Parents Who Had Quintuplets Last Year Welcome Baby Girl: 'One Big Happy Family' (Exclusive)

"It's not something that we thought would happen for us again," Haylee Ladner tells PEOPLE

• Parents Haylee and Shawn Ladner welcomed a baby girl on July 17, over a year after the couple gave birth to quintuplets, four identical girls and one boy, in Feb. 2023, she tells PEOPLE

• Learning they were pregnant with daughter Ella Claire came as a surprise to the Mississippi parents, who didn't think they would be able to get pregnant again

• "I hope that we can all get well-adjusted and just continue to grow as one big happy family," she says

Last year, Mississippi parents Haylee and Shawn Ladner welcomed quintuplets — and they just expanded their family with the arrival of a healthy baby girl.

Ella Claire was born via cesarean section at Wiser Hospital for Women and Infants at the University of Mississippi Medical Center on Wednesday, July 17, weighing 5 lbs., 10 oz., Haylee tells PEOPLE exclusively.

The new mom says they "had to have her a little bit early" so as not to risk anybody's health. When she arrived, the newborn was "breathing a little bit fast," so she spent a few days in the NICU on respiratory support before coming home on Monday, July 22.

Related: NICU Nurse with 5 Kids Adopts Teen Mom She Cared for After the Girl Gave Birth to Triplets at 14

Haylee, who gave birth to four identical girls and one boy at the same hospital in Feb. 2023, tells PEOPLE that she and her husband, Shawn, were not planning on having any other kids after the quints were born.

"We were pretty content with our five that we had," she says.

Before their five babies were born, the couple experienced years of challenges. "We had been through miscarriages and loss, and that was just something that I just didn't think I would be able to put myself through again," adds Haylee.

In order to start their family, the stay-at-home mom and her electrician husband turned to intrauterine insemination (IUI), according to a previous news release from UMMC. One egg split into four parts, which resulted in four identical girls, while their other egg remained intact.

Related: Quintuplets Make History as They Graduate from the Same College: ‘A Gigantic Moment’

When the 27-year-old couple found out they were expecting again, they were shocked.

Haylee, who didn't even think they could even conceive naturally, shares that she was actually on birth control at the time and didn't find out she was pregnant until she was almost in her second trimester.

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"I was pregnant for months and didn't know it," she reflects.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, the pill is 99% effective at preventing pregnancy but only if the person takes it every day. Nine out of every 100 people on the pill have unintended pregnancies every year.

Related: 7 Sets of Twins Born Within Days of Each Other at Ohio Hospital: 'This Is Something We Don't See Very Often'

Haylee says that when she told her husband that she was pregnant, "he immediately left to go get more pregnancy tests" because they were "both in disbelief."

Once the shock wore off and they felt like they could trust the news, they got excited. "It's not something that we thought would happen for us again," the mom shares.

"We were kind of getting to have that experience one last time," she continues. "So it's been exciting for us now that we know we're going to have her."

But as her pregnancy progressed, raising five toddlers proved to be extra challenging. "I have five toddlers that want mommy and want mommy all the time," she says. "Sometimes I'll have two or three babies on top of me."

Related: Couple Who Adopted Now Expecting Triplets from Frozen Embryos: 'If There Is a Will, There Is a Way'

The full-time mom is grateful for her family, who are going to help since she won't be able to pick up her kids for a couple of weeks following her cesarean section.

"My big focus, even through this process, has been [that] I want to make sure my toddlers are getting everything that they could possibly need," she says. "I don't want them to feel neglected in the slightest because they're quite literally my entire life."

As for the future, Haylee just hopes that her "little babies" grow up "happy and healthy."

"They're just the most wonderful human beings on the face of the planet, and I want the same for this baby," she continues. "I hope that we can all get well-adjusted and just continue to grow as one big happy family."

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