In just two minutes, Perth Mum, Kim Tucci, 26, gave birth to her quintuplets – one boy and four girls.

Kim and her husband Vaughn announced on Friday on her Facebook page that the couple had welcomed five new children to their family. The five babies: a son, Keith, and four daughters, Ali, Penelope, Tiffany and Beatrix were all born at King Edward Memorial Hospital at 30 weeks gestation.  All babies are healthy and thriving.

Naturally falling pregnant with the quintuplets, Kim has a nine-year-old son from a previous marriage and two daughters with her husband Vaughn.  She has been documenting her pregnancy progression on her blog, ‘Surprised by Five,’ to a widely supportive readership.

Kim wrote about her struggles with back pain, 12 bathroom trips a night and consuming the recommended 6,000 calories a day to feed her five babies.   

“I’m struggling to eat and force feed myself leaving me with reflux for hours,” she wrote on her blog, “I can’t tolerate a lot of dairy and I can’t keep protein drinks down, I’m starting to lose weight when I really need to be gaining it.”

Amassing a following of more than 123,000 people, her online posts about dealing with pain, nausea, changes to her body and going to the bathroom 12 times a night has seen an outpouring of support and personal stories from other mums also sharing their own stories.

“It’s getting harder as each day passes to push through the pain, every part of my body aches and sleeping is becoming very painful,” she said.  “No amount of pillows are helping support my back and belly. Sometime I get so upset that I just want to throw my hands up and give in!”

“‘I have a lot of stretch marks now, dealing with such a huge change in my body is hard. My husband always reminds me I should wear my stripes with pride and that I should be proud of them and what my body has achieved. Is it all worth it? ‘Yes!!!! I will keep pushing through.”

Kim recently shared that she is preparing for the changes the five little babes will make to their family life.

“I have only just really embraced this pregnancy and what it will mean for my family, the last few days has been a reality check that it’s all really happening!  It’s hard to accept life will change forever and my small family will be HUGE all in one hit,’ she said.

 

Image source: Facebook/surprisedbyfive