ST. LOUIS — While family members headed over to see the Ferrill Five in the nursery, their mother recovered with a few other supporters by her bedside.
The quintuplets were born at 31 weeks this afternoon to Pete and Jenny Ferrill of Danville, and the family couldn’t be happier with the turnout.
The three boys, Landyn Konner, Layne Mykel and Drayden Karter, and the two girls, Irelyn Kadyn and Kieran Skye, came back to the delivery room to see Jenny before they were taken to the nursery.
“I think the way you can sum it up is this is the most amazing experience ever,” Jenny said as she thought back over the past few hours.
“I just feel like we’ve been blessed with five beautiful miracles.”
Jenny was able to hear them crying. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hear them as they were born.
“I think it was just a huge relief to hear them and to know that that’s one of the indications that they are doing well,” she said.
Dr. Joseph Shumway, co-surgeon on the delivery, came in to see how Jenny is doing.
He explained the babies were in five separate placentas and came from five fertilized eggs.
“Those five different placentas shared the uterine cavity,” he said, adding the babies had to naturally grow in ways to allow them to have a shared blood supply, allowing them all to grow appropriately.
“They’ve all been the same weight times five,” Dr. Shumway said.
That is one reason Jenny was able to carry them this long.
“She made the most amazing patient we’ve ever had.”
Dr. Shumway saw the fortitude and a calmness in Jenny that helped her reach this point.
“It made it bearable,” he said, adding she had a lot of support here to help her.
“Jenny decided to have a good attitude.”
The babies scored well for fetal color, tone, respiration, heart rate and reflexes.
The babies are on breathing equipment now, but doctors hope to take them off soon. Jenny will get to see them in the morning.
“Just everybody’s support is completely amazing. That just made us feel reassured,” she added.
Local News
BABY UPDATE: Five beautiful miracles (5:25 p.m.)
- Local News
-
- City rummage sale nears
-
Chase ends in crash
Hoopeston Police Department chased a 16-year-old driving through McFerren Park early Sunday, with the chase ending at the base of a tree.
-
Community Briefs
The Danville Lions Club will meet at noon Tuesday at the Days Hotel, 77 N. Gilbert. The topic: “Know Your Lions.”
-
Community Calendar
Memorial Day ceremonies at area sites — 8:30 a.m., Curtis G. Redden gravesite in Spring Hill Cemetery; 9 a.m., World War I monument; 9:30 a.m., Korean War Memorial on Hazel; 9:30 a.m., Maj. Kenneth Bailey gravesite in Spring Hill Cemetery; 9:30 a.m., Jewell Whyte family site in Spring Hill Cemetery; 9:30 a.m., at the lagoon at the VA for all service people lost at sea; 9:45 a.m., Women’s Memorial behind the Vermilion County War Museum; 10:45 a.m., all veterans’ groups gather at the Danville National Cemetery.
-
Tropical Storm Beryl strengthens, nears U.S. coast
Tropical Storm Beryl was wrecking some Memorial Day weekend plans on Sunday, causing shoreline campers to pack up and head inland and leading to the cancellation of some events as the storm approached the southeastern U.S.
- CASA seeks volunteers
- Classes transition online
-
Dad welcomes baby — while a world away
Like most fathers, Brandun Schweizer wanted to witness his first child’s birth. There was just one problem, however — he was thousands of miles away in Afghanistan.
-
Veterans ask people to pause
Although the Memorial Day weekend is a time for picnics and pool parties, veterans’ groups hope people pause to remember those who gave their lives in the line of duty, as well as others who have died.
-
Martha Stewart learns family’s roots
Television viewers have been treated to two series lately dealing with genealogy.
- More Local News Headlines


