After suffering another miscarriage, Courtney and Eric Waldrop were determined to continue trying for another baby. The Alabama couple, who were already parents to three boys, decided to start fertility treatments in the hopes of conceiving again. Miraculously, the medicine worked better than anyone could have imagined: Courtney found out she was carrying six babies and would soon be a mom to nine.
The Waldrops endured several miscarriages throughout their journey to parenthood.
The couple, who have been together since middle school, suffered their first losses after welcoming their eldest child, 8-year-old Saylor. With the help of fertility treatments, they were able to have 5-year-old twins, Wales and Bridge, three years later. "It was devastating because I can get pregnant so easily, I just can't hold on to them," Courtney previously told People.
After yet another heartbreaking miscarriage, they sought medical help again, and this time, they conceived six babies. "I was scared to death. I'm a smaller framed girl, and my first thoughts were on how I was going to successfully get six kids here without something happening to them or me," she said. "There was a lot of fear. We didn't know what to do or think."
Courtney's goal was to make it to 28 weeks to give her rainbow babies the best chance of survival.
By October, the first-grade teacher was pretty much completely on bed rest and spent each day grateful for the additional time her unborn babies had to grow in the womb. "This has been an incredible journey but a very hard journey as well. We never expected it to be easy," she wrote on Facebook. "In the beginning we did not know if my body could handle carrying 6 babies but God has proved to me that it does not matter what I thought I could do it only matters what HE can do."
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She started having contractions two days before the 30-week mark and was prepared for an emergency C-section.
For Courtney, the extreme exhaustion, massive calorie intake, and bed rest weren't the hardest part of this journey; it was trying to be the best mom she could to her three boys while also carrying sextuplets that took its toll on her. "It was really nothing else than just the challenge of trying to be still a good mom for them and grow these six babies and get them where they needed to be," she said during a press conference in December.
However, she made it longer than expected and started having contractions just shy of 30 weeks. "I started contracting early in the morning [yesterday] and then my water broke!!!! But everything happens on God's timing," she wrote on Facebook on December 13. "And He knew my body couldn't last much longer and it was time to meet our 6 precious gifts from God. Surgery around 1:30. And within minutes we heard the cries of 6 little babies."
A team of 40 medical specialists delivered three healthy boys and three healthy girls.
The rainbow sextuplets were born at Huntsville Hospital for Women and Children and each weighed less than three pounds. Before their smooth delivery, the complex medical team from different departments had 12 "code six" practice drills to prepare for their high-risk arrival. "We sort of anticipated like six, seven minutes," Cheryl Case, neonatal and intensive care director, told WHNT News. "And Dr. Rushing had the babies out in four minutes."
One of the sweetest moments came when the couple's first baby girl was born.
"It was very quick and fast. It was just so surreal," photographer Courtney Neill Williams told Today. "When the first girl was born, Courtney's husband leaned and kissed her on the forehead and said, 'You've got your first little girl.' He was just very comforting to her and held her hand the whole time."
Each baby was given a color of the rainbow assigned by birth order, and specific doctors were on those colored teams.
Each team quickly worked on the babies as they were born, and even though things went better than expected, it still took its toll on Courtney's body. "Today has been very hard for me. My body is in complete shock after growing 6 babies … And have been very weak," she wrote on Facebook. "A little scary at what was happening to me. I continued to lose a lot of blood through this the day. So as I lay here I'm receiving a blood infusion. My eyes have been blurry all day … They're oh so very little but absolutely perfect!! May take a few more days for me to recover. But it was all worth it."
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Now that all of the babies are officially out of the hospital, their rainbow is back together again.
Since the preemies were born 10 weeks early, they spent weeks in the NICU growing and on oxygen as their lungs gained strength. On February 21, the last sextuplet came home and now the six are officially together again.
The three boys Blu, Layke, and Tag were discharged last, joining sisters Rawlings, Rayne, and Rivers at home with Mom, Dad, and their older brothers.
To welcome them home, Ashley Sargent Photography coordinated a rainbow-inspired shoot that honored both their rainbow baby conception as well as their assigned birth colors. "Praising God every day for these little miracles and the joy and love they are bringing to our lives!!" Courtney wrote.
Although some of the babies are still on oxygen at home, they are all thriving.
Courtney shared that her "tiny miracles" are healthy and fighters but some of them still require oxygen since being discharged from the hospital. "It took a total of two hours to remove all feeding tubes and make it look as natural as possible," Sargent wrote on Facebook about the shoot.
As Mom relishes in holding all of her babies together for the first time, she couldn't be more grateful.
Having them all home together in her arms is pure happiness. "I know each day will be filled with tears and happiness as we watch our babies grow," Courtney added on Facebook.
