When people consider starting a family, they may consider all the wonderful things they will do with their son or daughter. They might even start to favor one over the other, or at least one of each. A mother who decided to try for one more baby girl after having two boys gave birth to quintuplets. Joshua and Megan Hulen of Surrey, New Zealand hoped to grow their family once more. After having two sons, they desperately desired a daughter and decided to try one last time. And boy, or perhaps we should say girl, did they win! Megan gave birth in September to not one, but four daughters, as well as a son. The couple is now the proud parents of a set of naturally occurring uts, which leaves even their doctors speechless.

The mother, who has st s and therefore cannot naturally ut, had previously relied on tt us and I.U.I. when. The couple was stunned to discover that they had conceived the quints through natural conception. She stated, "We had decided to try again for a daughter, but I became pregnant before we could begin IUI. I began to feel very strange and thought it was impossible for me to be t because I had never actually utd on my own. But the one time I did, we discovered we weren't, which was a surprise in and of itself. Then we learned we were expecting five children, and nothing could have prepared us for that."

The couple went in for an uʟtʀᴀsᴏuɴᴅ at six weeks where they were initially told that only one ʜᴇᴀʀtʙᴇᴀt was present and it was unlikely that all five would be viable. Megan said: “We went back in a week later and saw five ʜᴇᴀʀtʙᴇᴀts. I was so sʜᴏᴄᴋᴇᴅ – the uʟtʀᴀsᴏuɴᴅ technician worried they were ʜuʀtɪɴɢ me because I was sʜᴀᴋɪɴɢ and I said ‘I’m sʜᴀᴋɪɴɢ because you’ve told me I’m having five babies. After the uʟtʀᴀsᴏuɴᴅ I told my husband I couldn’t go home because I needed time to freak out away from the kids so we went to his office and I sat in the corner and cried for about an hour.”

Emotions aside, Megan found that there was a big difference between carrying one baby and carrying five. Megan said: “There were a lot of differences from being ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴt with one and with five. I couldn’t ᴠᴀᴄuuᴍ the carpet without needing to take a break. Standing in front of the mirror to put my makeup on I would become too winded or too tired from holding the weight up and would need to sit down.” She was admitted to Fargo hospital in Sanford at 32 weeks after doctors noticed a surge in ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴘʀᴇssuʀᴇ, and the couple welcomed the quintuplets ᴠɪᴀ ᴄ-sᴇᴄtɪᴏɴ on September 2. Megan was astounded that her five babies were born within four minutes of one another. They were born at 32 weeks.  The babies were all born by 2:20am with Allison weighing 3 pounds 5.6 ounces; Adam 4 pounds 0.2 ounces; Madison 3 pounds 6 ounces; Emma 3 pounds 10.9 ounces; and Chloe 3 pounds 3.5 ounces.

The first few weeks were difficult for the newly expanded family. Megan said, "I had anticipated and prepared for the amount of laundry I would have to do, but it's even more than I had anticipated and prepared for. ᴡɪtʜ Fɪᴠᴇ babies I sometimes feel like I am living in sᴘɪt-uᴘ. After every