by After ᴍɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇ A Child The Woman Became A Mother Of Nine Children Overnight
Just one more. That was the idea when Amy and Chad Kempel decided to try for another child. Of course, as we all know when it comes to kids and family, there’s very little that goes as planned.
When Amy and Chad Kempel initially began trying to start a family, the road to pregnancy wasn’t an easy one. Two years of ᴜɴsᴜᴄᴄᴇssFᴜʟ ᴀᴛᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛs to conceive led to Amy ᴜɴᴅᴇʀɢᴏɪɴɢ ɪɴᴛʀᴀᴜᴛᴇʀɪɴᴇ ɪɴsᴇᴍɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ (IUI), a fertility ᴛʀᴇᴀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ in which sᴘᴇʀᴍ is put inside a woman’s uterus to encourage fertilization, in 2012.
The ᴛʀᴇᴀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ was a success. The couple learned Amy was pregnant with twin boys. Sᴀᴅʟʏ, their ᴇxᴄɪᴛᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴇɴᴅᴇᴅ ɪɴ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛʙʀᴇᴀᴋ when she went into ᴘʀᴇᴛᴇʀᴍ ʟᴀʙᴏʀ at 22 weeks. While the boys, named Marshall and Spencer, were born ᴀʟɪᴠᴇ, they were not developed enough to live beyond the hospital and never made it home.
Not ready to give up on their dreams of having children, Amy and Chad tried again, resulting in the birth of their oldest daughter Savannah, 5, and then a second daughter Avery, 3. But as anyone who has ever suffered a ᴍɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇ or the loss of a child knows, pregnancy is never the same again.
“After losing Marshall and Spencer, before our oldest daughter Savannah was born, that really changed my view on what I thought it would be like to be pregnant,” says Amy. “After trying again to have a baby after we lost the twins I was nervous every day. Am I going to ʟᴏsᴇ the baby today? Am I going to have a ᴘʀᴇᴛᴇʀᴍ baby? I couldn’t enjoy the pregnancy experience and the process of trying to get pregnant.
With Savannah and Ave ry happy, healthy, and keeping the Kempels very busy, it was time to decide if they would try for a third child, which, prior to their hardships, had been the plan. Amy was leaning toward keeping their family to the two kids, while Chad really wanted another child. Trying to get pregnant and the ᴍɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇs along the way I thought, I’m kind of okay with two.
Despite Amy’s understandable hesitation, the couple moved forward with trying for that third…and got way more than they bargained for. Amy became pregnant with quintuplets. Now if you’re trying to pick your jaw off the floor with this surprise twist, think about how they felt.
“Right away we were thinking if Amy’s body wasn’t able to hold two babies (to term) then how the hell is it going to hold five?” says Chad. “ We were terrified.”
The Kempels went into survival mode trying to find the best doctors to handle their situation to keep Amy healthy and pregnant for as long as possible. They also tried to mentally wrap their heads around what the future of their family could look like.
