Family welcomes quintuplets at Columbus hospital
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A Columbus family has some new mouths to feed.
In the blink of an eye, the mom and dad went from having one child to six. Just days ago, Betsy Santiso, accompanied by her husband Dan, gave birth to quintuplets at Riverside Methodist Hospital.
It’s been quite the journey for the Santiso family. Quintuplets are such a rare occurrence that not only did the parents have to prepare for this new life -- medical experts had to come up with a step-by-step plan as well as safely deliver the babies.
“I'm feeling, well, I feel surprisingly good for having five kiddos, but I think that's because, like, just the whole process of having it was just so smooth,” Betsy Santiso said.
On Aug. 4, Betsy and Dan Santiso welcomed a little girl and four boys to the world. The infants already have a 2 1/2-year-old big brother at home.
“There's going to be five boys in our house and then a sweet little girl, and she, you know, she's either going to be a tomboy running around with the boys or she's going to be a total Miss Priss, so it'll be fun getting to know them,” Betsey Santiso said. “But it is going to be wild in our house, I'm sure.”
The parents said the quintuplets were not planned, but the family was on a fertility journey.
“We knew there is an increased chance of multiples, but considering my medical history, they were like it probably won't happen, and it really happened,” Betsey Santiso said.
After finding out they were having quintuplets, the Santisos were scared at first, but then became excited. The parents said all the babies are named after types of trees. They’ve been getting one-on-one time with each of them since they were born.
“It's been really, really precious, lots of happy tears shed, also a little overwhelming because you feel like you want to spend time with each one of them and you can't always get to all of them,” Betsey Santiso said. “But each moment that you get to hold one or help change a diaper or something, it's just like, so sweet.”
NBC4 also got the chance to speak with the medical professionals who worked to make this pregnancy and delivery as smooth as possible. It really was an all-hands-on-deck situation that took a lot of planning.
“We ended up doing simulations in the spaces where we were going to be delivering mom, and so with each simulation with that team that was going to be involved was new ideas, new suggestions, new changes until we came up with just that perfect scenario,” Carrie Aurin, an administrative nurse manager for labor and delivery at Riverside Methodist Hospital, said.
“Each baby had a team of four or five associates, and that included a mixture of labor and delivery and NICU in all different disciplines that were caring for them, as well as the team dedicated for mom,” Aurin said.
The babies were just born minutes apart.
"Our little girl was just ready to be born,” Betsy Santiso said. “She just decided it was time and so then all four brothers had to follow suit.”
“For many of us, it could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to train and to help with delivering five babies at once from one mom having quintuplets. It's incredible,” Eric Liming, the program manager for NICU at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, said.
This miracle came shortly after Betsy and Dan both lost their fathers. NBC4 asked Dan how proud he is of his wife.
“Just watching her grace and her trust, you just can't put it into words when you see someone do that and put a lot out in terms of just sacrificing her time in her body just for the kids,” Dan Santiso said.
All five babies are in the NICU. The parents have yet to see all five of them in the same room at the same time, but they said they can’t wait for that moment. They said they have a ton of love, support and help waiting at home for them.