The life-altering news came eight weeks into the pregnancy.
Those twins Staff Sgt. Michael Hoffman and wife Roxanna thought they were expecting? Turns out they were actually quintuplets.
"When we went out in the hallway after the ultrasound a random lady sitting next to me asked if I was OK because I was completely pale," Michael recalled. "To say I was in shock is an understatement."
They already had one child, an 8-year-old son.
"I grew up in a house of two -- myself and a sister. I always saw myself having two or three," Michael said. "I always told my wife we'll see how it goes one at a time. Someone else had better plans than that."
Roxanna took the news in relative stride, he said. "She's the best spirited person I ever met. The whole time, she said, 'yeah, we can handle it.'"
Michael was less certain. How, for instance, would they be able to afford five more children all at once? He was not one to accept help, and certainly not one to ask for help. it.
He wouldn't need to.
The biomedical technician, who joined the Air Force in 2008, had spent the last five years at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. News spread quickly that he and his wife, a former medical tech in the Air Force Reserves, were expecting five little ones. spread quickly.
"Everybody knew me," Michael said, and they all wanted to help.
His fellow airmen began collecting diapers and baby wipes and other necessities. Meanwhile, the Hoffmans got in touch with an Army couple who had delivered healthy quintuplets. The Army couple recommended their own doctor with a history of success caring for mothers of multiples.
Dr. John Elliott also happened to be on the other side of the country, at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix. The couple made the trip and then made a decision: Roxanna would settle in Arizona for the duration of her pregnancy. Michael would return to New Jersey.
In June, as Roxanna approached the 31st week of her pregnancy, Michael was granted a humanitarian assignment to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona to be close to his wife.
His colleagues had collected so many things for them he went over his weight limit during the move.
"I never knew how much baby wipes weigh," Michael said. "They weigh a great deal."
Three days after his arrival, on Friday the 13th, Roxanna gave birth to five healthy babies. Daughters Delilah, Briella, Aurora and Felicity and son Elias arrived just in time for Father's Day weekend.
"It couldn't have worked out any better," Michael said.
There was more.
Master Sgt. Larry Morgan, the 56th Medical Group first sergeant, was ready with a long list of aidhelping organizations when Michael at last decided to accept. The USO and the First Sergeants Association offered assistance. The Air Force Aid Society, which provides interest-free loans and grants to airmen to help with basic living expenses, emergency travel and other needs, wrote the Hoffmans a check for $6,000.
It covered all five cribs and more: car seats, diapers, wipes, rent. The aid society also helped the couple them with budgeting so they could be prepared for future expenses, Michael he said. "It kind of blew me away. I wasn't expecting I'd ever need something like that."
A local church pitched in. A sleep therapist donated her time to help get the babies on a regular sleep cycle. And, five months after the babies' births, people still drop off meals.
The family also got the emotional help they needed for such a dramatic life change.
"There's always something to do. Someone is getting unhappy at some point in time. They can never coordinate their outbreaks," Michael said with a laugh. "It's fun, though. They each have their own personalities. You can see that when you're spending time with them, which makes it all worth it."
The Hoffmans planned to spend their first Thanksgiving as a family of eight at home. Michael will deep-fry a turkey, a Georgia tradition his dad passed down. Roxanna's parents will visit. They will count their blessings -- the help and generosity friends and strangers alike poured on them when they needed it most.
It will be a low key celebration, he said.
"As low-key as it can be with five new-born babies."
Staff Sgt. Michael Hoffman and wife Roxanna went from a family of three to a family of eight when quintuplets Delilah, Briella, Elias, Aurora and Felicity were born June 13.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Hoffman family
