At first, everything with the ultrasound seemed to go well, then the doctor noticed something that made the hair on his arms stand up. He could not believe what he saw on the monitor. In an instant, the couple’s pregnancy took a dramatic turn.
For years and years, Lauren and David Perkins, a lovely couple from Texas, tried to conceive a child with no luck. The process was heartbreaking and after several failed attempts, they turned to medical professionals for help. Finally, after successful treatment, Lauren got pregnant. Before they knew it, the day for their first ultrasound arrived. The would-be parents felt excited, ready to see how their baby was doing.
When Lauren and David Perkins first met, they immediately knew they belonged together. In 2007, the couple tied the knot and in 2010 they adopted a dog, Maggie. Everything seemed perfect. Lauren and David couldn’t wait to start a family that they could love and grow with. However, being adventurous souls, the couple decided to wait until they were ready to settle down. They thought in that time they could plan for anything.
A few years into their marriage, Lauren and David began trying to have a baby. Like so many would-be parents, they believed they had planned out the perfect life. At the time, the couple felt incredibly excited at the idea of conceiving a baby on their own. However, they had no idea how difficult it would be.
Unfortunately, as the Perkins attempted to have a child, they realized something was off. As much as they wanted a baby, the tests continually came back negative. Even though they knew to stress about it could make things worse, Lauren and David couldn’t help it. Soon days turned into months, so the couple started trying anything they could that would help.
Lauren and David both began taking vitamins and supplements as well as adopting healthy eating habits. Still, month after month, the couple continued to come up empty. Lauren and David Perkins tried to conceive for 18 months with no success. Unfortunately, after many attempts, there still was no baby in sight and the couple felt more disappointed than ever.
At that point, Lauren and David decided to turn to a fertility specialist for help. After some extensive research, the couple found the perfect doctor for them and booked an appointment. During the visit, the doctor covered a variety of tests they could take and the treatments that could follow. However, it all seemed too overwhelming for both Lauren and David, not to mention expensive. As such, they decided to sleep on it before making any decisions.
Also, the couple decided it was finally time to tell their family and friends about their trouble. Maybe someone could point them in the right direction. After months of waiting and a visit to the doctors, the Perkins told their loved ones about the situation. The couple explained their infertility, struggling to do so.
Thankfully, everyone understood and fully supported the Perkins. The secret instantly turned into a breath of fresh air. Lauren and David’s family could not believe they kept the secret for so long, so everyone started discussing what the doctors had said and the treatments the couple could try.
While the couple researched their problems, they decided to join a missionary trip to Nicaragua. After a long, hard year, Lauren and David thought they would leave their infertility issues behind for a while. However, something incredible happened instead. While in Nicaragua, a local priest pulled the couple aside and put her hand on Lauren’s belly.
“She told me she knew God had big plans for me. She didn’t know what, but it would be big,” Lauren recalled. The moment was incredibly powerful. Thanks to the pastor, their missionary trip had given Lauren and David everything they wanted: a renewed faith in one another, God, and their ability to have a child. So they decided to try again instead of adopting.
However, this time things would go differently. Now the Perkins agreed to consider all their options, including treatments and surgeries. As Lauren and David began exploring all of their options, they closed in on intrauterine insemination (IUI) first. Basically, this meant that the sperm would be placed directly into her uterus to increase the number of sperm that reached the Fallopian tubes. That way, the chances of fertilization would be higher.
It was a pain-free, relatively fast procedure that many couples chose to help themselves get pregnant. Most noteworthy, in terms of budget, it ranged anywhere from $300 to $500 per session, making it one of the most affordable options. However, IUI chances sit at just 2-5%, so Lauren didn’t feel incredibly confident, to say the least. She figured once the IUI failed, they would move on.
While the Perkins wanted to conceive naturally, they couldn’t wait forever. So while they continued to try, Lauren and David also went ahead with the IUI treatment. After all, what did they have to lose? Worst case, they would have to try more than once or simply move on to a more effective treatment.
With that in mind, the Perkins headed back to the fertility clinic. When the doctor finished the treatment, David started to breathe normally once again. Meanwhile, Lauren felt fine. The procedure went smoothly and Lauren had no complications whatsoever. Once the IUI treatment took place, the Perkins headed back home. All Lauren and David could do was patiently wait and pray for a successful procedure.
In most IUI cases, doctors recommend that women don’t take a pregnancy test until a few weeks after the treatment. So the Perkins waited, trying not to let their hopes and fears get the best of them. After the two-week wait following the procedure, the Perkins were ready for some results.
So Lauren went to a nearby drugstore and purchased multiple pregnancy tests. After all, she wanted to make sure that she got a consistent result. But after taking the very first pregnancy test, Lauren couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The stick came back positive. She was pregnant.
The couple couldn’t be happier. After all this time, they finally received the miraculous news they wanted. Still, they wanted to be sure, so Lauren took a second and third test; all came back positive. It must have been such an emotional scene to watch. Once she learned the news, Lauren was all ready to have her first checkup within the next couple of days.
Lauren scheduled her first appointment. At her routine checkup, the nurse noted that Lauren’s hormone levels were abnormally high. Of course, the new parents-to-be felt worried by this news. High levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) could indicate that something might be off with her pregnancy.
The doctors understood the Perkins’ fears. The mother-to-be was speechless. Twins? Triplets? Possibly. At this stage of the pregnancy of testing, all the doctors could tell was that her condition seemed to indicate multiple children. They’d need to do an ultrasound to know more.
The Perkins couldn’t believe they might be expecting more than one baby. They felt happier than ever. They had been so focused on the idea of having just one child, they never stopped to think they might have two at once. The day of Lauren’s first ultrasound finally arrived.
On the way, the Perkins could hardly contain their excitement. The doctor started the ultrasound, running the probe over her belly so an image appeared on the screen. Initially, the doctor said everything on the ultrasound looked in order. Then he stopped talking. Then, after a minute or two, Lauren and David noticed their doctor had a strange look on his face.
“Well, I just counted five,” the doctor told them. Lauren and David’s jaws dropped. They simply couldn’t believe what the doctor was telling them. But the surprises didn’t end there. All of a sudden, the doctor said:
“Wait, wait, wait, wait… I just found a sixth one.”
Both Lauren and David’s hearts stopped for a second. Sextuplets? Certainly, they were not expecting this kind of news. They arrived thinking that maybe they could be expecting twins, possibly maybe triplets. Never in a million years did they think they could have sextuplets. After all this time, their perseverance had finally paid off in the most astonishing way.
Unsurprisingly, the couple felt overwhelmed and scared. The doctor also explained to them that multiple pregnancies like triplets or sextuplets were especially dangerous because of the number of babies. So the doctor presented them with some options. Now Lauren and David Perkins faced one of the hardest decisions they would ever have to make.
Because of the limited space in Lauren’s womb, the sextuplets might not get the nutrients and blood supply that they needed. As such, the doctor gave Lauren and David the option of selective reduction. What this meant is that they would have to choose to abort some of the fetuses to provide the others with a better chance at surviving.
However, in Lauren and David’s mind, it was never an option. They just couldn’t decide which babies got to live and which didn’t. Lauren and David decided to keep all the sextuplets. They would give all six babies a fighting chance. Despite the challenge that came with raising sextuplets as brand new parents, luckily, the Perkins were not alone. They had the support of their friends and family to get through it all.
Over the next seven months, Lauren’s body experienced some incredible changes. After all, her body had to compensate for all the six babies growing inside of her. Because of the babies’ weight in her belly, Lauren started to have constant back, leg, and foot pain. Eventually, it became too difficult for her to travel very far for very long.
Three days after Lauren was admitted to the hospital, it was finally time for the babies to come into this world. On April 23rd of 2012, Lauren gave birth to the little sextuplets via C-section. Today at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, Lauren and David Perkins from Houston, Texas gave birth to sextuplets. At 10:26 AM, they delivered three boys and three girls at 30 weeks, one day gestation, a close friend of the couple told the press.
The sextuplets had to stay in the NICU because they were too small to handle the environment. The Perkins welcomed to the world Leah Michelle, Caroline Grace, Allison Kate, Levi Thomas, Andrew Miller, and Benjamin Luke. With time, each baby got bigger and stronger. Eventually, the sextuplets were healthy enough that Lauren and David were able to hold them.
The Perkins were constantly praying that all their children would grow strong, and their prayers were answered. The kids’ first Christmas arrived, and this time around the family had much more than presents to be thankful for. Not only were the sextuplets eight months old already, but they were all doing really well.
The couple felt incredibly grateful for all the blessings in their life. Lauren Perkins wanted to find a way to share her experience as a mother of sextuplets with the world. As such, she started a blog called “Perkins Six-Pack” after their nickname, where she writes about their everyday life.
On the blog, Lauren shared a bit of her pregnancy experience; however, now the blog is entirely about the Perkins pack. For Lauren, she picked up a few things along the way while raising the sextuplets.
“A couple things that were told to me back in the baby days that have stuck with me: One, when you turn down offers of help, you’re taking away a blessing from someone. Two, your family is now your mission field. Raising these kids and how you interact with all the people that are coming in and out of your family’s life.”
That’s some excellent advice from someone who’s been on one of life’s more incredible journeys.
