Eʋonne and Deon Derrico, of Las Vegas, already had a seven-year-old daughter, a three-year-old son and one-year-old twins when they found out they were pregnant with five more babies. Ella eʋonne ella gave birth to two boys and three girls at Banner Desert Medical Center on September 6. Two proud parents of nine children under the age of seven have welcomed home the first of their new quintuplets, and they swear they didn’t use fertility drugs to conceive them.
Speaking with the Today show, the parents shared their joy at having most of their family home. Eʋonne told her: “I wanted a big family. Nobody expects that overnight, but I wanted a big family… So this is just a blessing from God. It really is. It is a dream come true”. The couple expects to bring another of the new babies home next week and the final baby, Daiten, who was born weighing less than two pounds, next week. Ella eʋonne told her: “As a mother of nine children, you often think: ‘Do I have enough love for all of them?’ I think that has been my number one priority. I don’t want anyone to feel neglected or unloved.”
Initially, their doctor had told the Derricos that they were expecting four babies, before revealing that there were actually five. At 22 weeks pregnant, after finding out they were expecting quintuplets, the family moved to suburban Phoenix to receive care from Dr. John Elliott, a perinatologist and specialist in multiple births. After spending her last trimester on bed rest, he Eʋonne gave birth after carrying the babies at 32 weeks, nearly doubling the family in less than five minutes.
Each baby was born between 11:17 a.m. and 11:21 a.m. on Friday, September 6. Following family tradition, baby names begin with the letter ‘D’: Deniko, Dariz, Deonee, Daician and Daiten. They were joined by the Derricos’ seven-year-old daughter, Dai, her three-year-old son, Deon, and one-year-old twins, Dallas and Denver. The mother did not know the gender of the babies before birth, hospital officials said, and she announced “boy” or “girl” as each baby was presented in the delivery room. Although they already had twins and multiples in their families, the couple was shocked. Doctors said the chances of her carrying quintuplets were one in several million.
Deon told Today: “We weren’t surprised to have twins. We wouldn’t have been surprised to have twins again, but we could never have expected this.” Now the family is trying to find their normal routine, but the parents smiled as they said they think they are already on the right track. “Everything is going well and we’re all sleeping and it’s working incredibly well,” Eʋonne said. After the babies were born, the family of 11 told the Las Vegas Sun that they have some adjustments to make. “We have one vehicle for the family right now, but we don’t have a vehicle for the other five,” said Mr. Derrico, who works as a field property manager. “There is a lot to discover.”