BIRMINGHAM — Three minutes was all it took to triple the size of a Plantersville family.

Between 8:05 and 8:08 a.m. on Saturday, June 18, Plantersville residents Heather and Mitchell Carroll, who already have a 22-month-old son, Grant, became the proud new parents of five girls and one boy through Caesarean section at Brookwood Medical Center.

Abbie, Brooklyn, Chloe, David, Ellie and Faith, with weights ranging from 2 pounds 5 ounces to 1 pound 10 ounces, are healthy. They were all breathing without the aid of ventilators just 12 hours after birth.

“There’s so many people to thank for this delivery,” Heather said. “Especially the doctor, (OB/GYN) Bill McKenzie and his staff. He’s just a wonderful Christian man and I don’t know anywhere you can go that (they) are praying daily for you and for your baby.

“The staff at Brookwood has done wonderful. The dietitians, nutritionist, women’s services — I mean, they’ve gone way above and beyond what I could ever imagine. I cannot think of anywhere else to go and take a task like this and deliver. I just thank everyone for that.”

More than 50 healthcare providers, in separate teams for each baby, took part in the birth and cared for the newborns in a labor-intensive process.

“We are proud of all the preparation that was done,” neonatologist Dr. Antonio Gonzalez said during Tuesday’s press conference.

The team and mother began preparing for the delivery early and even went through six formal run-throughs of the delivery prior to the actual delivery day.

“All the hard work mom and dad have done for this has really paid off,” Gonzalez said. “The babies are getting an excellent start. They will be with us for a while.”

McKenzie said the nutrition required to feed all of the babies was up to 6,000 calories a day before the birth.

“She had no fat stores at all,” McKenzie said. “Believe it or not, she was on a 6,000 calorie-a-day diet. About 4,000 of that she tried to take in herself and the rest we supplemented with IV nutrition and, despite our nutritional department crafting that strategy, the rumor is there were plenty of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Starburst to supplement that.”

Now a few days after delivery, the mother is doing well and trying to recover.

“I’m not tired,” Heather said. “I’m just trying to get back where I was, and that’s going to take a while.”