Sextuplet boom: 2 moms, 2 states, 12 babies

[Piffington]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/06/12/sextuplet.boom.ap/index.html

PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) -- Two sets of sextuplets were born in different states less than a day apart, a rare occurrence but one that fertility experts say could become increasingly common as more couples seek artificial methods of conceiving babies.

Brianna Morrison, 24, who used fertility drugs, gave birth just before midnight Sunday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. About 10 hours later, Jenny Masche, 32, who used artificial insemination, gave birth Monday in Phoenix by Caesarean section, the first successful sextuplet delivery in Arizona.

"It is something that we're going to be dealing with more and more," unless doctors learn how to reduce the risk of women having four or more babies, said Dr. F. Sessions Cole, a pediatrics professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Morrison's four boys and two girls were premature, delivered after just 22 weeks. Doctors at Children's Hospital listed them in critical condition Monday afternoon, with weights ranging between 11 ounces and 1 pound, 3 ounces.

"The babies arrived sooner than we'd hoped for, but we are optimistic," father Ryan Morrison said in a statement. "Brianna is doing well. Thanks to all who are praying for our family. We are very happy to be parents."

The Masche sextuplets -- three boys and three girls -- were almost 10 weeks premature, and all but one weighed less than three pounds. On Monday, five of the six were on ventilators to help them breathe.

Their tiny lungs are underdeveloped, said Dr. Jordan Leonard, who is overseeing the Masche babies at Phoenix Children's Hospital. He said medications the mother was taking to prevent labor had a side effect of making them sleepy.

"So they come out a little sedated," he said. The babies should leave the hospital in six to eight weeks.

The chances of spontaneously conceiving sextuplets is one in 4.7 billion, although the odds improve significantly with fertility treatment, said Dr. Helain Landy of Georgetown University Hospital's Obstetrics and Gynecology Department.

The Morrisons, of the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, spent more than a year trying to conceive before agreeing to fertility drugs, according to the couple's personal Web site.

Upon learning Brianna Morrison was carrying sextuplets, doctors advised the couple to opt for selective reduction, in which women carrying multiple fetuses reduce the number of viable fetuses to two.

"However, we knew right away that this is not an option for us," the couple wrote. "We understand that the risk is high, but we also understand that these little ones are much more than six fetuses.

"Each one of them is a miracle given to us by God."

They named them Lucia Rae, Cadence Alana, Bennet Ryan, Tryg Benton, Lincoln Sean and Sylas Christopher.

In Arizona, Jenny Masche used artificial insemination and medication to stimulate her ovulation cycle, Leonard said. Their children are named Bailey Elizabeth, Savannah Jane, Molli Grace, Cole Robert, Blake Nickolas and Grant William.

Father Bryan Masche, 29, said in an interview last week that the couple were terrified when they learned in December they were going to have six babies.

"We're blessed and excited," he said. "I keep coming back to the Bible verse that says, 'God will never leave or forsake us."'

Thank god I'm not a woman...I wouldn't wanna imagine having a baby let alone sextuplets... ouch

 

[Guest]

1:4.7 billion

and these "miracle drugs" allow for 2 in the same year less than a day apart...tell me those are safe

 

[Ray of Light]

I say better than 2 moms, 12 states and 1 baby.

 

[Guest]

I say better than 2 moms, 12 states and 1 baby.

i wonder what that would look like

 

[daisy jane]

Sextuplets? Man, that would suck. Sorry, but I would not view a litter of kids as a miracle from "god". Especially when the majority of them are in critical condition. Whew, think of the hospital bills! Thanks god

 

[Verite]

One of the MN kids died today. 4½ months is too early.

 

[OG bub]

a confusing topic, to say the least.

tho refering to the birth of any amount of children as "litters" is pure ignorance imo, and not spoken from a parent, so Id hope...
any child is a blessing, parents know this regaurdless the struggle!

as we know it, natural, or un-natural, it is what it is, just as the shit that happens to us unexpectedly, it is what it is.
my oldest son was born extremely early, he weighd 1lb 13 oz.... 3 mo early.. hes about to be 9yrs old soon. life support for the first 7 months of his life, I try not to remember the struggle of the first month.
cant tell me that nothin's possible!

just cause we cant concieve it, does not mean that it isnt right.

Peace, bub.