Octuplets born in Bellflower [UPDATED]

A woman has given birth to octuplets at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Bellflower, hospital officials confirmed today.

Updated at 5:10 p.m.:  Two physicians who helped in the deliveries said they had planned in advance for the C-section deliveries but were expecting only seven babies. They got six boys and two girls.

“My eyes got to be the size of saucers,” Dr. Karen Maples said, when it became obvious there was an 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.”

Henry said that hospital physicians and their assistants practiced two dry runs ahead of time.  “We planned well, and it was well executed,” he said.

Maples said 46 people were involved in the deliveries.

“It was exciting, a little anxious,” she said. “But we were prepared.” She said the mother should be released in a week but that the babies would probably remain in the hospital for at least two months.

The six boys and two girls were born between 10:43 a.m. and 10:48 a.m, the doctors said. The babies each weighed between 1 pound and 15 ounces to 3 pounds and 4 ounces, the physicians said.

Updated at 5:50 p.m.: Dr. Richard Paulson, director of the fertility program at the USC Medical School, called the event “unbelievably rare. When people use fertility drugs, 80% even then are single births. The vast majority of the others are twins.”

Still, fertility experts consider the birth of more than two kids with fertility medication to be not a medical triumph, but “a serious complication,” Paulson said. “We do not ever intend to give someone octuplets.”

Usually, he said, births of this kind are brought on by fertility medication, not in-vitro fertilization. Often, during the medication, several of the mother’s eggs are fertilized. In most cases, Paulson said, the mother chooses to reduce the number of fertile eggs to two, “to make sure the two remaining babies will have the best chance at having good health. To have all those babies, the mother would choose to have selective reduction. Apparently the mother made the decision to carry all the eight babies to viability.”

Updated at 7:20 p.m.:

At a Monday evening news conference, the team leaders -- Maples, Henry, and Dr. Mandhir Gupta -- beamed like new parents. “It was a truly, truly amazing delivery,” Maples said. “We have been talking about this delivery for weeks on end. That’s why when we discovered the eighth, we were so well prepared.” The doctors will do predawn interviews today with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” CBS’ “Morning Show,” NBC’s “Today” show and CNN. The doctors said the children, born nine weeks  premature, were in incubators in stable condition, as was their mother. The two girls and six boys weighed between 1 pound, 8 ounces and 3 pounds, 4 ounces. Five of the infants are breathing on their own. One has needed some help breathing, while two are attached to respirators.

KCAL Channel 9 reported that the babies were born today and quoted a doctor as saying they were “doing quite well.”

In 1998, the first known set of octuplets was born in the United States. The six girls and two boys were born in Houston. One of the babies later died. The others survived and recently celebrated their 10th birthdays.

Read the full Times story about the octuplets.

-- Sam Quinones, Jeff Gottlieb and Carlos V. Lozano

Comments

[Bill]

Okay, I to those who believe this is strictly a private decision to have a litter of eight children, I tell you that you are absolutely wrong. 47 doctors were involved in this spectacle. Who pays for all of that? There will be MILLIONS of dollars of medical bills associated with this nonsense. I doubt these parents are paying for all of that. Let's not even get into the lifetime of care for these kids, whom, many experts say, may very well have significant developmental challenges due to the fertility drugs used. This is not natural and affects us all. Humans are not rabbits and should not try to breed as if they were. If this couple could not have children and wanted them, there are thousands of children in California that need homes. But I guess this way they get their 15 minutes of fame.

[jamia]

Girl i know you not having nooooooooooooooo more kidsssssssss you doing i hope so

[paul]

Good luck to those eight babies.

Please, please, please LA Times do a follow-up story on this family 4 to 6 years from now. Please let the world know what kind of issues a litter of 8 kids presents to their parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins, teachers, babysitters, nannies, pediatricians and social workers. Not to mention their checking account. The burden of deciding to keep 8 babies after going through fertility treatment is larger than these parents can possibly imagine.

[Mciehlle]

My husband is a doctor and he believes it is malpractice to allow these 8 embryos to go full term. I agree. Now each child will tax the insurance company, Kaiser, at approximately 1/2 million a year...so about 4 MILLION DOLLARS to ensure the health of developmentally & physically disabled babies. Not to mention what all the learning disabilities will cost the school system to provide all of the special accommodations they will need in "least restrictive environment". I am a teacher and a farmers daughter, and I can simply say that I feel sorry for the insurance, company, the school system, for the cost this will be, when so many others are not able to get what they need. This is not a gift from G-d because it is unnatural for humans to produce "litters" they are not dogs, cats, etc... even horses only have 1 or 3 max... large mammals do not have natural litters. so don't confuse fertility treatments with the work of G-d. This is just grossly negligent on the part of medical professional--and unreasonable on the part of the parents....because no reasonable people would choose to consciously bring into the world, 8 sickly--unintelligent people to further tax our insurance and educational systems.

[lupe]

All the very best to this family...every child deserves a chance.

[Renee]

This is endangerment of children & the planet. The hospital care of them will be in the millions. Sad story.

[Bree]

I agree with Taylor. As long as the family has the money and time and love for the children, then it's no one's business how many children a family has! I wish them the very best, God bless them.

[Teko]

Hahaha... Laughing at "woman gives birth to octopus"
Too funny!

[Ted]

Wow. My dog has had litters with less offspring.
Difference is, she was capable of taking care of them.

[Skip]

Does anyone know if the mother is "Legal"? I still remember the last story the Los Angeles Times ran about the illegal alien mom who used fertility drugs and ended up with 10 kids, all at California Taxpayer expense.

[Barb in Akron]

I heard she's an illegal and we the taxpayers are gonna foot the bill. For the rest of their lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[renni]

All I can say, is that this family obviously is NOT doing this for the fame and attention and freebies, like SOOO many other mutiples parents being that they choose to remain anonymous. I wish them the best....

It is those families (Jon Kate +8) (Jones Family) (Masche Miracles) that are sickening. They are all over the place expecting everyone around them to pay for their kids.

[e.d.]

What ever happened to the goal of zero population growth?
Replace yourself and no more.

It's like watching late great planet earth for real.

[Connie Aitken]

Wow!! I'd just like to say a HUGE CONGRTS to the parents and well done to all those involved during thr delivery. Um may you please, please please post pictures of these wee angles as soon as. Of course only with their parents consent

[Jessica McDonald]

Congrats to you and your babies and may God bless you to treat them with love and care! God bless you!

[huh.]

Why the heck is people putting god into everything.
Mother nature did the job. NOT GOD
Hey its not my problem to take care of all 8, good luck for her. thats what i have to say

[mylo]

god nor mother nature had anything to do with this, just drugs,scientists with sick minds experimenting on people.more like frankenstein. going full term was'nt just a risk on mother and babies,but what about if they were all still born,would it have made the news then, i bet not.the scientists would have just gone back to the drawing board and found another"subject"how are they going to afford anything,what with this recession and all.i can only just afford to look after myself,let alone 8 kids. just wait till hands are held out.all you that say its god, will actually be paying for them. i bet you wont see god putting his hand in his pocket the.its wrong.if its gods will, she would have had them naturally. for some reason, "god" did'nt want them to have kids. now who's playing god,eh. ask your selfes that?

[mylo]

what a load of crock...you dont even want to no the truth

[larry]

WOW! talk about population growth. What goes in California, should stay in California. I'm hoping the superbowl will drown out this welfare baby momma news.

[SteelerGirl]

I dont think this is a miracle.... I think this is medicine or science at work.

It certainly goes against the nature order of things. I wish them the best now that the babies are here but I certainly hope they are in a position to pay the thousands if not millions in medical bills. Not to mention the money it costs to raise all those babies.

[Amanda]

I think it's amazing that the children are doing well. I hope that they manage to do well and grow to be loving, smart, productive members of society. :) I also think it's amazing that people think this family intentionally set out to have 8 babies.. are you kidding me? They were praying to God for one I'd imagine. It's an amazing thing for multiple babies to be born. No family wishes for this. I figure that God gives that many children to people that have the ability to handle it. Now those Duggar people that have 18 children... that's different. They're insane and have willed that upon themselves.

[holly]

congratulations!! i wish you the best and a great fun-loving life full of goodtimes and smiles!

[Lawyer24]

YES YES YES. This woman's comment hit the nail directly on the head, thank you!

Miracle it is not, pathetic and desperate childless people will all praise the lord, but reality and the future are much darker than eight incubators lined up in pinks and blues.

"My husband is a doctor and he believes it is malpractice to allow these 8 embryos to go full term. I agree. Now each child will tax the insurance company, Kaiser, at approximately 1/2 million a year...so about 4 MILLION DOLLARS to ensure the health of developmentally & physically disabled babies. Not to mention what all the learning disabilities will cost the school system to provide all of the special accommodations they will need in "least restrictive environment". I am a teacher and a farmers daughter, and I can simply say that I feel sorry for the insurance, company, the school system, for the cost this will be, when so many others are not able to get what they need. This is not a gift from G-d because it is unnatural for humans to produce "litters" they are not dogs, cats, etc... even horses only have 1 or 3 max... large mammals do not have natural litters. so don't confuse fertility treatments with the work of G-d. This is just grossly negligent on the part of medical professional--and unreasonable on the part of the parents....because no reasonable people would choose to consciously bring into the world, 8 sickly--unintelligent people to further tax our insurance and educational systems."

[Kayla]

Nice to know where my tax dollars are most likely going.

[momofboys]

She is not giving her name yet but it said the mom will go through the list of freebies. I bet she is an illegal alien. Who would sacrifice all their children? These babies are going to have a very tough life and we are going to pay for it not the parents.