Mom Delivers 8 Babies in 5 Minutes

A California woman, not named, has given birth to octuplets.  Only two women have ever delivered a set of eight babies in the U.S.  Six boys and two girls arrived kicking and crying and described by the medical staff as being a “fiesty bunch.”  The babies were born nine weeks premature and range in weight from 1 pound, 8 ounces, to 3 pounds, 4 ounces.  Three babies needed help breathing.  Their mom plans to breastfeed all eight!

Dr. Richard Paulson, director of the fertility program at the University of Southern California, said that the chances of delivering eight babies naturally are “unbelievably rare.”  Many are guessing that the babies were the result of fertility drugs.  The mother has not divulged that information, yet and has asked her physician not to reveal the details about her pregnancy to the public .

Although the babies are doing well at this point, they are still expected to stay at the hospital for several more weeks and could face more challenges.  The newborns, who were delivered by a c-section, have not been named and are referred to by medical staff as letters “A” through “H.”

The team of 46 doctors, nurses and other staff took part in the cesarean section but had a surprise.  They had expected seven babies, but after the seventh baby was removed from the womb, one of the doctors saw another tiny hand, which made eight!

Dr. Mandhir Gupta, one of the neonatologists who took part in the deliveries commented, “I won’t be able to comment on chances of survival because we’ve never had eight babies born at 30 weeks before.”

Congratulations to the mom of the eight babies!