Surprise! Eighth baby marks small miracle
BELLFLOWER, CALIF. - Dr. Harold Henry and his colleagues had followed their patient for 10 weeks, and knew just what to expect. The woman was carrying seven babies. Multiple ultrasounds confirmed it every time: 7 heads, 7 spines and 28 limbs, all packed into a space typically only several centimeters in diameter.
As the date approached, a team of 46 doctors, nurses and surgical assistants at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center held two practice dry runs. They didn't want any surprises.
But they got one anyway Monday during the delivery. After the seventh baby was plucked from the womb, an assistant announced that he felt another foot. "Quit joking," Henry shot back.
When the assistant insisted this was no joke, Henry reached in and confirmed it. "That's when the room all of a sudden became quiet," Henry said. "Everyone was in shock, including mom herself. She just couldn't believe it."
Baby No. 8 marked a small miracle. For only the second time in recorded U.S. history, a woman had given birth to live octuplets. The odds of being struck by lightning are better.
The mother reacted calmly, said Dr. Jalil Riazi, an anesthesiologist. "Her question was, 'Really, an eighth baby? How did we miss that baby?'" he said.
It only took five minutes -- from 10:43 a.m. to 10:48 a.m. -- for all six boys and two girls, dubbed letters A-through-H, to be delivered by Caesarean section and processed through an assembly line of medical workers.
