The Fifth Dimension

The living room of Lynn Bova’s home has been transformed into a nursery with three cribs and a row of rocking chairs lining the walls, but the Ventura mother cannot imagine it any other way.

It has been more than 10 weeks since 30-year-old Bova gave birth to Ventura County’s first set of quintuplets--her family of three transformed overnight to a family of eight.

Her days now revolve around feeding cycles every three hours. Her alone time has dwindled to a trip to the grocery store once a week. And she can’t stop smiling.

“I’m looking forward to every little step--when they start eating cereal and throw it against the wall or when they start to crawl and I’m going crazy chasing after each one,” she said. “When you’ve wanted to be a mother for so long and you finally get to--I feel like my life is the way it was supposed to be.”

Today the family will celebrate Mother’s Day without frills or flamboyance--just a simple barbecue in the backyard with family and friends.

“I don’t need to do anything special or get anything special,” Bova said. “My dream has been fulfilled. That’s all I wanted was to be a mom.”

Born on March 1 after a 32-week pregnancy--seven weeks premature--the quintuplets stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura until they had mastered sucking, swallowing and breathing on their own. Kathryn, the last to arrive home, joined her brothers and sisters, Abigail, Emiline, Nathaniel and Samuel, on April 2.

Now weighing between 8 and 9 pounds each, the quintuplets have no significant troubles related to their premature births.

“We watch all newborn babies, especially when they are premature, for things that might show up later, but so far they are doing really good,” said Dr. Paul Feldheim, the family’s pediatrician. “Their weight is right where you would expect it to be. From a medical standpoint, everything is going fine.”

The couple tried for four years to have a baby and after several unsuccessful pregnancies decided to adopt their first child, Ryan, in 1999. A year later the Bovas decided to try fertility treatments again through a process called intrauterine insemination. The treatment stimulates the woman’s ovaries to produce a number of eggs, and then sperm is injected into the uterus during ovulation to increase the chance of conception.

“They were very careful because the doctors knew we didn’t want to be in a position where we would have too many and we would be asked to reduce the number of eggs,” Bova said.

Initially, the couple thought they had three fertilized eggs. It wasn’t until the first ultrasound that the obstetrician discovered five heartbeats.

“The doctor did the ultrasound and we saw three at first, and then I think we both saw it at the same time--this shadow on the side,” Bova said. “We were in shock. I don’t know if any of us remember what happened after that.”

Since the babies arrived home last month, around-the-clock volunteers from the family’s church, Ventura Missionary Church, have staffed the nursery in three-hour shifts, seven days a week.

“I hear people are waiting for their turn to be called,” Bova said. About 90 volunteers have been gathered so far, she said.

Name tags are taped to the walls above each crib to help the volunteers. The babies also have each been assigned a different color for clothing and blankets as a way of telling them apart, but the quintuplets look so different they haven’t been needed yet.

“They’ve changed so much. They are starting to get personalities. It’s just a miracle every day,” said Mary Ann Hardison, 71, who volunteers along with her neighbor every Wednesday afternoon for a three-hour shift of holding babies.

The parents are already seeing glimpses of the individual differences between their children.

“They all have a different cry. I think Samuel is very flirty. He just started smiling in the last few days,” Bova said. “Nathaniel is always looking around--his bright, blue eyes are taking everything in. Kathryn is very easy-going, so if she cries I know there is a reason. Emiline looks like me the most, and she loves to sleep. Abigail likes to look around too.”

And big brother Ryan, now 21 months old, has adjusted well.

“His job is to burp [the babies],” Bova said. “To him they are all just ‘Baby.’ And he likes to hold onto their feet.”

For now, no one is considering what will be done when the volunteers and donated supplies from friends and area businesses run out.

Local restaurants have sent gift certificates for dinners out. Sears donated a washing machine--just days after the babies arrived home and the old machine broke down. The family is in negotiations with some local car dealers to purchase a full-sized van to haul the brood of eight.

The church is providing meals six nights a week. Friends and a couple of strangers donated cribs. The obstetrician’s office gave them the strollers. The hospital arranged for other donations including a supply of baby formula and car seats.

The family’s garage is stacked from floor to ceiling with diapers from a diaper drive at Junipero Serra School, where Lynn Bova was a kindergarten teacher.

The parents, meanwhile, are concentrating on getting through each day.

“It’s just a continuum of a busy day. There’s no relaxing. You go from one job to another,” said the quintuplets’ father, Joe Bova, 35, who works as a Ventura Unified School District administrator.

At last count, an average day involves about 50 diapers, three loads of laundry and about 30 bottles.

“I feel like we’re feeding babies all day long,” Lynn Bova said. “When you put the last one down, it seems like the first is ready again.”

Nonetheless, this Mother’s Day the Bovas are looking forward to those few hours when the volunteers will clear out, leaving the family of eight alone-- a rarity these days.

“When it is just the eight of us, it feels very content,” Lynn Bova said. “Our home just feels like it was meant to be this way--the sound of babies crying in one room, Ryan laughing in the other room, Joe and I running around doing laundry or getting bottles ready. It feels like it’s supposed to be.”