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Monday, December 21, 1998

Woman gives birth to first known surviving octuplets

By MARK BABINECK

Associated Press

HOUSTON -- A woman on Sunday become the mother of the first known surviving set of octuplets, giving birth to five girls and two boys. The eighth child was born on Dec. 8.

All eight were in critical condition on Sunday, doctors said.

Nkem Chukwu gave birth to seven of the children by Ceasarean section about 9 a.m. A girl was born nearly two weeks earlier, said Dr. Brian Kirshon, who was among three doctors who delivered the children.

The girl born Dec. 8 was 12 weeks premature. The others were born 10 weeks early, the doctors said.

The babies range from 11 ounces to 1 pound, 11 ounces.

Ms. Chukwu, 27, was in stable condition after Sunday's deliveries at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Kirshon said.

Immediately after delivery, the babies were taken to the adjacent Texas Children's Hospital.

"They're doing as well as could be expected," said Dr. Patti Saverick, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital.

Ms. Chukwu entered the hospital in early October and has been confined to bed for six weeks, Kirshon said. For between two and three weeks, her bed was at an extreme incline with her head toward the floor to keep pressure off her lower body.

"I think she is remarkable in that she was able to tolerate extreme conditions, to lie upside down in that degree of discomfort and that degree of immobility," Kirshon said.

He added that doctors didn't know until recently exactly how many babies Ms. Chukwu was carrying. They thought she might have six or seven at most. But after the first child was was born Dec. 8, a sonogram showed seven remained.

The eight children are the first for Ms. Chukwu and her husband, Ike. The couple had long tried to have children before resorting to fertility drugs, Kirshon said. Ms. Chukwu suffered a miscarriage of triplets earlier this year.

"She has been rather private," the doctor said. "The recent loss she had earlier this year made her cautious about this pregnancy."

The hospital had honored the couple's request for absolute privacy. Word about the octuplets didn't emerge until tipsters called at least two news organizations Sunday after the births.

Kirshon said at least 25 people were involved in the deliveries, ferrying the babies in assembly-line fashion as they were removed from Ms. Chukwu's womb.

In Carlisle, Iowa, Bobbi and Kenny McCaughey, parents of the world's first surviving set of septuplets, were celebrating Christmas with their church family when they heard the news of the Chukwu octopulets.

"We wish them the Lord's blessing and a merry Christmas," the couple said through their Nashville, Tenn.,-based agent, Wes Yoder.

Upon hearing of the babies' weight and how far along the pregnancy they were, Yoder added, "Sounds like they might make it.

The McCaughey septuplets were about nine weeks premature when they were born on Nov. 19, 1997.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest multiple birth was nine babies in Sydney, Australia, in 1971. Six of those children survived.

Three other octuplet births have been recorded in the past 13 years, but not all of the babies survived.

In one case, Rosario Clavijo, 31, of Huelva, Spain, became pregnant with the aid of fertility drugs and gave birth Dec. 5, 1996, to six healthy babies -- four boys and two girls. Two children died.

In August 1996, a 32-year-old British woman, Mandy Allwood, conceived eight fetuses and rejected medical advice to abort some of them. Her pregnancy and her decision to have all the babies aroused controversy after she hired a publicist to a tabloid newspaper, which bought her story for a high sum based on how many live births she produced.

Four months into pregnancy, she lost all the babies as she gave birth prematurely.

A 25-year-old woman from Imzir, Turkey, gave birth to octuplets on Dec. 20, 1985, but six died within 12 hours. The five boys and three girls were delivered by Caesarian section, 12 weeks premature. The mother, Sevil Capan, had been taking fertility drugs. The remaining two babies died within 3 days of their birth.