Re: OB: Everything is Big in Texas (or, why we won't be outdone by
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Mon Dec 21 20:18:28 1998
I'd really like to know if the Breeder still gets pick of the litter.
Art
At Mon, 21 Dec 1998, Geffrey H. Klein, MD wrote:
>
>Monday December 21 9:04 AM ET
>
>Texas Mom Gives Birth to Octuplets
>
>By MARK BABINECK Associated Press Writer
>
>HOUSTON (AP) - Doctors knew the infant delivered two weeks ago was just one
>of several babies Nkem Chukwu carried in her womb. But none knew the girl
>was just one of a remarkable - and historic - eight.
>
>Mrs. Chukwu delivered her 2-week-old daughter's five sisters and two
>brothers Sunday to complete the first known surviving set of octuplets.
>They ranged from 11 ounces to nearly two pounds, and all were in critical
>condition after birth.
>
>``We're very hopeful all of the babies will survive, but they're critically
>ill newborns and we can't say for sure everything will be OK,'' said Dr.
>Patti Savrick, a pediatrician at Texas Children's Hospital.
>
>The first girl was 12 weeks premature, and the others were 10 weeks early.
>The survival rate for babies born so young is 85 percent, doctors said.
>
>The babies were whisked one by one to Texas Children's from the operating
>room at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. About 30 medical personnel were
>involved in the 45-minute Caesarean section.
>
>Seven of the babies were on ventilators today to help them breathe, and all
>eight will likely remain hospitalized for two or three months.
>
>Dr. Leonard Weisman, chief neonatal specialist at Texas Children's, said he
>will watch for lung and heart problems over the next few days. After that,
>metabolic problems and infections are a danger.
>
>The babies are critically ill, but they are currently all stable, Weisman
>said this morning on the NBC ``Today'' show.
>
>Mrs. Chukwu, a Nigerian native who lives in Houston with her husband, Iyke,
>could be out of the hospital by week's end. Her husband, a respiratory
>therapist, was not present for the deliveries but has seen the babies since
>then, doctors said today.
>
>``He's very excited about the pregnancy,'' said Dr. Brian Kirshon, a
>specialist in high-risk births and one of three doctors who delivered the
>babies.
>
>As a result of drugs taken to forestall labor, Mrs. Chukwu required surgery
>this morning to stop internal bleeding. Kirshon called the bleeding, a side
>effect of the drugs, a ``generalized ooze'' from her abdominal wall.
>
>``It was something not anticipated,'' Kirshon said, but her condition was
>``stabilizing.''
>
>``Mom is a remarkable woman,'' Kirshon said. ``She would go to any lengths
>to prolong this pregnancy.''
>
>Mrs. Chukwu had been taking fertility drugs. She conceived triplets last
>year but lost them midway through her pregnancy. The couple has no other
>children.
>
>Until the first child was born naturally on Dec. 8, doctors were unsure how
>many fetuses Mrs. Chukwu was carrying because her uterus was so crowded,
>Kirshon said.
>
>Giving birth to the first baby probably bought the other seven valuable
>time to mature. The littlest of the seven born Sunday might not have
>survived much longer in the womb, he said.
>
>Mrs. Chukwu entered the hospital in early October and was confined to bed
>for six weeks. For the past 21/2 weeks, her bed was inclined with her head
>toward the floor in order 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.
>
>Mrs. Chukwu also was fed intravenously late in the pregnancy. ``She was
>willing to forgo eating to allow extra room for the babies to grow,''
>Kirshon said.
>
>Doctors had discussed with her the possibility of aborting one or more
>fetuses to help the others' chances for survival, but Mrs. Chukwu declined.
>
>``The human being was meant to have one baby,'' Kirshon said. ``When you
>get up to these high-order multiple pregnancies, the uterus gets so large,
>it's so unusual to be able to keep a pregnancy to the point where you
>deliver and the babies are able to survive.''
>
>According to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest multiple birth was
>nine babies in Sydney, Australia, in 1971. All the children died.
>
>Three other cases of octuplets have been recorded in the past 13 years. In
>two cases, all the babies died. In 1996, Rosario Clavijo, 31, of Huelva,
>Spain, lost two of eight fetuses before birth but then went on to deliver
>six healthy babies.
>
>In Iowa, Bobbi and Kenny McCaughey offered their congratulations in the
>midst of holiday celebrations with their septuplets, born on Nov. 19, 1997.
>
>``We wish them the Lord's blessing and a merry Christmas,'' the couple said
>through their agent. Mrs. McCaughey, whose children were only the second
>set of septuplets to be born alive and the first to survive, had also taken
>fertility drugs.
>
>Asked if Mrs. Chukwu was prepared for so many infants, Kirshon said: ``I
>think she has a realistic view on the difficulty and magnitude of what she
>has undertaken. She has good support from her mother and others.''
>
>--
>Geffrey H. Klein, MD
>geffrey.klein@obgyn.net
>2200 Nasa Rd 1 #200
>Houston, Texas 77058
>(713) 741 2273 ext 2628
>
--
art fougner, md
SonoScan/Genetic Sciences
forest hills, ny
evsono@pipeline.com
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