Hello!

7 Comments

A Perth family who welcomed quintuplets in January won’t have to care for the babies on their own, up to 150 volunteers will rotate through a support roster with the estimated 50 nappy changes and 40 bottle feeds each day.

Now mother-of-eight, Kim Tucci, and her husband Vaughn at just 30 weeks gave birth to a new boy, named Keith (1269g), and his four sisters – Tiffany (1170g), Penelope (1160g), Allie (1200g) and Beatrix (1210g) on January 29.

five wd

Birth Announcement via Facebook

We are very happy to announce the birth of our 5 beautiful babies, born on the 28th of January and just shy of 30 weeks.

We would like to say a big thank you to Dr Jan Dickinson for looking after me and the babies with such love and care. I was very lucky to have an amazing medical team supporting me. Thank you for giving me an exceptional birth!

The babies and I are both doing very well, thank you for all your well wishes and support.

Tiffany weight 1170g
Penelope weight 1160g
Beatrix weight 1210g
Allie weight 1200g
Keith weight 1269g

WAtoday first reported the news the Perth mum of three was expecting quintuplets late last year after she began documenting her incredible journey on her Facebook blog ‘Surprised by Five’.

five

Perth and Districts Multiple Births Association (PDMBA) volunteer support program coordinator Krista Bingham said in a first for the association, it would trial a community support program centred around Ms Tucci.

ee

“We’re trying to organise a roster, so we’re hoping to cover pretty much the whole day to be able to get some extra help in there for the parents,” she said.

“The volunteers will be doing stuff like helping to feed babies, changing nappies, helping with washing bottles and preparing feeds and changing linen and washing baby clothes and all those sort of tasks.

“They’ll also help with cuddling the babies which is really important because multiple birth babies need cuddles just as much as single babies do.”

Ms Bingham said she hoped to develop a regular roster so volunteers, many of whom have twins or triplets themselves, can form a relationship with the parents and offer them support.

wd five mf

“We have such a range of people, we’ve got a couple of ladies that had triplet themselves that are grown up now, lots of families with twins, lots of grandparents, lots of professionals as well – midwives, nurses, teachers,” she said.

“The thing they all have in common is they all love babies and they all want to help.”

Ms Bingham said the association was also looking into setting up government-subsidised in-home care to support Ms Tucci and her husband during nights.

“The parents will need an extra pair of hands, they won’t be able to manage five babies on their own and get any sleep,” she said.

Ms Bingham said 150 volunteers had already been screened and were attending a training workshop at the weekend in preparation for the babies’ being brought home from King Edward Memorial Hospital.

She said if successful, the support program may be extended to other multiple birth parents who need extra support.

Anyone interested in volunteering to help the Tucci family can contact the PDMBA via email on support@pdmba.org.au.

Share your comments below.

Images via Facebook

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
  • What an amazing woman! And what a great idea to have volunteers. I hope they either know them or have them strictly observed before they get access to those precious babies. I know I would be stressing about strangers caring for my newborns. Then again, with 5 newborns and 2 toddlers, I’ld probably be too exhausted to worry too much ;)

    Reply

  • People can be very decent when there’s a real need.

    Reply

  • Beautiful all those helping hands !!

    Reply

  • I thought the Govt. used to provide assistance for limited time to parents of quads +. The system has probably been phased out now. I can visualize a room with a line of cots along one of two walls. Not only do they have the babies to care for there is the other children too. They probably need an ID system of some kind too. I know a family who fostered identical twins. I can’t remember if both had bracelets or only one of them. The foster parents couldn’t tell their cries apart, but their own son could. Another important reason is if one has a medical condition that needs regular medication you have to make sure you give it to the right baby. One family in such a case had a tiny tattoo dot put on one of them. They were using a marker but naturally it got washed off when somebody else was caring for them and the wrong one was given the medication. That one suddenly got very ill and had to be rushed to hospital. That was when they decided they needed something permanent small and discreet. They put a tiny dot in a discreet place.

    Reply

  • It’s amazing. With so many kids, every little help is welcome! :-)

    Reply

  • This family is very fortunate to have eight healthy children and so much support.

    Reply

  • This is such an awesome idea. I struggle with the idea of just one at a time let alone five to look after. I hope that the program is successful.

    Reply

Post a comment
Add a photo
Your MoM account


Lost your password?

Enter your email and a password below to post your comment and join MoM:

You May Like

Loading…

Looks like this may be blocked by your browser or content filtering.

↥ Back to top

Thanks For Your Star Rating!

Would you like to add a written rating or just a star rating?

Write A Rating Just A Star Rating
Join