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Kate Gosselin Says Her Sextuplet Pregnancy Began With Seven Heartbeats — And Shares the Name She Chose for the Baby Who Didn’t Survive
Former reality TV mom Kate Gosselin has revealed a little-known and deeply emotional part of her story: when she first learned she was expecting sextuplets in 2004, doctors actually found seven embryos.
Gosselin, now 50, reflected on the early days of that high-risk pregnancy in a six-episode TikTok series shared between August and late September, revisiting her experiences with fertility treatment and the extraordinary months that followed. Millions tuned in to hear her speak openly about the most vulnerable chapter of her life.
In one episode, she recalled the shock of her six-week ultrasound, when the medical team discovered seven tiny heartbeats. Just one week later, one embryo had stopped developing.
“When the technician went silent, I knew something had changed,” she shared. “Then they found six little hearts still beating. It was a miracle — and I already loved them so much.”
Another scare later in the pregnancy — a sudden bleeding incident — left her terrified that she had lost all of the babies. Instead, the scan confirmed six thriving fetuses, the same six children who would one day become known to the world through Jon & Kate Plus 8.
Gosselin also spoke for the first time about the seventh embryo and the name she had chosen.
“She would have been a girl,” she said softly. “Her name would have been Emma.”
All of Gosselin’s children were conceived through intrauterine insemination due to her diagnosis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).
Today, her sextuplets — Aaden, Alexis, Joel, Leah, Hannah and Collin — are 21 years old. Her eldest children, twins Mady and Cara, will turn 25 on October 8. Mady, a Syracuse University graduate, works in sales at skincare brand DECIEM, and Cara, who attended Fordham University, now works as a leasing credit officer at Bank of America.
Her relationship with Collin remains difficult. He has previously spoken publicly about family conflicts and his disappointment that his mother did not support his desire to join the Marine Corps. He is currently in college, balancing work as a resident assistant and waiter, and hopes to write a book about his life.
Following the global attention brought by Jon & Kate Plus 8 (2007–2010) and the spin-off Kate Plus 8 (2010–2017), Gosselin went on to appear on several other television programs, including Dancing With the Stars, Celebrity Wife Swap, The Apprentice, The View, and Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test — the latter of which she exited due to a neck injury.
Today, she keeps a much lower profile. Gosselin lives in North Carolina and works long shifts as a pediatric nurse, while maintaining privacy for most areas of her family life. She has authored three books.
In sharing her TikTok reflections, Gosselin offered fans something they never saw on reality television — a tribute to the tiny heartbeat that vanished too soon, and a reminder that her journey to motherhood was built on both extraordinary hope and heartbreaking loss.
