Katie Schaftlein from Kentucky gives birth to quintuplets on her 26th birthday

'Choker' Romney now embraces the President-elect he called a 'con-man and a bigot' in election campaign war-of-words as Trump dangles prospect of White House role at transition team talks
I love you Leonardo ...why have you cut me dead? DiCaprio's brother reveals bitter feud with Hollywood star after their wild partying left him an addict
Winter storm causes 340 crashes as it sweeps Minnesota leaving at least one person dead - as it moves further into the Northeast
Michelle Obama is among thousands who gather to celebrate the life of first female co-anchor Gwen Ifill at a memorial service in Washington
'Go to another country if you don't like Trump': Federal judge at US citizenship ceremony goes on rant defending the President elect
The top doctor who swears he saw a glimpse of hell: No-nonsense anaesthetist dismissed patients who said they'd had out-of-body experiences until HE went under the knife
Boy paralyzed by a gun shot to the face aged 7, who turned down a $3M payout in exchange for having weapons destroyed and saving others, dies of his injuries 22 years after accident
Was new mom MURDERED for her baby? Two arrested in Dallas 'for kidnapping week-old baby they may have passed off as their own after mother was found shot dead'
Alabama police officer fired over racist Facebook post saying Michelle Obama is 'fluent in ghetto'
Shuttered! Richard Simmons's landmark LA fitness studio closes its doors as reclusive star stays away telling fans 'I'm not good with endings'
Four dead after a medical transport plane crashes into Nevada parking lot while rushing a patient with heart attack symptoms to hospital
Left to paddle to their deaths: Uncle and another man are charged with manslaughter after brothers, six and nine, drowned after being washed over a 70-foot waterfall
Realtor accused of poisoning her tycoon father in Kenya over his alleged cheating insists 'malicious' claims are a slur made by her embittered brother
Horror scenes as 23 students are injured when Tennessee school bus flips and crashes off interstate
Terrifying mafia gang are using bazookas and burning lorries to carry out daring Fast and the Furious-style motorway heists
Eight-month-old baby 'had a coin stuck in his throat for 37 DAYS before anyone noticed'
Trump meets with controversial school reformer Michelle Rhee - who once fired 241 teachers in one year - as she is considered for Secretary of Education in his Cabinet
Chrissy Teigen, Bryan Cranston and Don Cheadle join chorus of celebrity support for Hamilton cast's speech to Mike Pence
President-elect attacks Hamilton saying Mike Pence was 'harassed' by 'very rude' cast who stopped the show to confront VP sitting in the audience - while the crowd BOOED him and his family
'I did not have the time to go through a long but winning trial': Donald Trump speaks out after settling Trump University fraud lawsuits for $25 million
Facebook warriors are all talk and no action: How millennials will moan about Brexit and Trump on social media, but won't actually do anything about it
'Grab My Fair Lady By The P***y': Twitter users troll Vice President-Elect Mike Pence by making up musicals about him after he was booed at Hamilton
Who is deplorable now? Gang of four are charged after 'beating' Trump supporter in horrific attack caught on camera
Facebook says it intends to fix its problem with fake news after claims the site helped Trump win the election

Katie Schaftlein gave birth to four girls and a boy on November 11 at University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital in Lexington
The first-time mother and her five babies now share the same birthday
Though born 11 weeks prematurely, the babies are healthy
Katie and her husband have named the babies Savannah, Sadie, Sofia, Scarlett and Lucas

Published: 13:25 EST, 18 November 2016 | Updated: 16:54 EST, 18 November 2016

e-mail

View
comments

A woman in Kentucky got the ultimate birthday present last week - five healthy babies.

Katie Schaftlein gave birth to quintuplets on November 11 - her 26th birthday - at the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital in Lexington.

Though the four girls and one boy were born 11 weeks premature, all are healthy and getting stronger in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.

Katie and her husband Lucas have named their children Savannah, Sadie, Sofia, Scarlett and Lucas Jr. The smallest was born at one pound, nine ounces while the biggest weighed two pounds, seven ounces.

Scroll down for video

Katie Schaftlein gave birth to quintuplets on November 11 - her 26th birthday

While the five babies were born 11 weeks prematurely, they are all in a healthy condition. Katie is pictured above holding one of her babies with her husband Lucas by her side

The couple, who are first-time parents, always wanted to have five children, but said they were having a hard time conceiving.

So Katie started taking fertility drugs in hopes of getting pregnant. When she finally became pregnant, it wasn't long before she realized that she was having more than one baby.

An early test showed a high amount of Human Chorionic Gonadoptropin in her blood, an indicator of multiple fetuses.

But they didn't know exactly how many babies they were having until their second ultrasound.

Katie and her husband Lucas have named their children Savannah, Sadie, Sofia, Scarlett and Lucas Jr.

'When we went in for the first ultrasound there were four that they had seen and then we went next week and they found five,' she said, according to WKYT. 'So we were excited but we were praying at the next ultra sound they didn't find six.'

Quintuplets are exceptionally rare. In 2014, the CDC recorded jut 47 national cases of quintuplets or other high-order multiple births.

As soon as they found out how many children they were having, Katie started buying used clothes and cribs and prepping their nursery.

Doctors wanted Katie to wait until at least 28 weeks to deliver her babies, but she was hospitalized at 22 weeks. She remained in the hospital until 29 weeks, when the babies were delivered by caeserian section.

The littlest Schatflein baby was born at one pound, nine ounces while the biggest weighed two pounds, seven ounces

The c-section started at 11:30pm, and there was some concerns that it would last past midnight - giving the quintuplets different birthdays. But doctors managed to wrap things up by 11:56pm so that all five babies could share a birthday not only with each other - but with their mom.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the new parents praised the doctors at UK for making the delivery a breeze.

'This was a very scary time for us,' Katie said, according to CBS News.

Her husband added: 'Everything was so well planned and everything was so calm.'

The couple actually met while attending the University of Kentucky. Katie has a bachelor's degree in early childhood education and a master's degree in special education while her husband studied mechanical engineering. Lucas works as a Toyota plant.

While five babies at once will no doubt cause a financial hardship on the family, they are asking well-wishers not to send them money or goods but to donate to the Ronald McDonald House in Lexington or Lifehouse Maternity Home in Louisville.

Fresh Fannies Diaper Service is providing the family with diapers and will be providing the family with diapers, charging them for only three babies' worth of product.

The Schaftlein quintuplets will need to stay at the hospital for about another six weeks until they are strong enough to go home.