WHEN Brenda Raymundo and her husband had spent years trying for a family, they thought they were never going to be parents.
They had battled for three years through infertility, after Brenda, 28, who lives in Dallas, USA, was diagnosed as suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome.
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When she finally fell pregnant with the help of a fertility drug, she was relieved when docs told her they could see one heartbeat.
But then a week later she went back for a scan and got the biggest shock of her life.
Docs had told her they could see one baby in there… but in fact there were FIVE, as she had fallen pregnant with incredibly rare quintuplets.
Shocked, Brenda gave birth to the healthy five in May, and has brought them all home from hospital with husband Alejandro, 28.
Brenda said: “I was actually crying with the shock when I Facetimed Alejandro after the scan and told him there wasn’t just one baby in there, but five.
“He thought I was joking, then he could see that I was crying for real, and realised that I wasn’t. We were both in complete shock about it.
“No-one expects to be told one week that they are pregnant with one baby, and then the following week find out there are actually five in there.”
The couple had been trying for a family for three years, when they went to visit a fertility clinic for help in October last year. Brenda was given a drug to help stimulate her ovaries into producing eggs, as her health condition meant that she wasn’t producing any eggs at all.
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Within two months she discovered she was pregnant, and she and Alejandro were over the moon at the news.
She said: “We couldn’t believe it. To have our first positive pregnancy test result was amazing. We had waited so long to see it. We had spent three years trying so hard to be a mum and dad, so we were so excited that it was finally happening for us.”
But their joy turned to despair when Brenda started suffering from crippling stomach pains, and she was rushed to hospital where doctors thought she may have been suffering from a life threatening ectopic pregnancy – where the baby develops in the fallopian tube instead of the womb.
She was scanned, and doctors gave her the good news that the baby wasn’t in the fallopian tube and they had found one heartbeat in her womb instead.
She said: “We were so relieved. The doctor told us the baby was in the right place, in my womb, and there wasn’t anything to worry about.”
The following week, Brenda went back for a check up scan, and this time she lay on the scanning table and could see what she thought looked like five bubbles of air on the scan.
She said: “I could see these five bubbles, and I wondered what they were. It was the first time I’d been pregnant, so I didn’t know any different. I thought that was normal.
The sonographer’s face, just froze as she looked at the screen. Then she turned to me and said I was pregnant with five babies, not one
Brenda Raymundo
“But the sonographer’s face, just froze as she looked at the screen. Then she turned to me and said I was pregnant with five babies, not one.
“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was terrified about having babies, as I thought I was going to lose one or more of them.”
Brenda was scanned every week as it was such a high risk pregnancy. And she was admitted to hospital at 27 weeks pregnant, as doctors feared she could go into early labour.
She said: “It was tough as I had to go to all my check ups on my own without Alejandro because of Covid restrictions. And I had to be in hospital without him too. He was just allowed in for the delivery.”
The babies were born on May 17 when Brenda was 31 weeks pregnant; Alejandro weighing 3Ib14, Lelani at 3Ibs, Amara at 3Ib3, Antonio at 3Ib8, and Humberto at 3Ib12, at the Parkland Hospital in Dallas.
She said: “I’d started with some contractions a few hours before, and when I was checked over, they said the babies were on their way, so I had to be taken down to the operating theatre straight away.
“They were all good weights for quins, and they were healthy too, which was amazing news. We felt so lucky.”
I thought I would never be a mum, I never thought five would come along all at once. We don’t get any sleep, but we couldn’t be happier
Brenda Raymundo
All the babies came home by the end of July and are doing well at home. Brenda added: “We were so excited to bring them all home. It’s completely chaotic.
“They are feeding every three hours, and we try to feed them all at once, otherwise when they go to sleep if one wakes hungry, then they wake all the others too.
“Luckily we are living with my mum at the moment, so she helps me all the time, which is another pair of hands.
“Even though they are so tiny, the babies are all getting their different personalities. Alejandro and Alberto are really calm, the girls all want attention at the same time, and Antonio is the grumpy one.
“When I thought I would never be a mum, I never thought that five would come along all at once.
“We don’t get any sleep, but we couldn’t be happier and wouldn’t change it for the world. We feel blessed five times over.”
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