When Oksana Kobletskaya, from Ukranian town Odessa, fell pregnant, she was overjoyed.
The 36-year-old woman was already mom to a three year old daughter, and she and husband Sergey were looking forward to welcoming one more family member.
But what they thought would be a normal pregnancy would develop into a shocking twist that left people around the world speechless.
Oksana and Sergey had never planned to have a big family, they had agreed that two children would be perfect.
They simply didnโt have the means to support more children, the couple agreed.
But even in the earlier stages of her pregnancy, Oksana suspected that there was more than one child in her stomach.
She couldnโt help but think that something was different.
โNo one in our family had ever been pregnant with twins. I was sure I would never experience anything like thisโ, Oksana tells German news sourceย Heftig.
But the fact was, this was only the beginning, and there was a bigger suprise that was yet to be revealedโฆ.
When Oksana went to her ultrasound, she saw the doctor start to frown.
And soon she received some incredible news.
โWhen I saw the shock on the doctorโs face, my heart stopped for a moment,โ Oksana says, and continues:
โThen I heard him mumble something along the lines of: โYou deserve to have a big house by the seaโฆโโ
Then the doctor explained: โI can see five fetuses, maybe six. Itโs hard to tell.โ
It turns out Oksana was expecting five babies.
As you can probably imagine, this is extremely rare.ย Only 1 in 47 458 321 pregnancies results in quintuplets.
While Oksana was still trying to process the news, the doctor ran around the hospital close to ecstatic.ย Nobody at the hospital had ever seen anything like it.
But for Oksana and Sergey, it wasnโt all smiling faces.
โIt almost felt like a nightmare, as though I would wake up at any moment,โ remembers Oksana.
She and her husband couldnโt help but worry: they realized that they would be forced to change all their plans for the future.
โIt takes time to process this kind of news. I mean, how would we manage to take care of so many children,โ, says husband Sergey.
In her 30th week, Oksana went to the hospital and prepared for the birth.
When she reached the delivery room, there were 8 doctors stood waiting for her.
โThe treated me like I was made of porcelainโ they were extremely cautious,โ Oksana says.
Oksana gave birth to three boys and two girls via C-section.
The doctors were prepared for the worst, since this kind of pregnancy carries big risks.
But when it was all over, the doctors could confirm that five healthy, happy babies had been brought into the world, although they were a little premature.
Babies Daria, Alexandra, Denis, Vladislav and David became instant celebrities.
Today, the babies are 3 years old.
The birth was historic โ the babies were the first quintuplets born in Ukraine, reportsย The Mirror.
Oksana and Sergey seem to have embraced the challenge of taking care of such a big family.
Wherever they go, people stop and greet them happily, fascinated by the babies.
Recently the family has moved to a bigger apartment, which local authorities helped them organize.
On herย Instagramย account,ย Oksana shares photos of their โfive treasuresโ and theย quintuplets adorable big sister.
Arenโt they cute?
Although things didnโt quite end up the way this family planned, Iโm sure that theyโre going to have a bright and happy future!
With so much love in their life โ and the support of thousands of strangers โ Iโm sure theyโll be just fine.
