A woman gave birth to octuplets at a Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower, Los Angeles, California On Monday, 26th Jan, 2009.
The two physicians who helped in the deliveries said they had planned in advance for the C-section deliveries but were expecting only seven babies. But instead, they got six boys and two girls, weighing between 1.8 pounds and 3.4 pounds.
The six boys and two girls were born between 10:43 a.m. and 10:48 am within a span of 5 minutes, said the doctors.
The eighth baby shocked the hospital delivery team which had been planning for a seven-baby delivery for some time. The last baby, perhaps hiding behind the others and came five minutes after the first was born. Perhaps, he had other ideas !!
The woman, whose name the hospital did not release, became the second ever lady to give birth to surviving octuplets. In fact, this is only the second time in history that live octuplets have been born, doctors said.
The team leaders consisted of Dr. Maples, Dr. Henry, and Dr. Mandhir Gupta, although Dr. Maples said that there were 46 people involved in the deliveries. Dr. Karen Maples said she was more than shocked when it became obvious that there was an eighth child and in fact they just went on and on and delivered the babies.
Although it was exciting, they were more anxious, but the orchestrated delivery went off without a hitch Dr. Karen Maples, who was part of the team, further added that they were relieved that the newborns are in stable condition. In fact, the babies are actually doing very well said Dr. Mandhir Gupta, although the hospital was still watching the babies closely for additional breathing problems.
When the first baby came out, it was apparently crying and kicking, which was a very good sign said Dr. Gupta and it diffused any anxiety, the medical team had.
Dr. Gupta added that the mother plans to breast-feed the babies once they are big enough.
Two of the babies had to be put on ventilators, but have since been taken off, however, three of them still require minimal breathing assistance. The babies are expected to stay in the hospital for around two months and the mother could be released in as maybe less than a week.
It is believed that the woman is a single mother in her thirties and has already has six other children. The family currently lives in a three-bedroom house, which will soon be bursting with babies when the octuplets are released from the hospital in an estimated two months.
