Upon entering the Ferrill household, removing your shoes is more than just a polite gesture – it is a part of keeping its smallest inhabitants safe. Toys and swings nearly cover the floors of the 1,500-square foot house while hand sanitizer greets visitors in every room.

With five 1-year-olds born eight weeks premature, the Ferrills of Danville, Ill., maintain sanitary practices beyond conventional standards to keep their developing immune systems as safe as possible. Jenny and Pete Ferrill have maintained the habits from their quintuplets’ nearly two-month stay at St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Jenny, a graduate student at the University, gave birth to quintuplets Dec. 21 of last year. She is taking one class at a time to complete her master’s degree in social work, while devoting the rest of her time to caring for the babies. Her husband provides the family’s income through his work at the Center for Children’s Services in Danville and the recent establishment of his own consulting firm.

When Jenny was 10 weeks pregnant, resulting from a third attempt at artificial insemination, she learned that The Learning Channel was looking for expectant mothers of quintuplets or sextuplets to follow for a series. She pursued the opportunity and saw value in teaching others through her experience.

“A small Midwest town doesn’t always have the opportunity to have a lot of recognition,” she said. “We were most excited about the prospect of being able to have the birth filmed because that is something that we wouldn’t have been able to do because it was just us.”

Cameras began filming Jenny’s pregnancy in September of last year, with crews coming to Danville every few weeks for three to four days at a time, taping between six and eight hours a day. After the babies were born, the presence of the cameras increased the intensity of emotional experiences, Jenny said.

“There were times when it was difficult, especially in the NIC unit,” she said. “In some ways, it was very difficult because the babies are on a very regimented schedule, and they really need that.”

After watching the first episode of “Quint-essential,” which aired Nov. 26, Jenny said she is pleased with how she and her experience were represented.

She has yet to see the other three installments of the series, which will chronicle the babies’ first year of life and air Monday nights at 9 p.m. on The Learning Channel.

Jenny said she would have highlighted in the show that her experience was relatively uncomplicated compared to other women with multiple pregnancies, and expectant mothers should not expect that their pregnancy would be the same.

“Overall, the experience was so amazing and unlike what statistics would show, and I think they could have highlighted it a little more,” she said.

Jenny stopped taking classes toward her degree during her pregnancy because she was put on moderate bed rest when she was just eight weeks pregnant. Pete became her primary caretaker, ensuring that she was eating a sufficient number of calories and the appropriate nutrients at each stage of pregnancy. He said caring for Jenny helped prepare him to become a father.

“I was a caretaker rather than a spouse,” he said.

The majority of the financial burden has been on the couple, receiving only a stipend for participating in the series and help from the hospital to get donations for car seats and formula.

Jenny said taking care of five babies while balancing her schoolwork this semester has been a challenge, especially because she does not qualify for financial aid given that she is only enrolled in one class.

“It’s definitely very difficult because I don’t want to take any time away from them, so when they’re up, I don’t do my schoolwork,” Jenny said. “I tend to wait until they’re taking a nap. And by the time they go to bed at night, I’m exhausted from the day.”

As for the family’s future plans, they know they eventually will need to move to a larger house, and Jenny plans to start working when the quintuplets start kindergarten, since day care is financially impossible.

The Ferrills said they are thankful for the support from their family and community that have helped them through the first year.

“The babies have touched the lives of many people,” Jenny said. “And many people have touched their lives.”