Parents of quintuplets share news of a ‘sweet surprise’

Quintuplets arrived for the Ladner family in February 2023 — and now, the proud parents are expecting their sixth surprise baby in July 2024.

“We weren’t trying, and I was on birth control,” Halee Ladner told TODAY, and she believed her fatigue and nausea were the result of contracting the same illness her children had. “I was sure [the pregnancy test] would be negative,” she explained. After seeing a positive pregnancy test, her husband Shawn even bought more pregnancy tests to confirm. Their sixth baby, a little girl, comes about a year and five months after her quintuplet siblings.

“We thought we were completely done, but we were blessed with this sweet surprise,” Ladner explains, noting that she intends for this to be their “last baby.”

The previous year, the Landers’ quintuplets were joyfully welcomed by the new parents after two heartbreaking miscarriages. Born by cesarean section at 28 weeks, the quintuplets ranged in weight from 1lb., 11oz to 2lbs., 5oz.

Adalyn Elizabeth, Everleigh Rose, Malley Kate, Magnolia Mae, and Jake Easton were all born between 9:19am and 9:23am on February 16, 2023. The OR was filled with a team of four surgeons, about 35 neonatologists, five anesthesiologists, and others ready to assist in aiding the babies.

The Ladners had become the first family to welcome quintuplets at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) after undergoing intrauterine insemination (IUI), due to Halee’s PCOS, in 2022. (IUI is a treatment for infertility that involves implanting healthy sperm into the uterus at the time of estimated or confirmed ovulation to attempt a higher chance of a successful pregnancy. It does not involve the creation of embryos outside the womb as in IVF, but in some circumstances may involve sperm from a donor depending on the specific fertility issue. Use of donor sperm can come with its own difficulties and controversies for the children conceived.) 

A quintuplet pregnancy is as rare as 1 in 60 million. What’s even more incredible is that all four of the girls are identical—meaning they all share the same egg, a 1 in 15 million chance. 

The parents were called to speak at the Wiser Hospital for Women and Infants at UMMC prior to the quintuplets’ births, when their mother shared, “I didn’t think I would ever get the chance to be a mother of even one baby, so now that I am going to be a mother to five, it is the greatest blessing of my entire life.” 

Now pregnant with their sixth, she says, “It was scary at first, because they’re going to be so close together in age, but if I can handle 5, I can handle 6!”

The quintuplets are all thriving at just 13 months old, with Jake attempting to take his first steps. “Watching them interact together is just the best… They’re constantly laughing and smiling at each other. And we just sit there wondering what it is that they’re talking about,” their mom shared. 

The Ladners hope their story can serve as “hope” for other couples “who have gone through infertility.”

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