At first everything during the ultrasound looked normal, but then the doctor noticed something that made him go completely silent. He stared at the screen barely able to process what he was seeing. In just a moment the entire course of the couple’s pregnancy changed in a way no one could have predicted. Before we dive in, can we get this video to 1,000 likes? Tap that like button and subscribe to the channel.
It really helps us out. For 17 long years, Adeboye and Ajibola Taiwo, a devoted couple from Nigeria, had been trying to have a baby with no success. It was an exhausting, heartbreaking journey, and after nearly two decades of disappointment, they decided to get help from doctors. Thankfully, after going through treatment, Ajibola finally got pregnant.
Soon enough it was time for their very first ultrasound. They were nervous, but more than anything they were overjoyed to finally see their baby. What the doctor found on that screen though would leave everyone in the room speechless. Adeboye and Ajibola first met at church in Nigeria.
They were both serving as children’s ministry teachers, taking care of kids and teaching them the ways of God. Adeboye had grown up in a Christian family that attended the Anglican church, while Ajibola had been born into a Muslim home and later converted to Christianity. She felt a deep calling to work with children just like he did.
From the moment they connected, they knew they were meant for each other. They started a relationship and got married in the year 2000. Life felt full of promise. The couple couldn’t wait to grow their family, and in their culture that was expected to happen fast. In Nigeria, when somebody gets married, the wife is expected to show signs of pregnancy within just a few months.
After a year or two, if there’s no baby, the pressure starts coming in from every direction. For Adeboye and Ajibola, that pressure hit hard. A few years into their marriage, they started trying to have a baby. Like many couples, they had pictured everything going smoothly. They were full of hope and imagined the joy of becoming parents.
But they had no idea how challenging it would be. As time passed, it became painfully clear that something wasn’t right. No matter how much they hoped or prayed, the pregnancy never came. The waiting and disappointment wore on them deeply. In their culture, if a couple goes years without a child, the man might be told to divorce his wife and marry someone else.
That kind of pressure is hard to imagine, but it was their reality. People around them stopped treating them the same. Ajibola later shared, “But people don’t reckon with you if you’re having issues having a child. They look down on you.” It was isolating and painful. Still, Adeboye refused to give up on his wife.
He said to Ajibola, “Even if no child is coming, provided we are living happily, I think I’m okay.” Though deep down he admitted it was far from easy. Adeboye and Ajibola kept trying for five, six, eight, nine, 10 years with no luck. Each year was another letdown, and they were starting to feel crushed. They prayed constantly.
They sought the face of God, but nothing was changing. By the time they reached their 17th year of marriage, Adeboye had quietly made peace with the idea that children were never going to come. He had given up hope. In his heart he had concluded that it just wasn’t going to happen for them. But that’s when everything changed. After all those years, Adeboye and Ajibola decided to try one more thing.
They went through in vitro fertilization, also known as IVF. Basically, this meant that eggs would be fertilized outside the body in a lab, and then the embryos would be placed directly into Ajibola’s womb. It’s a widely used procedure for couples who struggle to conceive naturally. The doctors transferred four embryos hoping that maybe one or two would survive.
Adeboye and Ajibola didn’t expect much. After 17 years of nothing, they had learned not to get their hopes too high. They braced themselves for whatever outcome came next. But then the results came in, and Ajibola was pregnant. After 17 years of heartbreak, tears, and empty arms, she was finally carrying a baby.
The couple was overwhelmed with emotion. It must have been a powerful moment, one filled with happy tears and pure disbelief. Not long after, Ajibola went in for her very first ultrasound. The scan was done in Nigeria, and when the doctor studied the screen, they saw something unexpected. There wasn’t one heartbeat, there were three.
Triplets. Adeboye and Ajibola stared at the screen completely stunned. They had walked in hoping for just one baby. Now they were looking at three. After everything they had been through, it felt like the most incredible, unexpected blessing. The couple was so filled with joy that they decided to celebrate by visiting Adeboye’s family in northern Virginia.
It was supposed to be a quick trip, just two or three weeks. But a few days after arriving, Ajibola started feeling unwell. Something didn’t feel right. She was rushed to an emergency room, and that’s when the doctor ran another scan. At first the doctor said everything looked fine, but then he went quiet. After a moment his expression completely changed.
The screen wasn’t showing three babies anymore. It was showing six. Sextuplets. Two of the four embryos had split on their own, turning three into six. Adeboye couldn’t believe it. He was overjoyed. But Ajibola wasn’t smiling. She understood exactly what carrying six babies meant. The risks were enormous. Her body would have to carry a weight most women never experienced, and the chances of complications were dangerously high.
She knew the road ahead was going to be anything but easy. Now the couple was facing a situation they never planned for. They were far from home, in a foreign country with no doctor, no hospital, and no plan for delivering six babies. Going back to Nigeria with a pregnancy this fragile could have cost them everything. Adeboye felt desperate.
At one point he was ready to just fly back, risks and all. But then their host family called with news that changed everything. A hospital in Richmond, Virginia had agreed to take them in. VCU Medical Center said they would handle the entire pregnancy and do whatever it took to save Ajibola and the babies. Adeboye could barely believe it.
“Is it possible?” he whispered. From that moment on, Ajibola was admitted to the hospital and placed on strict bed rest. For eight long weeks she lay in that hospital bed unable to eat properly, barely able to sleep. Her body was under constant pressure growing six babies at once. Adeboye stayed by her side the entire time, all 60 days.
He later called it the most fearful period of our lifetime. Watching his wife struggle was hard. He said quietly, “She was so tiny, and oh she has gone through a lot for me and for our babies.” Meanwhile, the medical team at VCU was preparing for something historic. This would be the first sextuplet delivery in the hospital’s entire history.
The team ran for weeks. They assembled a team of 40 people including specialists from maternal fetal medicine, labor and delivery, nursing, anesthesia, respiratory therapy, neonatal medicine, social work, nutrition, cardiology, and chaplain services. One of the doctors explained, “A typical shift includes one, perhaps two premature births. We had to coordinate for six premature babies to be delivered simultaneously.”
Then on May 11th, 2017 at exactly 8:26 in the morning, the moment finally arrived. At VCU Medical Center, a lullaby chimes through the hallways every time a baby is born. That morning the lullaby played six times in a row.
Ajibola gave birth to all six babies through a C-section at 30 weeks and two days. Three boys and three girls. The babies were tiny, ranging in weight from just 1 lb 10 oz to 2 lb 15 oz. Because they were so small, all six had to be placed in the NICU right away to build up strength. The couple gave each baby a Yoruba name that honored God.
Miracle, meaning “I have found joy in the Lord.” Sisters, meaning “God still performs wonders.” Jubilee, meaning “God is not quantifiable.” Fun B, meaning “God gave me a child.” Satan, meaning “God has perfected my own.” And similar, meaning “God has favored me.” Every single name was a prayer answered. Ajibola was discharged from the hospital on May 18th, just 1 week after delivery.
But, the babies stayed behind in the NICU. They weren’t all discharged at the same time. One by one, day by day, the babies grew stronger. The nurses comforted them with tiny crocheted octopuses, whose soft tentacles reminded the babies of their mother’s umbilical cord inside the womb and kept them from pulling on their tubes and wires.
Eventually, each baby was healthy enough for Otide Boy and Ajibola to hold in their arms. The couple had spent 17 years praying for just one child, and now they were holding six. Those prayers, every last one of them, were finally being answered.
