First-Time Mom Gives Birth to Quintuplets in New York

NEW YORK — They're first-time parents — five times over.
A set of quintuplets was born Saturday at Staten Island University Hospital, spokesman Christian Preston said. He said the four girls, one boy and their mother were doing well.
Preston declined to give the family's name, but Tony Scherillo told the Staten Island Advance the parents are his daughter and son-in-law, Jamie and Kevin Ferrante.
"Everybody was ecstatic" on learning that the new parents were expecting five babies, said Scherillo, 67. "Nobody could believe it."
The babies — all delivered within 6 minutes by Caesarean section — ranged in weight from 1 pound, 8 ounces, to about 2 pounds, 4 ounces, the newspaper said. It gave their names as Allesia Louise, Amanda Frances, Ella Lilliana, Emily Ann and Matthew Sabatino.
Fertility treatments have made multiple births more common in recent decades, but quintuplets remain rare. The federal government's National Center for Health Statistics tallied 68 quintuplet and higher-order births in 2005, compared to more than 400 quadruplets, 133,000 twins and 4.1 million births overall.
Hospitals in Houston, Phoenix and Annapolis, Md., also reported quintuplet births this year.
Saturday's quintuplet birth was a first for the Staten Island hospital, Preston said.
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Did You Know.......

Q. At a military funeral, the flag is folded with 13 folds for the original 13 states. Each fold also represents something. What are they?

A. When the flag-folding ceremony started, there was no meaning to each fold. Since then, though, some people have attributed patriotic or religious meanings to each fold:
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First fold: a symbol of life.
Second: a symbol of belief in eternal life.
Third: in honor of veterans who died on duty.
Fourth: represents mankind’s weaker nature and need to trust in God.
Fifth: a tribute to the United States.
Sixth: for where Americans’ hearts lie.
Seventh: a tribute to the American armed forces.
Eighth: a "tribute to the one who entered in to the valley of the shadow of death," and to honor mothers.
Ninth: a tribute to womanhood.
10th: a tribute to fathers.
11th: For Jewish citizens, to represent the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon
12th: for Christian citizens, to glorify the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost.
13th: When the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, to remind people of the national motto, "In God We Trust."
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