Graham and Stephanie Freels were newlyweds anxious to have their own family. Nonetheless, after five years of infertility challenges, they understood they needed to seek alternatives to traditional conception.

After five years of trying, the couple decided to attempt intrauterine insemination, or IUI, to get pregnant. They had no idea how well the conception procedure would work or what was in store for them.

The Freels are now living happily with their children, glad that despite the fact that things did not go as planned, they have their children, and their tiny family is complete.

Stephanie was overjoyed when she discovered she was expecting in late December of the previous year. She would finally start the large family she had wished for for over five years. But she had no idea what was going to happen next.

Stephanie and her husband, Graham, found they were expecting five children just a few weeks after learning they were expecting one. This altered the couple’s whole future plans.

They were living with Stephanie’s parents at the time and had informed them in early December that they would be relocating in the new year and had signed a lease on an apartment. When they learned about the infants, Stephanie called her landlord and said:

“I think we’re about to have a lot of kids, and I don’t think that apartment is going to work for us anymore.”
The Freels relocated briefly to Phoenix in March of this year so that Stephanie and the quintuplets could be cared for by the best specialists available at the time. Graham posted the babies’ birth story on Facebook shortly after they were delivered.

Graham reported that the kids were born on June 3 after Stephanie went to the hospital with back pain at 27 weeks and two days pregnant. When they arrived, they learned she would require an emergency cesarean section to deliver her twins safely.

On June 4, one hour after the procedure began, all five infants were born. They were generally healthy, but they needed to spend many weeks in the NICU on respirators and undergoing specialized medical care before they could go home. Stephanie described their birth as follows:

“God has purposefully entrusted us with these five precious babies.”

The babies were in the hospital for several weeks before Stephanie and Graham were permitted to take them home, but they were showered with prayers and well wishes from friends and family throughout that time.

Stephanie and Graham were eventually able to take their four girls and son home eleven weeks after they were born. Adelyn, Eliana, Linnea, Fisher, and Harper were the Freels’ children.

Fisher, the couple’s lone son, was the last of the children permitted to return home and complete the family. The Freels have expressed gratitude to God and all who prayed for their babies during their tough first days of life.

The twins are fraternal, which means the Freels can tell their children apart fast now that they are living with Stephanie’s parents, who have been extra sets of helpful hands when Stephanie and Graham needed them.

The Freels also conveyed their heartfelt appreciation to the nurses and physicians who assisted them throughout their babies’ births and in the days preceding their arrival. Graham exclaimed:

“They truly are amazing people, and the amount of care they put into taking care of not only our babies but every single baby they work with is incredible. They’re accomplishing incredible things.”

Graham thanked everyone who had been there for them in a Facebook post following the birth of the quintuplets, saying that God had given them the children for a reason and that they would do their best for them, musing, “God showed up big.”