A California woman gave birth to the second set of live octuplets in the history of United States at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Bellflower on Monday.

 

The babies were born nine weeks prematurely by Caesarean section over a five-minute period to the astonishment of the medical team who was expecting only seven babies. Dr. Harold Henry, the hospital’s chief of fetal medicine said such a “mistake” is common when there are so many babies.

 

“It’s quite easy to miss a baby when you’re expecting seven. Ultrasound doesn’t show you everything,” he said.

 

The octuplets were the second in the history of the US. The first set of octuplets was born in Houston, Texas, in 1998, six girls and two boys. Unfortunately, one of girls died days after birth because of heart and lung failure. The other seven recently celebrated their tenth birthday. Their parents, Nkem Chukwu and Iyke Louis Udobi said they are more than grateful to see their children healthy and active.

 

The eight babies delivered at the Kaiser Permanente, six boys and two girls, weighed between 1 pound 8 ounces and 3 pounds 4 ounces. The hospital did not reveal the name of the mother, citing confidentiality rules. Also, it was not clear whether the mother had become pregnant through fertility treatments, which can raise the likelihood of multiple births.

 

The babies will remain in incubators for the following six weeks. Three of them needed breathing assistance, but otherwise the babies don’t seem to have serious problems. The hospital officials said the mother plans to breast-feed all of them.