The Dilley sextuplets (born May 25, 1993) are the United States' first set of surviving sextuplets, born to Becki and Keith Dilley in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. They are, in birth order:
Biography
The siblings were the first surviving sextuplets to be born in the USA.
The parents of the sextuplets, Becki and Keith Dilley, met as co-workers at a
Wendy's
Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was the ...
restaurant in Indiana. They married and attempted to conceive for 5 years without results.
Following consultation with a doctor, they were told they had little chance of conceiving naturally. Following several more years of trying to conceive, they underwent fertility treatment using the drug
Pergonal
Menotropin (also called human menopausal gonadotropin or hMG) is a hormonally active medication for the treatment of fertility disturbances. Frequently the plural is used as the medication is a mixture of gonadotropins. Menotropins are extracted f ...
. The sextuplets were conceived as a result of this.
Throughout the pregnancy, all ultrasounds showed five babies. After five had been delivered the doctor reached in to retrieve the placenta and grabbed a foot instead, and said, "There's a sixth baby." Everyone initially thought she was kidding, but she wasn't.
The sixth was hiding behind the mother's
spleen
The spleen is an organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The word spleen comes . .
The Dilley children have appeared on a few television segments, but say that they don't want to live life "under a microscope".
From 1997 the family have lived in
Northeastern Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
.
Popular culture
*An American film telling the story of the sextuplets' parents prior, and a few years after their births, called ''
Half a Dozen Babies
''Half a Dozen Babies'' (also known as ''Life's Little Struggles'') is a 1999 ABC television film. It stars Scott and Melissa Reeves.
Plot
A young couple have been struggling to have a baby for years, unsuccessfully. Then, suddenly, one day, th ...
'' featuring
Scott Reeves and
Melissa Reeves
Melissa Reeves (née Brennan; born March 14, 1967) is an American actress, best known for playing Jennifer Horton on the NBC series ''Days of Our Lives'' on-and-off for a total of 26 years (1985–1995, 2000–2006, 2010–2020).
Personal lif ...
was made in 1999 for
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
.
Further reading
*''Special Delivery: How We Are Raising America's Only Sextuplets...and Loving It'', by Barbara M Dilley, Becki Dilley, Sam Stall. Publisher: Random House, Date Published: 1995,
*''Sixty Fingers, Sixty Toes: See How the Dilley Sextuplets Grow'', by Becki Dilley, Keith Dilley, E. Anthony Valainis. Publisher: Walker & Company, Date Published: 1997, .
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dilley
1993 births
Living people
Sextuplets
People from Indianapolis
People from Berne, Indiana