A family of four had quite the surprise when they found out that mother, Amy Kempel, was pregnant with quintuplets. Suddenly they became a family of nine, and father, Chad, knew he needed to figure out a way for him and his wife to care for all their children at the same time.
Amy and Chad Kempel live in Idaho where they take care of their seven children. Their oldest daughters are Savannah and Avery, and the youngest five are named Lincoln, Noelle, Grayson, Preston, and Gabriella. They are a beautiful family and the parents couldn’t be happier to have so many little ones, even if it can be challenging at times.
Parents Magazine reported that the couple struggled with infertility at the beginning of their journey and used intrauterine insemination to conceive. They first became pregnant with twin boys, Marshall and Spencer, who were born at 22 weeks and never made it home from the hospital.
After such a devastating loss, the family tried and again, and then Savannah was born, and then two years later came Avery. They thought they would have just one more child, and were extremely surprised to learn they were pregnant with quintuplets.
Amy was incredibly anxious about having so many babies at once, especially after the loss of her twin boys, but Chad supported her every step of the way. The quints were born at 27 weeks and were all healthy and happy babies, despite having to stay in the NICU for 63 days before coming home. Once home, the real battle began when they realized they needed to find out how to feed, dress and just take care of seven children at once.
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In an interview with Parents Magazine, Chad opened up about his first thoughts when coming home from the hospital. “It was game time. I thought, this is going to be the most insane thing we’ve ever experienced but we have to start putting things in order if we’re going to survive this ourselves,” he said.
Chad described feeling like the house belonged to the children now and they got rid of most of their furniture to make room for all of the cribs and other supplies they would need to care for five babies at once. “We basically looked at each other and we said, ‘We don’t own this house anymore.’ And so, we gave it all up to the kids,” he told Now This.
When Chad had to return to work, he knew he needed to find a way to help Amy when he couldn’t be there in person. “During the week when Chad is working I’m taking care of the babies by myself. They wake up, they get breakfast, they get diaper changes, and playtime, and meals, and things throughout the day. Because there’s five, everything just takes so long,” Amy said about trying to care for so many kids at once.
Luckily, Chad is a go-getter and figured out a number of hacks he could use to make taking care of the babies easier and more efficient. One idea he had was to stack the babies’ pajamas, unzipped, on top of each other so Amy could get the quints dressed for bed quickly. He also had the ingenious idea of using flexible rubber ties to hold the babies’ bottles, so Amy could feed all five babies at once.
After the tragic loss of their twin boys, the parents were understandably unsure about how the quints would do after being born. “We couldn’t believe it at first. Then we could see the small steps the babies were making towards doing things on their own and all of the stuff a normal newborn baby would do. That’s when we realized we’re bringing home five healthy babies at the end of this,” Chad told the magazine.
With such stressful lives, it makes total sense that Amy and Chad’s relationship could use some extra care as well. “Things we normally would have done, like go to comedy shows and movies, stuff like that, and then get a babysitter, we don’t have money for that. We go to therapy together, couples counseling, and that’s helpful,” Amy shared.
Despite the struggles, the Kempel family makes it work. They all make sacrifices and work together to love and support each other. Five babies don’t slow this family down, they have a five-seated stroller to take them on walks. Chad even added a changing table into their family van so they can change diapers on the go.
Chad dreams of all the special memories they will make as a family when the quints get older. He said to Parents Magazine, “I can’t wait to go on family vacations and have all of us cram into a tent. Or everyone being at the pool together. Christmas mornings when they really understand what it is and dressing up and trying to keep them all quiet in church. I think it’s pretty awesome. It just seems like a fairytale to me. I love it.”
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