Octuplets Born In California – A California woman gave birth Monday to octuplets, believed to be only the second set of eight babies ever born in the United States.
The octuplets, six boys and two girls, were doing well and were in stable condition in the neonatal intensive care unit, said Dr. Karen Maples at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Centre in the Los Angeles suburb of Bellflower.
Two of the premature infants needed some breathing help with ventilators, she told a press conference.
The eight babies were born nine weeks prematurely by Caesarean section over a five-minute period, stunning a 46-member medical team that was expecting only seven babies.
The octuplets weighed between 1 pound, 8 ounces and 3 pounds, 4 ounces. Doctors initially identified them by the letters A through H as they were born.
“We decided to proceed with the delivery in anticipation of seven babies. We had done some drills, some preliminary dry runs,” Maples said.
“Lo and behold, after we got to Baby G, which is what we expected, we were surprised by Baby H.”
Maples said she had been following the mother, who was not identified, since the first trimester of her pregnancy.
Citing patient confidentiality rules, the hospital declined to say whether the mother had become pregnant through fertility treatments, which can raise the likelihood of multiple births.
“It was a shock, especially with the eighth baby,” Maples said, adding “The mother plans to breast feed all eight babies.”
The last octuplets known to have survived in the United States were born in Houston in 1998, in that case six girls and two boys. One of the babies, a girl, died one week after birth.
And that’s the latest news on octuplets born in California.
Tags: california octuplets, multiple birth, octuplets, octuplets born in california, octuplets california, premature babies
January 27th, 2009 at 9:08 am
“The babies are all doing well, and the mom is also doing well,” Henry said. “There were no complications from the surgery to the best of my knowledge.”
Hospital officials would not release the mother’s name nor say whether she had used fertility drugs.
They did say she planned to breast feed all the children.
“She’s a very strong woman, so she probably will be able to handle all eight babies,” said Dr. Mandhir Gupta, a neo-natologist who cared for the infants.
The mother checked into the hospital in her 23rd week of pregnancy and gave birth seven weeks later. The babies — dubbed with the letters A-through-H — will probably remain in the hospital for at least two months and the mother should be released in a week, Maples said.
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