American woman gives birth to octuplets

Los Angeles, United States, January 27: An unnamed woman in Southern California has given birth to eight babies, six boys and two girls yesterday and have become the world's second octuplets born alive.

The eight babies born within five minutes by Caesarean section in Bellflower near Los Angeles were nine weeks premature and weighed between 1.8 pounds and 3.4 pounds.

Dr. Harold Henry of the Kaiser Permanente hospital in Bellflower said, "All babies are well, as is the mother.”

Doctors said two babies needed some help to breath with ventilators and a third needed oxygen.

The two doctors who did the deliveries said that they had planned in advance for the c-section deliveries for seven babies they thought she was having.

“My eyes were as wide as saucers,” said Dr Karen Maples, chief of the hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department, after realizing the existence of the eighth child. “We just went on and delivered the babies.”

“The orchestrated delivery went off without a hitch,” added Dr. Harold Henry. “The babies are all doing well and the mom is also doing well. There were no complications from the surgery to the best of my knowledge."

Adding further Dr. Harold said, "They were all screaming and kicking around very vigorously.”

Dr. Karen Maples said that all eight babies will probably remain in the hospital for at least 2 months and the mother should be released in a week.

The hospital authorities denied to reveal the identity of the mother who has asked that limited information be released about the births.

In 1998, Nkem Chukwu gave birth to the worlds’ first set of octuplets, six girls and two boys, in Houston, Texas. One of the infants died about a week later but the remaining seven siblings, girls Ebuka, Gorom, Chidi, Chima and Echerem, and their brothers Ikem and Jioke, celebrated their 10th birthday last December.