February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Pierce O’Reilly
Thirty-seven-year-old Irish-American James Keogh rushed out of the medical center at Saint Barnabas in Livingston, N.J, one day last month and hugged his Irish mother, Philomena Keogh, for almost five minutes.
Granny Keogh, a native of Kildare town, was also overjoyed when she heard the good news. Her daughter-in-law, James’ wife, Susan Keogh, had just given birth to five healthy babies. James Keogh, dressed in blue medical coveralls, rushed over to his mother to tell her she now had 10 grandchildren instead of five.
"We nearly dropped dead when we heard that they all arrived healthy; it’s an Irish miracle," Philomena Keogh told the Echo this week. "You never know how a birth will go and to have five babies makes it so more complicated."
The four girls and one boy were delivered by c’sarian section in just over three minutes on May 1h. Their mother, Susan, who’s 36, was ecstatic, if understandably a bit drained.
"I’ve being unbelievably busy since I got home from hospital," Susan said. "Our new home isn’t finished yet, so you could say there was a bit of panic around here for a few days."
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The Keoghs, while working day and night on the children’s rooms, are just overjoyed that everything worked out so well.
"I was very tired after the ordeal, but I was just so relieved that all the lovely babies were so healthy," Susan said.
The Keoghs, who live in Elizabeth, N.J., are just the second New Jersey couple to have quintuplets in the last 10 years. The last quints, four boys and one girl, were delivered in 1991 at the same hospital and delivered by the same doctor.
Susan and James, who have two other children, James, who’s 5, and Kathleen, 3, were given the option of selective reduction by aborting some of the fetuses in order to increase the chances the others would develop normally.
"We never considered that option after speaking with Msgr. Hugh O’Donnell, our local parish priest, in Elizabeth," Susan said.
Colleagues of James, who works as an electrician with the police force, have rallied around the family and have already a dipper fund in place. The mayor of Elizabeth, Chris Bollwage, has also vowed to help out.
"The city plans on hosting a major fund-raiser when the five newcomers are released from the neonatal intensive care unit," Philomena Keogh said. "Quintuplets are very rare and we’re just a blessed family to be chosen."
The Irish-American couple and their families found out about the quintuplets last Christmas. Together they weighed 12 pounds, 9 ounces when born. The babies ranged in weight from 1 pound, 9 ounces to 3 pounds, 1 ounce.
"They are perfectly healthy and have no abnormalities," Susan Keogh said. "They were born about 10 weeks prematurely, so they won’t be home from Hospital for some time yet."
Shortly after the birth, Susan Keogh was chatting with her family. "She still had her rosary beads around her neck and her favorite medal, depicting the Virgin Mary, was still pinned to her hospital gown," her mother-in-law said.
Since the birth the babies — Brigid Anne, 1 pound, 9 ounces; Elizabeth Joyce, 2-6; Meaghan Claire, 2-10; Jacqueline Mary, 2-15; Patrick Joseph, 3-1 — all have progressed nicely and may be at home as soon as next month. Granny Keogh joked about the future and the babysitting duties and the weddings of four identical daughters.
"We’re just thanking God every day for such a blessing; it’s a dream come true and we can’t wait for the weddings," she said.
"The babies will be allowed to go home once they can breath on there own and reach 4 pounds," Susan said.
While granny Keogh, a widow, whose husband, James, came from Drimnagh in Dublin, waits and wonders, her daughter-in-law has been inundated with support from her friends and family, including the local church.
An Irish miracle indeed.