Wounded Marine is now dad of quintuplets

[greatauntoftriplets]

greataunt's comment: He should have stayed home.

Wounded Marine is now dad of quintuplets
Wife gives birth in Naperville while sergeant recovers from Iraqi grenade attack

By James Kimberly
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 12, 2004

When his reserve unit was activated June 1, Marine Sgt. Joshua Horton faced a difficult decision: go and serve his country or stay and care for his two young children and his wife who was pregnant with five more.

Horton, 28, of Oswego went. He arrived in Iraq a month ago and was seriously wounded Thursday during intense fighting south of Baghdad between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi forces.

While Horton recuperated under heavy sedation from his injuries at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, his wife, Taunacy, delivered the quintuplets Monday in Edward Hospital in Naperville.

Neither the hospital nor military officials could say for certain whether Horton knew his babies had been born.

The three girls and two boys weigh between 1 pound, 9 ounces and 1 pound, 15 ounces, and are in critical but stable condition in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0410120129oct12,1,413629.story?coll=chi-news-hed

[librechik]

1. OMFG!!!

just OMFG!!!

[spotbird]

2. His patriotism is admirable, but his judgment was poor.

He wanted to go so that another father could come home, but his weren't ordinary circumstances. He had a duty to the five children on the way to stay safe. This is particularly true considering the probability that he would be bringing five children with special needs into the world.

[rocktivity]

3. I agree, Spotbird

It isn't as though he didn't know about the multiple birth. Now his wife will have to be the breadwinner for the children PLUS him. And depending on his wounds, he may not be of much help with the actual childrearing, either.

:headbang:
rocknation