10 Years Later: Catching Up With Minn. Quintuplets
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Welcoming a new baby to the family can be an exciting time, and when a couple is expecting more than one baby, emotions can really run high.
So imagine what it must be like to give birth to five babies at one time. Quintuplets.
That's what happened to Christina and Eric Peltz in 2004. After undergoing fertility treatments, they had five boys.
Now it's 10 years later, and the family lives in Prior Lake.
"It's just very loud and chaotic all the time," Christina said.
Austin, Blake, Clayton, Daniel and Ethan: Each boy is close to 5 feet tall, and around 85 pounds.
"They're never sitting still," their mom said. "These guys are always moving, always talking. It's always loud."
The boys are in fourth grade now in Prior Lake... and active.
Three of them have autism, and take special education classes.
"It's a little challenging for them at school," Christina said. "They need a little extra time doing things."
She says the biggest struggle has been making ends meet.
Her husband works seven days a week and has two jobs.
"My husband, Eric, is stretched to the limit," Christina said. "He can't do anything more. We do what we can, we're thankful for what we have."
Looking back at the last decade, she says there's little she would change -- except maybe her sleep deprivation when the boys were infants.
"It wasn't a nightmare, no. But it was certainly very difficult at times," Christina said.
The experience has expanded not only her family, but also her circle of close friends.
"All the people who are in my life right now, I wouldn't know any of them. Because I've met and gotten to know all these wonderful people because of the boys," she said.
The boys' 10th birthday is Thursday.
Christina says she and her husband tried unsuccessfully to get pregnant for nearly two years.
She turned to fertility shots for help.
Initially, her doctors thought she was having twins, then it looked like there were four babies, but then an egg split creating twins, and that took the number to five.
Having five babies at one time is extremely rare. Only about 10 sets of quintuplets are born in the United States each year.
Also, there is a support group called the Minnesota Valley Mothers of Multiples that Christina works with. They give each other advice and share things with one another.
