A mother who gave birth to Australia’s first ever naturally conceived quintuplets has split from her husband.
Kim Tucci, 30, from Perth, had three children four years ago and thought she would be ‘four and done’, when she became a one in 55 million statistic and gave birth to Australia’s first ever naturally conceived quins.
Now, Kim has announced she is splitting from her husband Vaughn, after the couple ‘outgrew’ their relationship and she said she ‘really lost myself’.
Despite the breakup, the mum-of-eight added that she and Vaughn intend to co-parent their many children as a ‘team’.
‘I’m sorry I haven’t been around much lately. The last couple of months have been one of the most difficult times I have ever endured,’ Kim posted to her 58,000 followers on Instagram on Thursday.
‘I have had to learn to put my happiness first and that was a really hard lesson to learn.’
Kim went on to say that she and Vaughn have decided that ‘unfortunately we don’t have a future together’, and they will not be going forward as a couple ‘but rather a team for our gorgeous children’.
‘Marriage is hard when children come along, it’s hard not to lose each other in-process and at times two people can really outgrow a relationship and the only way forward is in separate directions,’ Kim explained.
‘…I really lost myself over the last few years, I didn’t know my own place in life and I was so uncertain who I was. I was also scared of the judgment I may receive if I was my authentic self.’
Kim said while she is ‘sad to close this chapter’ of her life, she is excited to see what the future holds.
The 30-year-old mum of eight added that she had ‘bad depression not so long ago’.
‘I felt like I was losing a grip on reality,’ she said.
‘Now, I have left all the negativity go, I’m the happiest I have been in such a long time. I’m happy that Vaughn is happy and I know that life can only get better for both of us from here.’
Kim and Vaughn got together in their teenage years, and then had three children in their twenties before going on to become the parents of Australia’s first naturally conceived quintuplets in 2016.
There was no history of multiple births in Kim’s family, but Kim and Vaughn said they decided ‘we can do this’ when they became parents of eight overnight.
Since then, the Tuccis’ lives have been a whirlwind of nappies, feeding, bedtimes and baths – as they juggle busy family life with careers and homemaking.
Speaking previously to FEMAIL earlier this year, Kim offered a look inside her busy household – where she has been known to go through ’30 pairs of undies a day’ while toilet training her quins.
‘The best thing I’ve learned with the toilet training is that you need to remove the toilet brush for the duration of the training,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Otherwise, they’ll all just be playing with it and trying to put it in their mouths without realising it’s not to be eaten.
‘You should also keep nappies absolutely everywhere – including the car and the garage.
‘There are times when I haven’t had enough on me and there has been a poo explosion.’
The mum-of-eight shared her other parenting tricks, including soaking her kids’ clothing in boiling water for several hours to get rid of berry stains and keeping talc in the car to get rid of sand after a day at the beach.
‘You just rub it on their sandy bodies and they won’t carry it into the car with them,’ she said.
Kim has also learned how to best budget for her little ones – confessing she only spends $350 on feeding her family of 10 each week.
‘I usually do a big shop at the weekend and go to Coles, Woolworths and Aldi to make sure I buy from the cheapest supermarket,’ she said.
‘I also buy all of our fruit and vegetables from a local market, as it’s cheaper.’
Kim said the items that go down fastest in her household are what you might expect: bread, milk and cheese.
‘We probably go through eight or nine loaves of bread a week, 60-70 pieces of fruit, 20 litres of milk and a giant block of cheese,’ she said.
‘But I get the 85 cent bread instead of the $4 option. You know what? They’re not going to know the $4 stuff.’
The mum-of-eight said she is ‘lucky’ insofar as none of her children are fussy eaters.
‘But I do have a recipe up my sleeve that ensures they eat all the vegetables they might complain a bit about,’ she said.
Kim said if she can’t be bothered to properly cook one night, she’ll simply heat up some spaghetti, chuck all of her leftover vegetables including sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot and zucchini into the oven with their skins on and then whizz them up in the blender.
‘I turn that into a pasta sauce and add some meat sometimes and they have no idea they’re getting so much veg,’ she said.
She also likes to get ahead of the breakfast rush – by preparing big batches of porridge that just need to be heated up in the morning and ensuring all the bowls and spoons are ready the night before.
After sharing the news of her breakup online, Kim was met with a wash of praise from others who have divorced and have children:
‘What a strong lady. Glad to see you’ve reached a happy place,’ one commenter wrote.
‘Thinking of you and your family. I’ve been through it all and know how heartbreaking it can be,’ another added.