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CNN Saturday Morning News
Septuplets Remain in Critical Condition
Aired July 14, 2001 - 07:19 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.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: The nation's second set of surviving septuplets are in critical condition at a Washington hospital this morning. Their mother's first glimpse of her babies was in a snapshot, but now she's seen them in person. And each of them weighs just a little more than a mug of coffee.
CNN medical correspondent Rea Blakey has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REA BLAKEY, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The seven babies were born in three minutes Thursday night at Georgetown University Hospital. As they were born, they were assigned letters. Baby A is a boy weighing 2.15 pounds, B is a 2-pound girl, C is a boy at 2.07 pounds, Baby D a girl weighing just over 2 pounds, E, a 2.4- pound boy, F, a boy at 2.22 pounds, and Baby G, a 2.2-pound boy.
DR. SIVA SUBRAMANIAN, CHIEF OF NEONATOLOGY: This is the size of the length of the babies, you know, so you're looking at about 13 to 14 inches long.
BLAKEY: The doctors say all of them are in critical condition in the neonatal intensive care unit. All but the smallest girl are on ventilators.
SUBRAMANIAN: We are not out of the woods in terms of, you know, as far as the babies. It's a great start.
BLAKEY: The babies were created through a process called ovulation induction.
DR. CRAIG WINKEL, OB/GYN DEPARTMENT CHAIRMAN: Virtually all fertility drugs overcome the natural tendency of the human female to produce one egg per month.
BLAKEY: It was seven weeks into the pregnancy when the woman's doctor saw she was carrying seven babies.
DR. MUTAHAR FAUZIA, PHYSICIAN FOR THE MOTHER: I said, God, please help me. I swear to God I'm not telling you a lie. That was -- I was -- and I meant it. And I explained the severity of the situation at that time to the parents.
BLAKEY: The family is Muslim and chose not to reduce the number of babies. But some fertility experts consider the birth of these seven babies to be treatment failure.
DR. ERIC WIDRA, SHADY GROVE FERTILITY CENTER: Oh, I think that high-order multiple births are as much a failure of treatment as no pregnancy is. In fact, in many ways, more so.
BLAKEY (on camera): Doctors say the mother will likely be discharged next week. However, the babies will remain in intensive care for the next several weeks. The approximate cost of their care approaches $1 million.
Rea Blakey, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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