Amy and Chad Kempel had hoped for a third child, who would probably be their ʟᴀsᴛ, given the sᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇs they had for years trying to add to their family. But, the California couple ended up welcoming five more children to their home. The three boys and two girls, Lincoln, Noelle, Grayson, Preston and Gabriella, were born Jan. 11 by ᴄᴀᴇsᴀʀɪᴀɴ sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ.
Chad Kempel, a management analyst, and his wife Amy, had sᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇᴅ for years with ɪɴFᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ and ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴄʏ ʟᴏss, and had begun to think that they would ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ have the ʟᴀʀɢᴇ family they’d dreamed of. He said :” When the ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ said he could hear four ʜᴇᴀʀᴛʙᴇᴀᴛs and then a fifth, we couldn’t believe it. When we Fᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴏᴜᴛ there would be five didn’t know how we would ᴄᴏᴘᴇ, but after ʟᴏsɪɴɢ the twins in 2013, we knew we just had to go for it.” Amy gave birth to their quints in January 2018 and all five of the babies weighed 2.5lbs after being born by ᴄᴇsᴀʀᴇᴀɴ at 27 weeks. He added:” When the quintuplets were born we truly understood how everything between then and now fits together to make our family, what it is today and it’s beyond anything we ever imagined.”
While most parents sᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇ to juggle one child day to day, Chad and Amy are ɴᴀᴛᴜʀᴀʟ ʙᴏʀɴ ᴘʀᴏs, and so decided to film their life hacks to share with other mums and dads online. Chad said: “There’s always so much to do – I’m sure anyone can imagine what it’s like to have five babies to look after – the job ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ really stops. One of the first things we had to do was create a big playroom, somewhere we knew they could all be at the same time without any ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀs . We converted a transit van into a baby bus which has a changing table inside as well as a television to give our older girls something to do when we feed and change the quints on a journey. We have made all these different props to help the basic tasks. And while companies do sell stuff that help ᴅᴇᴀʟ with ᴍᴜʟᴛɪᴘʟᴇs, the prices are ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ, so I just made my own.”
With the little ones ʟɪᴋɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜʀᴏᴡ their food around, they even created a special table to sᴛᴏᴘ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴇss and bottle feeding system to cut down time. Chad added :” We have made props to hold their bottles for them when feeding so we don’t have to feed them one at a time. As by the time we got them all fed, the first baby would need feeding again. And it’s a lot like the movie ‘Hᴏᴍᴇ Aʟᴏɴᴇ’ when we travel’. I’ll be running in the front and we’ll have our army of children following behind. One of my ᴇsᴄᴀᴘᴇs, either after they go to bed or early in the morning, is I go for a run. Running is my thing, that’s my ᴀɴᴛɪ-ᴅᴇᴘʀᴇssᴀɴᴛ, that’s my feel-good, that’s my celebration. Every emotion, I pair that with running… When we had the quintuplets, I didn’t really expect that I would go running with all five of them at the same time.”
However, shortly after finding a jogging stroller which would seat all five babies, Chad began to think about setting himself a challenge that his children could be a part of. He saids:”At some point close to their first birthday, I decided that I wanted to do something to kind of celebrate how far we had come to now be this family. So I had the idea that I would complete a full marathon pushing the quintuplets.” In between being a super parent, Chad recently gained a ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ʀᴇᴄᴏʀᴅ Fᴏʀ ʀᴜɴɴɪɴɢ ᴀ ᴍᴀʀᴀᴛʜᴏɴ whilst pushing his baby quints to the finish line.
