Posted on December 15, 2004 at 4:25 p.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Jamey and Emily Clingan of Jasper spent Monday visiting their five newborns in the Regional Newborn Intensive Care Unit at UAB Hospital. Mrs. Clingan was able to hold Peyton Andrew, her first-born son, for the first time today. She was able to hold No. 4, Eli Conner, Sunday.
“It’s hard to even describe what this feels like,” Mrs. Clingan said. “It’s just amazing. You look at one baby lying there and you realize … ‘Wow, this is my baby.’ Then you look at another and realize … ‘Wow, this is my baby, too.’ It’s just unbelievable how amazing it feels.”
“We have just been so astonished. Everyone here at UAB has been so good to us and they are taking such good care of us and of our babies. They have done everything they can to make us feel comfortable and to educate us on the babies’ status and condition. We just can’t thank them enough.”
Mrs. Clingan is recovering as expected from her C-section delivery Friday and doing well, according to her ob-gyn, Dwight Rouse, M.D.
Neonatologist Wally Carlo, M.D., said the “babies are all doing well and two are breathing on their own without any supplemental oxygen. We are working to get them all off ventilatory support. They already are receiving small feedings and mom has been able to and will be encouraged to hold them. We find that premature babies do better with skin-to-skin contact with the parents,” Carlo said. “The babies ranged in weight from 1 pound, 15 ounces, to 2 pounds, 11 ounces, which are appropriate weights for babies born at 29 weeks gestation. We expect them to lose weight initially, then gain weight appropriately after that. We anticipate they will be in the nursery until approximately one month before their original due date, which would be sometime in early February. But we expect them to progress without much complication from here.”
The Clingan quintuplets — three boys and two girls — were born between 12:51 and 12:53 p.m. December 10.
They were delivered by a team of 24 doctors, nurses and technicians, including Rouse, ob-gyns James E. Kendrick, M.D., and Michael NumNum, M.D., five labor and delivery nurses, two surgical technicians and three obstetric anesthesiologists, Barry Shaw, M.D., Andrea Parde, M.D., and David Miller, M.D. The babies were immediately handed off to five separate teams of neonatologists and neonatal nurses, led by Carlo, division director of neonatal and perinatal medicine, and including Joe Philips, M.D., Robert Schelonka, M.D., and Akhil Maheshawari, M.D.
Mrs. Clingan was admitted to UAB November 11, where she was followed closely by experts on the hospital’s antepartum unit. The unit is staffed with doctors and nurses specifically trained to handle high-risk pregnancies. These pregnancies include those at risk of complications or pre-term labor due to either multiples or other health complications such as gestational diabetes, high blood pressure or expected birth defects.
| Birth Order | Name | Gender | Time | Weight | Length |
| No. 1 | Peyton Andrew | Male | 12:51 p.m. | 2 lbs., 10 oz. | 14 3/4" |
| No. 2 | Gracyn Caroline | Female | 12:52 p.m. | 2 lbs., 1 oz. | 12 3/4" |
| No. 3 | Jayden Edward | Male | 12:52 p.m. | 2 lbs., 11 oz. | 15 5/8" |
| No. 4 | Eli Conner | Male | 12:52 p.m. | 1 lb., 15 oz. | 13 3/8" |
| No. 5 | Avery Nikole | Female | 12:53 p.m. | 1 lb., 15 oz. | 14" |
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