Dionne quintuplets

Charlie Blake, a reporter from the Chicago American newspaper found an old incubator from 1895 that did not run on electricity (which was important because the Dionne home did not have electricity) and brought it to the Dionne home.

A second incubator was brought by the Toronto Star newspaper who also had three more built from antique blueprints.

The Dionne family was headed by father Oliva-Édouard (1904–1979) and mother Elzire Dionne (Legros; 1909–1986), who married on September 15, 1925.

They lived just outside Corbeil, in a farmhouse in unregistered territory.

The Dionnes were a French-speaking farming family with five older children: Ernest (1926–1995), Rose Marie (1928–1995), Thérèse (1929–2021), Daniel (1932–1995), and Pauline (1933–2018), who was only eleven months older than the quintuplets.

A sixth child, Léo (1930–1930), died of pneumonia shortly after birth.

The Dionne quintuplets (born May 28, 1934) are the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy.

The identical girls were born just outside Callander, Ontario, near the village of Corbeil.

All five survived to adulthood.

The Dionne girls were born premature.

After four months with their family, custody was signed over to the Red Cross, which paid for their care and oversaw the building of a hospital for the sisters.

Less than a year after this agreement was signed, the Ontario government stepped in and passed the Dionne Quintuplets' Guardianship Act, 1935, which made them wards of the Crown until the age of 18.

The Ontario provincial government and those around them began to profit by making them a significant tourist attraction.

The identical quintuplet girls were, in order of birth:

The Dionnes also had three sons after the quintuplets: Oliva Jr. (1936–2017), Victor (1938–2007), and Claude (1946–2009).

Elzire was 24 when she gave birth to the quintuplets.

She suspected she was carrying twins, but no one was aware that quintuplets were even possible.

The quintuplets were born prematurely.

In 1938, the doctors had a theory that was later proven correct when genetic tests showed that the girls were identical, meaning they were created from a single egg cell.

Elzire reported having cramps in her third month and passing a strange object which may have been a sixth fetus.

Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe is credited with ensuring the successful live birth of the quintuplets.

Originally, he diagnosed Elzire with a "fetal abnormality".

He delivered the babies with the help of two midwives, Aunt Donalda and Madame Benoît Lebel, who were summoned by Oliva Dionne in the middle of the night.

Émilie and Marie shared an embryonic sac, Annette and Yvonne shared an embryonic sac, and it is believed that Cécile shared an embryonic sac with the miscarried sixth baby.

All but Émilie were later discovered to be right-handed and all but Marie had a counterclockwise whorl in their hair.

The quintuplets' total weight at birth was 13 pounds, 6 ounces (6.07 kg).

The highest weight was 3 pounds 4 ounces and the lowest weight was 2 pounds 4 ounces.

Their individual weights and measurements were not recorded.

The quintuplets were immediately wrapped in cotton sheets and old napkins, and laid in the corner of the bed.

Elzire went into shock, but she recovered in two hours.

The babies were kept in a wicker basket borrowed from the neighbours, covered with heated blankets.

They were taken into the kitchen and set by the open door of the stove to keep warm.

One by one, they were taken out of the basket and massaged with olive oil.

Every two hours for the first twenty-four, they were fed water sweetened with corn syrup.

By the second day they were moved to a slightly larger laundry basket and kept warm with hot-water bottles.

They were watched constantly and often had to be roused.

They were then fed with "seven-twenty" formula: cow's milk, boiled water, two spoonfuls of corn syrup, and one or two drops of rum for a stimulant.

News of the unusual birth spread quickly, sparked by Oliva's brother's inquiry to the local newspaper editor about how much he would charge for an announcement of five babies at a single birth.

Before long, people from all over North America were offering assistance.

Individuals sent supplies and well-meant advice (a famous letter from Appalachia recommends tiny doses of burnt rye whisky to prevent diarrhea);.