Couple welcomes triplets and twins in less than a year

[ladygrey]

From the Today Show: www.today.com/moms/zero-five-childless-couple-welcomes-triplets-twins-less-year-2D79325801

They prayed for babies, and boy, did they get them: Five children in less than a year, providing a crash course in parenthood for a couple who couldn't be happier.

Sarah and Andy Justice of Tulsa, Okla., wanted a family but had trouble conceiving, so they adopted triplets. But soon after, Sarah found out she was pregnant with twins.

“I was shocked and a bit overwhelmed because I got to thinking, added it up and I’m like, wow, if they go to term we’re about five babies in eight months. But we were really excited because it was something we’ve been dreaming of and longing for for years,” Sarah told the TODAY anchors, who had their hands full cradling the babies. Some were a little fussy during their national television debut.

“We’re going to need a bigger couch,” TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie quipped as she held Hannah, one of the triplets.

Andy just wants a bigger van as the family tries to figure out the logistics of moving around and taking care of five babies. Twins Abigail and Andrew are eight weeks old, while the triplets -- Joel, Hannah and Elizabeth -- are 9 months old.

The couple goes through about 84 bottles and 300 diapers a week. Then, there’s the issue of figuring out who is who. The Justices tell Hannah and Elizabeth apart by polishing their toe nails a different color, but their feet are covered up in the winter. So on Thursday, they used another system: The baby girls’ pink bows were on opposite sides of their heads.

The couple had been struggling with infertility for years when they turned to adoption. Just after they arranged to adopt the triplets last year, Sarah's doctor discovered she was having twins.

“It was more than a little ironic,” Andy recalled.

The couple didn’t want to give up the triplets and officials told them they could still get all three if they didn’t back out, Tulsa World reported.

Now, their life revolves around their five kids, with lots of help from their family and their church. They get about three hours of sleep each night, though not necessarily in a row, Andy noted.

“My husband says all we do is babies, everything else in life has pretty much stopped,” Sarah said. “But it was something we’ve wanted so badly that we love it. It’s not to say it’s not a lot of work and we’re not tired a lot but it’s great. We just really love having these children.”

[krystee]

I will take my trouble TTC over their five kids under nine months. I almost had a nervous breakdown helping my friend with three under 15 months the other day. No thank you!

I am happy for them if they are happy, though!

[karinothing]

That is a lot of babies. Also, I feel like triplet adoption must be so crazy rare.

[biogirl21]

And to think I'm stressed with just one.

Stories like this are great but at the same time I kind of hate them. It just reinforces the stereotype that if you just adopt you'll get pregnant, or if you stop stressing about it you'll get pregnant. Obviously the couple had no control over it and it's greet that they are happy, it just kind of sucks for other IFers.

[ilikedonuts]

Now the article doesn't specifically say they were using fertility drugs, but this is why many adoption agencies tell you (have you sign a contract maybe?) that you cannot use fertility drugs while going through adoption.

[meltoine]

I think it's awesome that they adopted the triplets. It must be crazy hard to find parents for triplets that will take all three. I wonder if they would have been split up otherwise.

[waterchurch]

I just...can't even...
Bless their hearts.

[Deleted]

I used to babysit for a couple that had 2 sets of twins 9 months apart.
The first were adopted and she got pregnant (By some miracle) just as they started the adoption.
It was insanity but totally fun at the same time.

[h]

I would die. I can't imagine signing on to adopt trips in the first place (my BFF has triplets, and I have never been even a little bit jealous ), let alone having triplets and then twins less than a year later.

Also, this means that poor woman was pregnant with twins while dealing with the sleep deprivation of trips. Oh, the exhaustion!

I have a friend who found out she was pregnant (via IVF) a couple weeks after she adopted her daughter, resulting in kids 9 months apart. But they are both singletons, so it is obviously a different ball game.

[loskadoodle]

My ob has triplets, twins and a single. Kill me.

[Deleted]

Better them than me.

::crosses legs::

[imojoebunny]

I bet those people will be the happiest people on the block the first time the school bus rolls up to take them all to school.

I have a friend and a cousin who had three 18 months apart, 5 that close would literally work you into the ground.

What are the odds of adopting triplets?

[Velar Fricative]

Mar 6, 2014 20:18:51 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

I bet those people will be the happiest people on the block the first time the school bus rolls up to take them all to school.

I have a friend and a cousin who had three 18 months apart, 5 that close would literally work you into the ground.

What are the odds of adopting triplets?

Well, the odds of even conceiving triplets are low, and I would assume these triplets were conceived without fertility assistance, making the chances even lower than average. Then you have to find a family that will adopt all three at birth (or soon after). So...pretty darn rare! What a crazy story.

[Velar Fricative]

Mar 6, 2014 20:13:57 GMT -5 loskadoodle said:

My ob has triplets, twins and a single. Kill me.

I went to school with a family that had a singleton, then twins, then triplets. OMG.

[thebreakfastclub]

I work with someone who conceived triplets with a guy she was barely dating. Whoops.

[jenn248]

I would have a nervous breakdown.

A friend of DH's has quads (two carried by her and two carried by her sister as a surrogate, all born the same day), and that is hard enough to wrap my head around. I just cannot imagine five. Nope, nope, nope.

[anna7602]

At least they sound happy. The article could have gone the whole "the parents had noticeable bags under their eyes" route.

I know a crazy, crazy amount of twins IRL, but do not know a single person who has given birth to triplets.

[yellowbrkrd]

Nope. Nope. Nope.

DH just said he would run screaming from the house and sleep in a snow bank.

[ladygrey]

Mar 6, 2014 22:27:02 GMT -5 @domerjen said:

Mar 6, 2014 21:02:03 GMT -5 jenn248 said:

I would have a nervous breakdown.

A friend of DH's has quads (two carried by her and two carried by her sister as a surrogate, all born the same day), and that is hard enough to wrap my head around. I just cannot imagine five. Nope, nope, nope.

How does this work?  Did they have IVF and implanted both women at the same time?  Why would you do that?  I feel like there must be a more reasonable story?

I was wondering the same thing. Do you know if they induced both women so all the babies would have the same birthday? What are the chances otherwise?

[winecheery]

This…would not work in my life.

[Deleted]

Oh my goodness. I feel overwhelmed just reading the article. No way I could function on 3 hours of sleep each night!

[egishere]

I hope these people have a lot of help!
My Mom lived with us for a few months after our trio was born. I would not have been able to function on three hours of interrupted sleep that's for sure!

I also want to hear the background on the quads that were mentioned. Talk about crazy!

[sookie]

This is a great, heartwarming story until I consider what I'd do if we had 5 under a year. I feel like the answer would be drink heavily and hide under my bed. So many babies!

[Deleted]

I can't imagine that many babies! I still can't wrap my head around my 3 under 2!

I agree with others though, adopting triplets has to be rare! I don't know a lot of people, even those struggling with IF that would want to take on triplets!

[mdana]

The thought of 2u2 is scary enough to me (although I think I could do it) but FIVE children under 1? Yikes!

*crossing legs*

[curbsideprophet]

No thank you. I am still a little confused on the timing. I don't think I would continue with fertility treatments while I agreed to adopt triplets.

[undecidedowl]

To make it MM- that's an audit risk!

[jenn248]

ladygrey, @domerjen, and egishere, the backstory on the quadruplets is that one sister, A, had been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant for years and her sister, C, offered to be a surrogate.  When they implanted two embryos in C, they also decided to give IVF one last ditch effort for A and implanted two embryos in her as well.  I am not entirely sure why they decided to implant all four at the same time, rather than waiting to see if the two implanted in C took (C's husband is one of DH's best friends, so I'm hearing most of this third-hand), but my understanding is that A and her husband had previously lost frozen embryos so they were scared to risk losing more embryos, and it would have cost significantly more if they had waited vice implanting all four at the same time. Apparently their doctor also assured them that there was a very small chance all four would take, but guess what happened?  C ended up pregnant with two boys and A with two girls.  One of the boys was breech, so they had scheduled C-sections for both sets of babies.  

There was a lot of press coverage of their story, so I think it's fine to share this: www.dispatch.com//content/stories/local/2013/11/03/quadruple-surprise.html

I imagine if you want a baby badly enough, it's better to have four babies than none (or five in the case of the article posted), but I really don't know how they do it.  They seem to be handling it well though, from what I've heard (and C and A's parents are now living with A, her husband, and the babies to help out).  I know there are plenty of days when I'm overwhelmed with just one, so I can't imagine four!  More power to them though. 

[Velar Fricative]

Mar 7, 2014 7:29:32 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

No thank you. I am still a little confused on the timing. I don't think I would continue with fertility treatments while I agreed to adopt triplets.

The article doesn't say whether the twins were conceived thanks to treatments though.

[Deleted]

Have mercy.