Octuplets stun doctors at California hospital

A US woman has given birth to eight babies, becoming just the second person recorded to have delivered a set of living octuplets.She was shocked doctors by giving birth on Monday to octuplets, believed to be only the second set of eight babies born in the United States.The six boys and two girls were doing well and were in stable condition in the neonatal intensive care unit, said Dr. Karen Maples at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Bellflower.But two needed some help to breath with ventilators, she told a press conference.
They weighed between 1 pound 8 ounces (680 grams) and 3 pounds 4 ounces (1.47 kg) and doctors initially identified them by the letters A through H as they were born.

They were screaming and kicking around very vigorously, according to a doctor at the hospital in suburban Bellflower.

The eight babies were born nine weeks prematurely by Caesarean section over a five-minute period, stunning a 46-member medical team that was expecting only seven babies.

The mother, whose identity has not been revealed, has asked that limited information be released about the births.

Medical team describe a 'successful' delivery

"We decided to proceed with the delivery in anticipation of seven babies. We had done some drills, some preliminary dry runs,Lo and behold, after we got to Baby G, which is what we expected, we were surprised by Baby H." Maples said.

Maples said she had been following the mother, who was not identified, since the first trimester of her pregnancy.

The mother plans to breast feed all eight babies, her doctors said.

The last octuplets known to have survived in the United States were born in Houston in 1998, in that case six girls and two boys. One of the babies, a girl, died one week after birth.