Quintuplets thriving, becoming Oakland A's fans at early age

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Almost everywhere they go with their quintuplets, Chad and Amy Kempel are stopped and questioned by strangers. 

“Were they born naturally?” 

“Did you use fertility treatments?”

“Are they all yours?” 

“Sometimes we’ll just try to go to the store and it’s hard to go in and out without spending an hour in there because people start asking questions,’’ Chad Kempel said. 

Nearly nine months after the Mountain House couple welcomed Lincoln, Noelle, Grayson, Preston and Gabriella into the world, they’ve learned a thing or two about being in the limelight. 

When the couple takes their babies out for a walk or to the park in their massive five-seat stroller, heads turn. 

“Kinda hard to blend in with this one,’’ said Chad Kempel, showing a video of the five-seater. 

Sometimes, the couple breaks out two separate multi-seat strollers so they can also haul the babies’ car seats along on their outing. 

That can be jaw dropping to see as well, he said. 

“But (the comments and questions) are always all positive, so that’s the nice part about it. Everyone is just happy for us,’’ Chad Kempel said. 

Recently, the father of seven decided he wanted to take his wife, the quintuplets and the couple’s two older daughters, 2-year-old Avery and 3-year-old Savannah, to an Oakland A’s game. 

“They’ve always been our team,’’ he said. “We don’t wear (San Francisco) Giants stuff at our house.” 

But the outing was going to present a problem. 

“We usually would go and sit on the bleachers, that is what our normal thing is,’’ he said. “But there is nowhere to store these giant strollers.” 

When Kempel turned to the team’s guest services department with his quandary, they quickly offered the family a suite to watch last Sunday’s game. They also outfitted all the kids with new A’s gear and gave the Kempels a gift certificate for an overnight stay at a San Francisco bed and breakfast. 

The couple hasn’t been out on a date since the babies were born, which isn’t surprising given their daily routine that includes changing about 40 diapers and prepping 20 bottles of formula. 

The babies are also starting to eat solid food, which can be time consuming for mom and dad, but is a welcome addition since the babies are thriving and now weigh between 16 and 20 pounds. 

And to answer those questions from the inquisitive folks at the grocery store, the couple told KTVU that the babies weighed under 3 pounds each when they were born by cesarean section 13 weeks premature in January.

The pregnancy was a result of a procedure known as intrauterine insemination. It’s different from in vitro fertilization because it’s less complex and invasive and also less expensive. Quintuplets are almost always the result of fertility treatments. Data shows that the odds of conceiving quintuplets naturally are about one in 60 million.