Octuplets in incubators 'doing well'

Bellflower, California - The nation's second set of live-born octuplets were all breathing on their own Wednesday, 48 hours after a woman gave birth to the surprising bunch in Southern California.

Three of the babies were still receiving supplemental oxygen, but were inhaling and exhaling on their own.

"They're doing amazingly well," said Socorro Serrano, spokesperson for Kaiser Permanente's Bellflower Medical Centre, where the babies were born.

The mother, whose identity remains a secret, had not yet been able to hold any of the delicate babies - six boys and two girls - who were born weighing between 0,45kg, and 1,47kg). However, she was able to see them in their incubators on Tuesday night.

In lieu of names, the babies have been assigned letters A through H, in the order of their birth Monday morning. The babies' incubators were being kept near one another in the same room for bonding, said Miriam Khoury, clinical director of inpatient obstetrical nursing at the hospital.

Four of the babies were receiving tube-feedings of donated breast milk, said Khoury.

The stomach of a fifth baby didn't absorb the milk he was given Wednesday and now was being fed intravenously, said Khoury. Two of the babies that were receiving milk also were being fed through a vein.

The mother has begun pumping breast milk in anticipation of eight hungry babies, said Serrano.

Five of the babies have begun feedings on donated breast milk through tubes. The three others were expected to begin feeding later on Wednesday.

The mother has begun pumping breast milk in anticipation of eight hungry babies, said Serrano.

Doctors were surprised by the birth of the eighth baby, because they were only anticipating seven, said Dr Harold Henry, one of 46 staff members who delivered the babies by cesarean section.

Khoury said the addition of eight babies to the neonatal unit had not stressed the hospital.

"This is history for us, so of course we're happy," said Khoury, who helped coordinate the materials needed for the labour.

Details about how the octuplets were conceived have not been released, but doctors not involved in the delivery believe the mother was likely on fertility treatment.

Dr Daniel Mishell, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, recommends carefully monitoring pregnancies involving fertility drugs by ultrasound.

Multiple births can be dangerous for babies and their mother, and in some cases, may result in lasting health problems. However, in cases where a woman insists on having multiple births, there's a limit to a doctor's role.

The babies were expected to remain in hospital for several weeks and could face serious developmental delays because of their small size.

On Wednesday, the father of the world's first set of octuplets born alive offered the nation's newest eight-sibling family a preview of what they have to look forward to.

"Most of the time, (it's) really, really loud, because eight people are talking, wanting to be heard," Iyke Louis Udobi said as he looked over the two boys and five girls who were born to his wife in 1998 along with an eighth child, who died a week later.

The children's mother, Nkem Chukwu, who breast-fed her infants a decade ago, has her own advice to offer the new mother.

She should "take it easy," Chukwu said. "Pray more. ... Sleep while she can." - Sapa-AP


Source : Babynet