Do you know any twins?
Although having twins is a relatively rare occurrence, it’s not unusual to know a few sets of them growing up. Things get rarer the more babies you add into the mix—probably much fewer of us know any triplets, although they do occur. Still, it’s possible to have much more than just three babies at a time.
Just ask the Walton family, parents of the world’s first all-girl sextuplets!
This story goes all the way back to November 18th, 1983.
It was when Janet and Graham Walton gave birth to their daughters in Liverpool, England. They named their daughters Hannah, Lucy, Ruth, Sarah, Kate and Jennifer. The girls were a result of a fertility struggle that the Walton’s faced for several long years while they tried to conceive. Eventually, they turned to fertility treatments—though none of them took at first. It took 13 total attempts before they had success.
When the fertility treatment finally worked, the Waltons found themselves with more children than they knew what to do with.
Because the Walton sextuplets were one of only four known surviving sets, the family attracted plenty of national attention.
The family was featured on a British TV program called Moving On. Needless to say, having six babies to nurture and protect was a handful for the two young parents and led to an interesting family life. Later on, Janet even wrote a memoir discussing their family’s journey titled Six Little Miracles: The Heartwarming True Story of Raising the World’s First Sextuplet Girls.
Now that the girls are all grown up, the Waltons can finally relax—although they now have a new responsibility.
That’s because their daughter Janet recently gave birth to a baby girl of her own, making Janet and Graham grandparents.
Although the adorable newborn, Jorgie, was cause for celebration all on her own, she was also an opportunity for the entire family to get back together for a photo shoot. The resulting pictures have been shared all around the world. By comparing and contrasting, viewers can see how much the children have grown. For the family, the entire thing has been both beautiful and bittersweet. As Graham told the Daily Mail:
“I loved those early years so much. I couldn’t say one phase was better than the others. But there was always so much to do, we didn’t enjoy it as much as would if we’d had one at a time. With grandchildren, you have time . . . Whenever I see little babies, I wish I could go back and do it all over again.”
Congratulations to Sarah on her baby daughter!
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