baby

A couple's 17-year struggle to fall pregnant has reached a very happy ending.

After 17 years of struggling to fall pregnant, a couple welcomed sextuplets into the world on May 11.

Ajibola Taiwo from Western Nigeria, gave birth to three boys and three girls via caesarean section, and with the help of a 40-person medical team at the VCU Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia.

The VCU Medical Center announced the births on Wednesday, saying they were first sextuplets born at the hospital.

Ajibola was just 30 weeks and two days pregnant when she gave birth and the smallest baby weighed in at just 1 pound and 10 ounces at birth. The largest baby weight just 2 pounds, 15 ounces.

In a statement, the VCU Medical Center said all the babies were healthy, despite their premature birth.

sextuplets
The new mum gave birth to three boys and three girls. Image via USA Today.
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"Given their prematurity, they are doing exceptionally well," said Russell Moores, M.D., medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU.

Ajibola is also in good health and was released from hospital just one week after the birth.

Ajibola and her husband Adeboye Taiwo hold two of their newborns.

Ajibola and her husband Adeboye Taiwo have been visiting the hospital and holding the babies against their skin - a practice that helps premature babies grow and start breastfeeding.

Adeboye Taiwo told VCU News that he was "very excited" about the birth.

“The medical team is excellent in medicine and hospitality,” he said. “We are far from home but the medical team is our family. That is what got us this far.”

Sextuplets are very rare, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of the nearly 4 million live births in the U.S. in 2015, only 24 were quintuplets or other higher-order births.