Ever since she was a child, Hannah Merton has dreamed of nothing more than having a family of her own. Now, she is the mother of five small babies.
Hannah Merton, 23, from Akron, Ohio has shared her miraculous story of becoming pregnant with five babies and explained that I.V.F had nothing to do with it. The mother-of-five regularly posts pictures of her gorgeous brood and shares snippets of their life as a family. Hannah and Jacob, 24, a financial planner, began trying for a baby three years ago – but when she didn’t fall pregnant, she decided to take ᴍᴇᴅɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ to encourage ᴏᴠᴜʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ. In October 2019, a pregnancy test came back ᴘᴏsɪᴛɪᴠᴇ – and later doctors confirmed Hannah was carrying not one, but five babies.
She said:” I suffered from ɪɴғᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ so I took ᴍᴇᴅɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ to help me ᴏᴠᴜʟᴀᴛᴇ, and it worked better than we expected. We were told at the time I had a one per cent chance of having triplets – nobody mentioned the chance of four, never mind five babies because it was so low. It was very shocking when I found out I had five babies. We’d been told the chance of triplets was one per cent and we thought anything more than that would be virtually impossible.” At just 25 weeks pregnant, she was rushed into hospital on March 5th, 2020. Philomena, Evangeline, Meredith, Gideon and Elliot were born ᴘʀᴇᴍᴀᴛᴜʀᴇʟʏ at just 25 weeks weighing between 1lb 13oz and 1lb 4oz each, and Hannah said they could fit in the palm of her hand.
Hannah said: ” When I first saw them all, I was shocked, but I was excited all at the same time. It was love at first sight but I worry seeing them attached to so many different tubes and monitors and wires.” Sadly one of the five children, Meredith, ᴅɪᴇᴅ three days after she was delivered.
By five months old, Philomena, Evangeline and Elliot had made it home, but Gideon remained in hospital. On March 25th, 2021, Gideon was finally reunited with his siblings at home. She said: “Bringing them home was amazing but sᴄᴀʀʏ, it was the first time each of them had not been hooked up to monitors.” Since getting all four of the babies back home, Hannah and Jacob discovered the reality of looking after four tots at once.
Hannah explained: ” Having lots of children is sᴄᴀʀʏ, and it is crazy, but it is so much fun. I do have my hands full, that is true. But my heart is even fuller, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Seeing them in the N.I.C.U was love at first sight but I couldn’t bear to leave them behind, so finally bringing them all home was an amazing feeling. Having four babies to look after is very messy – I’m constantly cleaning – and it’s chaotic and crazy and loud. People are always making comments that I ‘have my hands full’ – and I do. But it’s so rewarding and so much fun, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
