 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Next few days most critical for septuplets©New York Times
© St. Petersburg Times, WASHINGTON -- The world's third set of septuplets -- five boys and two girls -- were born at Georgetown University Hospital late Thursday, delivered by a team of doctors and nurses that spent weeks practicing for the event. The babies, weighing 2 pounds to 2.4 pounds, were in critical condition Friday. Their mother, whose name is being withheld, was comfortable and serene, hospital officials said. She saw her newborns for the first time Friday afternoon; she had seen only photographs, which nurses said she clutched to her breast with a smile. She and her husband are guarding their privacy. "While mom is doing great, I'm not sure we can say we are out of the woods yet with the babies," said Dr. Craig Winkel, chairman of the hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department. There are two other surviving sets of septuplets in the world, one in Saudia Arabia and another, the much-publicized McCaughey septuplets, in Iowa. As with the McCaugheys, the Georgetown septuplets were the product of fertility drugs, typically pituitary hormones used to stimulate ovulation. The mother was cared for during most of her pregnancy by Dr. Mutahar Fauzia, a gynecologist who practices in Falls Church, Va. When the woman was about seven weeks pregnant, Fauzia said, she could see seven tiny heartbeats, little specks on an ultrasound screen. She discussed with the patient the risks of multiple births and offered the woman a procedure known as "selective reduction," in which some fetuses are aborted to reduce the risk to the mother and the other babies. "The patient is a Muslim," Fauzia said, "and she did not believe in taking the life of the babies." The woman, she added, drew comfort from "the feeling that God was going to help her." The Georgetown patient was on bed rest at home for most of her pregnancy and was admitted to the hospital in mid June. She went into labor Thursday about 8 p.m. That triggered a round of telephone calls to bring back the doctors, nurses and technicians who had planned for the birth. The infants, nearly 12 weeks premature, were delivered by Caesarean section from 11:25 to 11:28 p.m. by Dr. Helain Landy, who performed the operation with the help of two other doctors, 11 nurses and a technician. The delivery was "remarkably uncomplicated," Landy said. Although the parents later named the babies, the hospital staff designated each by letter, A through G, and assigned each a "medical SWAT team," headed by a neonatologist. Six -- all but the smallest, a girl -- required mechanical respirators; doctors say the smallest babies have to fight harder in the womb and are often the strongest. Experts say the babies have an 85 percent to 90 percent chance of survival. Although they might sound tiny, in the world of premature infants, where babies as small as 1 pound survive, the Georgetown infants "aren't terribly small," said Dr. Maureen Hack, a professor of pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The next few days is when the risk of complications, including bleeding in the brain and respiratory problems, is greatest, said Dr. Deborah Campbell, director of neonatology at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Doctors expect the mother to stay in the hospital for four or five days, and hope to send the babies home within seven to nine weeks. Georgetown officials have set up a telephone number, (202) 784-4799, for people who want to donate to the family.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
