It may take a village to raise them. It took hundreds of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children''s Hospitals staff and a dozen Washington University physicians to bring the Ferrill quintuplets safely into the world.

The five babies, children of Pete and Jenny Ferrill of Danville, IL, were delivered at about 2:20 p.m., Dec. 21, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. They were the first set of quintuplets delivered in the 92-year history of Barnes-Jewish and the first set of quintuplets to be cared for in the newly remodeled St. Louis Children''s Hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)

Jenny, 29, and Pete, 33, have been married for three years. From the beginning, they had wanted to be parents, but after two unsuccessful pregnancies, they began adoption paperwork.

After becoming pregnant for the third time with the aid of fertility treatments, Jenny was amazed to find she was having quintuplets. She was referred in the summer to Dr. Michael Paul, director of the Washington University Center for Multiple Pregnancies.

Although Dr. Paul and Barnes-Jewish were about a three-and-one-half hour drive from Danville, Jenny said she was glad to make the trip.

"When we met Dr. Paul, we were thrilled with his optimism. He was the first doctor to give us hope that we could have a healthy pregnancy," she said.

Dr. Paul and his colleagues, Dr. Joseph Shumway and Dr. Gil Gross, were optimistic, hoping to get the quints to 31 weeks of gestation before delivering them. Although still premature, infants at 31 weeks tend to face less daunting medical and developmental challenges than babies born earlier. Quintuplets are typically born at 29 weeks, according to Dr. Paul.

On Oct. 27, at 21 weeks into her pregnancy, Jenny was admitted to 5300 ante partum unit (APU) at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. It was then that a team of physicians, nurses and other staff, from Barnes-Jewish, St. Louis Children''s Hospital and Washington University, headed by Judy Paull, RN, patient care director over women and infants services at Barnes-Jewish, began planning every detail of Jenny''s care and the quintuplet''s delivery.

The team met weekly to review Jenny''s and babies'' status and to refine their care plan and delivery plan. Minutes from those weekly meetings ended up filling a folder several inches thick, said Paull. In addition, the team drilled regularly, practicing handing off IV bags standing in for the babies, and stabilizing and transporting the "babies."

Meanwhile, on the APU, Jenny settled in and focused on keeping herself and her babies healthy. Her main task was to consume about 4,000 calories a day to give the babies adequate nutrition for growth. Though she often battled nausea, Jenny managed to eat enough so each quint weighed the same as a singleton baby of the same gestational age throughout the pregnancy.

Though on bedrest, Jenny''s days were filled with regular examinations, sonograms, echocardiograms and lymphedema massages to combat swelling in her extremities. In addition, a video crew from The Learning Channel, which had followed her throughout her pregnancy, came frequently to interview her. (Several shows on the Ferrills are scheduled to air on The Learning Channel in 2008).

Finally, in mid-December, tests showed that the babies weighed about 3 lbs. each and Jenny''s heart and kidneys began to show signs of stress, her doctors decided it was time to deliver the quintuplets.

On Dec. 21, the delivery plan was implemented without a hitch and birth order and with Irelyn Kadyn, girl, 3.65 lbs.; Landyn Konner, boy, 3.25 lbs.; Layne Mykel, boy, 3.4 lbs.; Kieran Skye, girl, 3.45 lbs.; and Drayden Karter, boy, 3.55 lbs., were born.

The babies were taken to the NICU and will stay there, probably until late April or early May, barring any complications, according to neonatologist Dr. Scott Saunders. Currently, all the babies are doing well, and are developing normally.

At a news conference Jan. 3 at Barnes-Jewish, Jenny, who was discharged from Barnes-Jewish Hospital Dec. 27, and Pete had the chance to reunite with some of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis Children's Hospital and Washington University staff who helped in the delivery.