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CNN Live At Daybreak
D.C. Mother Brings Septuplets Into the World
Aired July 13, 2001 - 07:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We had a great story happen overnight. In Washington, D.C. at Georgetown University Hospital, there was a bit of a baby boom: seven babies born to a woman. The woman is remaining anonymous for the moment. But we do expect to hear from the hospital later today.
But we have our medical correspondent, Rea Blakey, standing by in Washington with more.
Rea, did you hear anything more about who these people are and how the babies are doing?
REA BLAKEY, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this point, Carol, we don't really have any condition on the babies themselves. We understand that the mother is in good condition, though it's understandable why she might want to remain anonymous at this point.
We are expecting a news conference at 11:00 this morning. So we should have fuller details then. What I can tell you: seven boys, two girls -- they were born at about 11:25 last night, just three minutes for that entire delivery, which was done by cesarean section. The babies were delivered in the NICU unit. That's the neonatal intensive care unit at Georgetown University Hospital.
The lead obstetrician was Dr. Helain Landy. There were 24 other people in the team that delivered all those babies. Right now, the babies are being supervised, each and every one of them, by their own individual medical SWAT team. That includes a neonatologist, a respiratory therapist, a nurse, a neonatal fellow, a pediatric resident, and also a neonatologist nurse practitioner -- five boys, two girls -- I don't know if I said that correctly at the top -- but we do have five boys, two girls in this group of septuplets.
You may remember during the mid-90's, the McCaughey family delivered seven babies -- a great deal of controversy surrounding that particular incident, mainly because of the use of fertility drugs. And some people were concerned that maybe that family really shouldn't have tried to deliver so many children, because they had some economic problems at the time.
Shortly after that, there was also a family that came from Africa -- a mother who delivered in Houston. She actually delivered eight babies. One of them did not survive, so it ended up being a group of septuplets. Right now, you should know that Georgetown is probably very proud of this achievement. They are ranking No. 22 in the country for their ability to deliver fertility and gynecological services in the country. And that's ranked by "U.S. News & World Report."
Again, there will be a news conference at 11:00 this morning. We will certainly be there -- bring you all the details we can. At this moment, we know that everybody apparently is resting comfortably.
And that's just about it, Carol.
LIN: Rea, a quick question: I know we don't know much about this family. But in the McCaugheys' case, as you mentioned, they opted to give birth to seven babies, because when they found out they had seven viable embryos, the doctor did ask: Do they want to select out the healthiest embryos to reduce the risk to the kids, as well as the mother?
They opted not to because of their beliefs -- their own personal beliefs about right to life. Is that typical, though? I mean, it's more typical for the doctor to ask the mother and the father -- the parents -- to make that sort of decision in this case, isn't it?
BLAKEY: Yes. Selective reduction tends to generally be an option. It's something that the physician and the family have to figure out. I mean, it's simply a personal choice issue. Many people do it quite frequently. And I should actually mention, Carol, that we really don't know for certain that fertility drugs were used in this case.
However, the assumption obviously is there.
LIN: Really? Is it possible -- is it possible to...
BLAKEY: It's probably very unlikely...
LIN: ... conceive seven?
BLAKEY: ... that this was done totally naturally. So, yes, we would assume that fertility drugs were involved, but we don't know all the nuances at this point.
LIN: Right.
BLAKEY: We don't know if selective reduction was an option, or if it was something that was ruled out by this family, which is something we will try to find out during our news conference.
LIN: All right, thank you very much, Rea Blakey.
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