Woman Gives Birth To Eight Kids

On Monday, 26th Jan, 2009, a woman gave birth to octuplets at a Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower, Los Angeles, California

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. The information on the mother and six other children was obtained from ABC News.

However, Kaiser spokeswoman Myra Suarez said she could not release any information about the mother, including her condition or whether she used fertility drugs.

As the world marvels at the birth of the octuplets, television stations have been computing something else – estimating the cost of bringing these babies up into the world. Although, it might mean eight times as much love, but will it also cost eight times as much money?

A director from the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the University of Michigan Health System, Steven M. Donn said that the approximate cost would be an eightfold increase on a singleton birth. Incidentally, he also added that in comparison, the mother's care will probably be a bargain.

Costs for the average delivery of a full-term pregnancy range from $9,000 to $25,000, depending on whether the baby is delivered by Caesarean section or vaginally. Eight times $25,000 is a whopping $200,000. Phew !!

The real costs come from the pediatric side, particularly when it comes to neonatal-intensive-care said Dr. Geeta Swamy, a maternal-fetal specialist at the Duke University Medical Center. As a full-term pregnancy could last anywhere from 38 to 42 weeks, Swamy estimated for babies born at 30 weeks (that is about 12 weeks premature), the hospital stay could be anywhere from six weeks to six months. Besides, for an infant stay in a neonatal intensive care unit, the costs can add up to a few thousand a day, she said.

Swamy said that she was estimating, probably several hundreds of thousands of dollars for the family. If it is about $100,000 per baby, then it could be $800,000 for all eight.

I guess they would need baby - funding !! Any donations welcome !!

The first live-born octuplets, which were born in Houston in December 1998 turned 10 in December, 2008. They were three months premature and their weights had ranged from 11 ounces to 1 pound and 11 ounces. Unfortunately, the tiniest infant died of heart and lung failure within a week after being born

Their parents, Nkem Chukwu and Iyke Louis Udobi, said they would always be grateful that their children have grown up to be healthy and active.

The 33 year old, single mother, Nadya Suleman (the lady's name, apparently released by her interview with NBC) already has six other children. In an upcoming TV interview, NBC reports the mother says all her children were born through in-vitro fertilization by the same specialist.

Dr. Richard Paulson, the director of the fertility program at the University of Southern California, said that if the babies were born prematurely they are likely to face serious threats to their health. In addition, the mother also faces an increased risk of hemorrhage. Dr. Paulson, who had no role in the delivery process added that it was very risky to try and have all eight babies and that he would not have recommended it under any circumstances, but then one has to respect a parent's decision.

Maples said the team handled the surprise birth "without missing a beat."

Now a small anecdote for the day (please take it in the right sense !)

• There once was a lady named Sprat
• Who had triplets, Nat, Pat, and Tat.
• It was fun in the breeding,
• But hell in the feeding,
• Because there was no tit for Tat.

Let us wish and pray for them and hope they make it without any hitch.