Bringing a child into the world is something exceptional in itself. It is probably the most beautiful event a person can experience in their life. It arouses many emotions at the same time: joy, apprehension, pain, excitement… Imagine bringing seven children into the world and raising them! That’s what happened to Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey. Discover the extraordinary story of these lovebirds and their children!
1. Seven unhoped-for births
On November 19th in 1997, Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey made newspaper headlines: this couple from Iowa, in the United States, gave birth to the first septuplets int he world! Bobbi, the mother of the septuplets, became pregnant after starting treatment to stimulate ovulation after the birth of her first child in 1996. When the doctors announced to the couple the presence of the septuplets, they refused selective reduction, preferring to put the birth of their children “between the hands of God”. So the couple gave birth to 7 children!
2. An almost normal life
Against all odds, the couple’s 4 boys and 3 girls survived the pregnancy and extraordinary birth and have lead a normal life. But, this hasn’t always been the case for their parents.
3. Postive…and negative letters
Obviously, the birth of septuplets attracted a lot of attention from the media. The McCaughey’s thus became celebrities against their will…TIME Magazine even decided to do a story on the birth of these children in one of their issues. This, of course, created a lot of buzz, which lead to people writing letters to the McCaugheys. Bobby declared, in 2007: “At the beginning, for every 10 letters we received from people saying they were happy for us, we received one letter accusing us of exploiting our kids and of being selfish of wasting global resources by having such a big family.” Bobby added: “Our neighbours never bothered us. Here, in Carlisle, they let us keep our life private. But some strangers came to our house, knocked on our door and asked if they could hold one of our babies in their arms…”
4. More positive than negative
The McCaugheys didn’t only experience negative encounters with strangers. Indeed, some people were extremely generous to them. The family received a 511 m² house, a van and diapers!
5. 20 years later
The septuplets are healthy and have accomplished a lot. In fact, they graduated high school in 2016. Some have even received university scholarships. Brandon, one of the kids, got married this summer.
As for the couple, they sometimes intervene during pro-life events and are radically against selective reduction. Now, we just have to wait and see if the McCaughey kids have as many children as their parents did…
Cover photo: https://hygo.com
Source: Wikipedia
