http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,483371,00.html



BELLFLOWER, Calif. — A woman in Southern California gave birth Monday to the second set of octuplets ever delivered alive in the United States.

Doctors described the six boys and two girls as a feisty bunch who made their entrance kicking and crying and seemed to be doing remarkably well, despite arriving nine weeks premature. They ranged in weight from 1 pound, 8 ounces (0.45 kilograms), to 3 pounds, 4 ounces (0.9 meters).

"We were fortunate that this patient was extremely strong, very courageous and able to handle these births," said Dr. Karen E. Maples, who is chief of service for obstetrics and gynecology at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center and delivered Baby No. 8.

No pictures of the children were released, and at the mother's request doctors declined to reveal her name, any information about her family or whether she took fertility drugs before becoming pregnant, though outside experts said it is almost certain she did.

The chances of delivering eight babies naturally are "unbelievably rare," said Dr. Richard Paulson, director of the fertility program at the University of Southern California.

The babies have not been named yet, and the staff assigned them letters A through H in the meantime. They were expected to remain hospitalized for several weeks and could face serious developmental problems later on because of their small size.

"They are doing amazingly well at this time," said Dr. Mandhir Gupta, a neonatologist who was part of the team of 46 doctors, nurses and others who took part in the cesarean section delivery. But he added: "I won't be able to comment on chances of survival because we've never had eight babies born at 30 weeks before."

The odds of survival drop off dramatically in multiple births, particularly if there are more than three babies. The risks include breathing and eating difficulties and growth problems because their lungs and other systems are often underdeveloped. They also may have hearing or vision problems and learning disabilities as they mature.

In fact, the risks in multiple births are so high that when a woman is pregnant with more than three babies, doctors routinely recommend "selective reduction," or aborting some of them. But Dr. Harold M. Henry, director of maternal-fetal medicine for the hospital, would not discuss what took place in this case.

The babies were still in incubators and their mother had not been able to hold them yet. Three had oxygen tubes up their noses to help them breathe. The first four were expected to begin taking milk sometime Tuesday, with the others shortly after that.

"That's the biggest test," Gupta said. "We want to make sure that they start tolerating and digesting the milk."

The woman and her doctors were actually expecting seven children, not eight. The delivery team was thinking the hard work was over after that seventh baby was removed from the womb, when another physician spotted another little hand, Maples said.

Click here to read Dr. Manny's blog on the dangerous of multiple pregnancies.

The mother reacted calmly to the news, said Dr. Jalil Riazi, an anesthesiologist. "Her question was, 'Really, an eighth baby? How did we miss that baby?"' he said.

The mother had checked into the hospital in her 23rd week and spent nearly two months working with doctors in preparation for the big day. Mainly she got a lot of bed rest, Maples said, while the medical team repeatedly conducted practice sessions.

As word of the births spread people began to call with offers of cribs, strollers, baby clothes and other items, said hospital spokeswoman Carmen Gonzalez.

"We're compiling a list of things that people want to donate," she said, adding the mother will review the list and decide what she needs.

The world's first live octuplets were born in 1967 in Mexico City, but all died within 14 hours, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

The United States' first live octuplets were born in Houston in 1998, three months premature. The tiniest died a week after the birth. The surviving siblings turned 10 in December and were reported to be doing well by their mother.

"It's wonderful watching them be together. They are happy to have each other. They're doing their homework right now," Nkem Chukwu said Monday.

at this point, you might of well have gotten a dog and let it have puppies...i mean honestly, who needs 8 human babies??

I think it's cool, but it's *a lot*!

groetjes,
Mirella

That's fucking retarded. How many of those are actually going to grow into normal children? Probably none of them. I'm sure they will all either die or be severely disabled. Unless this woman is filthy rich and has some kind of ridiculous health care plan, this will end up being nothing but a gargantuan drain of government money. The delivery itself probably costed millions of dollars, with the 46 doctors they had working on it. Stupid.

The babies should all be thrown in a cage and forced to fight each other. The winner lives.

And then broadcast it

I am planning, and presently working towards, topping this effort.

The babies should all be thrown in a genetic lab and screened for cancer causing genes. Whoever has the least of them wins. The rest get to partake in an experimental "post-birth abortion" operation.

The best part is she is planning on breast feeding all of them. Those will be some sore fucking nipples.

I think you could do some really interesting psychological studies on this family. Ones that would likely be considered unethical.

I think she is a wonderful person.

I wonder how often something like this happens and the mother thinks "Umm, can I abort half?"

If I was a woman I would take tons of fertility pills and get pregnant with as many babies as possible. Then after like a month I would get an abortion. Then I would do it all over again. Think of the possibilies if I dedicated myself to that for a number of years. I could murder dozens, maybe even hundreds of babies!

What?

this board is making us crazy

By the fifth or sixth time your bladder would be down around your knees, though.

It would be like a new form of pro-choice movement. I'm gonna stick it to those pro-lifers by getting loads of abortions!

TLC will get there hands on it and pay all their bills ala, Jon and Kate +8, and The Duggars.

I heard about this on the radio on the way home from work. Turns out the lady already had 6 kids.

But get this - she is a single mom......and used artificial insemination to get pregnant this time.

So now she's a single mom who already had 6 kids, purposely get pregnant and deliver eight more babies. This world is crazy.

She'll never be bored .

groetjes,
Mirella