GIRARD Awaiting their six bundles of joy

The sextuplets would be a first in Ohio, the Akron General Medical Center said.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- The talk these days at Books and Hooks, a Maple Avenue fly-fishing shop, is babies.
Not just one or two, but six.
The store is operated by Bud and Nancy Hanselman and their son Scott, all of East Liverpool. The family took over operation of the fly shop in the old Maple Avenue Elementary School in 2002 after the previous owner, Dale May, died. May and the Hanselmans had been fly-fishing friends.
Their other son and his wife, Keith and Jennifer Hanselman of Cuyahoga Falls, are expecting sextuplets by the end of the month.
Rare occurrence
Sextuplets are rare, with only 22 living sets in the world, according to the Web site "Facts About Multiples."
The Hanselman sextuplets will be the first recorded in Ohio, according to Akron General Medical Center, where the mother has been resting and monitored for a month.
The parents aren't giving interviews while the mother is in the hospital, despite the calls from the "Today" show and CNN.
"They want to spend all their energy toward having six healthy babies," Nancy Hanselman said.
About the parents
Keith Hanselman, 30, and 29-year-old Jennifer were married June 7, 1996, the day they both graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College.
Keith is a chemist with a Bedford pharmaceutical company and Jennifer was a copywriter with Jo-Ann Stores Inc. in Hudson until she took a leave.
Although they have a son, 2-year-old Connor, they wanted more children. That's when they went to see Akron fertility specialist Dr. Nicholas Spirtos.
After the first sonogram, Nancy Hanselman said her son called her: "Mom, it's six," he told her.
Knowing her son is a real "character," she asked him if he was telling her the truth. He wasn't being a wise guy.
"There is just no possible way you can prepare yourself mentally for this," Hanselman said.
"God knows we have enough love in our family for seven kids," she says of her grandchildren, including Connor, her only grandchild for now.
"They are ready for the challenge," the anxious grandmother said.
Caesarean scheduled
Although the due date is May 16, the babies will be born by Caesarean section this month, which gives them a 90-percent chance of survival, the grandmother said.
It will be a crowded three-bedroom house for the mother and father when Isabella Jean, Sophia Ivy, Lucy Arlene, Logan James, Alex Edwin and Kyle Allen arrive. Their middle names are those of grandparents or great-grandparents.
It'll be two babies in each of three cribs.
Similac, a baby formula made by Abbott Laboratories, will provide a supply of the infant nourishment for a year. The couple's Twin Falls United Methodist Church in Monroe Falls is collecting donated clothes and other baby things.
"They don't want to exploit the kids. With that many kids, though, they do need help," Hanselman said.
She points out she has a small family and church members and grandparents will help.
"If anyone can handle it, Keith and Jennifer can," Hanselman said.
yovich@vindy.com