This is only the second reported case in the US

Jan 27, 2009 07:09 GMT  ·  By
This picture depicts only two babies. Imagine giving birth to 4 times more in just 5 minutes.
   This picture depicts only two babies. Imagine giving birth to 4 times more in just 5 minutes.

A woman from California surprised her doctors on Monday, when she gave birth to 8 infants, six boys and two girls. This is only the second recorded case of octuplets in the United States, and experts say that pregnancies such as the one that just ended are extremely rare and difficult to carry out. According to their physicians, the children are stable for the time being, and are admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit of the hospital where they were born.

The birth took place in Bellflower, a Los Angeles suburb, at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center. Dr. Karen Maples, who takes care of the infants, said in a press conference that two of them needed to be assisted by artificial ventilators, on account of the fact that their conditions worsened after birth. She also revealed that the babies were born nine weeks ahead of schedule, and that the 46 doctors that were present during the Cesarean section were amazed to learn that the woman carried 8 babies, as they were only expecting 7.

The lightest of the octuplets weighed no more than 1 pound 8 ounces (680 grams), while the heaviest was about 3 pounds 4 ounces (1.47 kg). In order to be able to identify them properly, medics first designated them with letters ranging from A to H. "We decided to proceed with the delivery in anticipation of seven babies. We had done some drills, some preliminary dry runs. Lo and behold, after we got to Baby G, which is what we expected, we were surprised by Baby H," Maples explained.

The physician also announced that she had been following the progress of the new mother since her first trimester of pregnancy, but added that she couldn't supply any more details about her patient's identity, because of the doctor-patient confidentiality. She also refused to share information of whether the woman had previously followed fertility treatments, or if this had been a natural occurrence. With treatments, doctors say that the possibility of multiple birth increases considerably. "It was a shock, especially with the eighth baby," Maples maintained.

At the end of the press conference, the experts concluded that the new mother planned to breast-feed all her children, even if that could be a very exhausting task. However, she is bound to be under constant medical supervision, and, hopefully, everything will go smoothly.