jan naming them as she was bringing them out was just amazing.”
Kim and Vaughn had to wait to take their new bundles of joy home as they were monitored for 24 hours a day after being born 10 weeks premature. The quintuplets were rushed to intensive care after birth.
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After six weeks the babies were breathing on their own and their proud parents often share updates of their family of 10 on social media.