Phoenix Parents Get Five Babies for the Price of One

By Linda Orlando

To earn $15,000, Teresa Anderson contracted with Luisa Gonzales and Enrique Moreno to carry a baby for them since they were unable to have children of their own. Anderson, 25, agreed to have five embryos implanted in her womb to increase the chances of at least one of the embryos taking hold and developing into a full-term baby. But after Anderson’s obstetrician informed her that all five embryos were developing successfully, she decided not to accept the $15,000 the couple had agreed to pay her, because of the expenses the new parents will face in caring for five babies instead of one. Anderson and her husband, Jerad, have two children of their own.

Doctors delivered the quintuplets by Caesarian section Tuesday and said that everything went perfectly during the delivery, which took only five minutes. The quintuplets were born in the 33rd week of Anderson’s pregnancy, a week earlier than planned, because of complications Anderson was suffering including elevated blood pressure. The babies’ genetic parents named their sons Enrique, Jorge, Gabriel, Victor and Javier. Javier was moved to Phoenix Children’s Hospital because the left side of his heart was underdeveloped due to the premature birth. Although his heart cannot properly pump blood, he is reported in stable condition. According to Dr. John Stock, the pediatric cardiologist who discovered the problem in Javier’s heart, children with his type of defect must undergo a series of operations to fix the problem or have a heart transplant.

The obstetrician who delivered the babies said he doesn’t know of any other case where a surrogate mother carried quintuplets to delivery. After the babies were born, a spokesman for the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, where the babies were born, said that Anderson was "doing really good. She’s happy. She’s crying." The babies’ genetic parents visited with Anderson shortly after the delivery, saying that Anderson has given them the family they have always wanted. "I cannot say enough about Teresa and what she's done for us," Gonzalez said in a statement. "She has given me my dream; she has given us our family."