Doctors battle to save octuplets

DOCTORS WERE fighting last night to save eight babies born to a woman in a Texas hospital.

On Sunday, Nkem Chukwu became the first woman to give birth to a living set of octuplets. All eight were in critical condition yesterday, with the newborn on ventilators. The oldest child, born at 22oz 12 days ago, was making progress, according to Leonard Weisman, head of the neonatology department at Texas Children's Hospital.

Dr Weisman said premature babies such as these have an 85 per cent chance of surviving. "They are all critically ill, though several are showing improvement," he said.

Mrs Chukwu was so anxious to keep her babies growing inside her that she spent three weeks lying still on a special hospital bed with her head tipped at a drastic angle to the floor.

Her uterus was so crowded that doctors weren't even sure how many foetuses were in there. They offered to abort one or two to give the others a better chance of survival, but the tenacious Texas woman turned them down. Instead, she offered to give up food and drink and go on to an intravenous drip to give the babies more room.

The last seven, five girls and two boys weighing between 10.3 and 26 ounces, were delivered by Caesarean section at St Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston. They were immediately whisked into intensive care at another hospital where they joined their sister who was born vaginally 12 days earlier.

It is likely to be at least two months before the babies - assuming they survive - will be fit to go home. The older one was born 15 weeks premature and the others 13 weeks premature, a stage of development that would give a single foetus an 85 per cent chance of survival. The statistics for multiple births are not known, but are likely to be significantly bleaker.

It was a remarkable achievement for all eight to make it out of the womb alive. Doctors praised the attitude of the 27-year-old mother, who was described by her paediatrician, Patti Savrick, as "a very unusual woman, both physically and personally.

"She is quite tall, at least six feet, and very focused, a very spiritual, serene person," Dr Savrick said. "She did what she needed to do."

"She was a model patient," said Brian Kirshon, an obstetrician specialising in high-risk births, who delivered the babies. "I think she is remarkable in that she was able to tolerate such conditions. She kept a positive attitude and was willing to do whatever it took."

Both Mrs Chukwu and her husband, Iyke, a respiratory therapist, are naturalised immigrants from Nigeria who had been trying unsuccessfully to have children for some time. Using hormone fertility treatment to stimulate the production of ova, Mrs Chukwu became pregnant with triplets at the end of last year but lost them in the early stages.

She became pregnant again almost immediately and quickly understood she was carrying a large number of foetuses; she spent two-and-a-half-months in hospital under close observation. After the first birth, Mrs Chukwu was given strong drugs to halt uterine contractions, drugs that forced doctors to perform a post-natal operation yesterday to stop internal bleeding. The Caesarean was attended by 25 medical professionals.

Her case is likely to trigger debate about the wisdom of fertility treatment leading to multiple pregnancies, given the dangers and costs involved. While the children risk conditions such as cerebral palsy, blindness and heart and lung defects, the mother exposes herself to the risk of diabetes or acute high blood pressure.

"The human being was meant to have one baby," Dr Kirshon said. "It will be a remarkable feat if all the babies survive."

Mrs Chukwu is expected to stay in hospital until the end of the week, by which time doctors will have a better idea of her babies' chances of survival.

"All are being kept sleepy and quiet under a plastic blanket on a warming bed and have been treated with surfactant replacement to help with premature lung disease," Dr Weisman said. "All infants are receiving intravenous sugar and fluids."

The medical costs alone are likely to reach half a million dollars - raising just the first of many questions about financial arrangements for the young couple, who live in a modest neighbourhood in south-west Houston.

Although doctors were careful to release as little information about the family as possible, it seems they have not yet tried to secure sponsors or other forms of assistance. In stark contrast to Mandy Allwood, the British woman who hired PR representatives to sell her story to the tabloids, the Chukwus wrapped the pregnancy in a veil of secrecy.

"[Mrs Chukwu] has gone to remarkable lengths to stay away from publicity and stay in a position where these children could be born," said a lawyer brought in by the hospital to deal with a deluge of media interest.

Parents of previous multiple-birth babies in the United States have sought corporate sponsorship and assistance through private fund-raising, with varying degrees of success. When Bobbi McCaughey gave birth to septuplets in Iowa last year, all of whom have survived, she and her husband Kenny were offered a newly built house, a 15-seater van, car seats, strollers, limitless nappies and a 16-year supply of apple juice and apple sauce.

By contrast, Linden and Jacqueline Thompson, parents of five surviving sextuplets born around the same time as the septuplets in Washington DC, received next to nothing until news reports suggested their raw deal was due to the fact they were black while the McCaugheys were white.

They have since received nappies, an offer of free day-care and clothing - but no car and only a reduced price on a house that they still cannot afford.