The Houston woman who gave birth to sextuplets had taken to her website to inform people that five of her newborns were doing well – but one was 1struggling.
The children were born prematurely by scheduled C sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ, at just over 30 weeks, and the heaviest of them weighed two pounds, 15 ounces. The lightest was one pounds, ten ounces. Neonatologists say such low birth-weight babies are at ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄᴜʟᴀʀ ʀɪsᴋ ꜰᴏʀ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs for weeks after delivery. The six babies were delivered between 10.26am and 10.30am and are still in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Lauren said her own progress was going well.
The mother added that the delivery of the six babies, named Andrew Noah, Benjamin Luke, Levi Thomas, Allison Kate, Caroline Grace and Leah Michelle, according to the Houston Chronicle, went well.
‘The delivery went very smoothly with approximately 35 people in the ᴏᴘᴇʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ room. Each baby was immediately handed over to their own team and once they were cleaned up, the team brought each baby over for Dave and I to see,’ Lauren said.
Dr Sean Blackwell, head of the maternal-fetal medicine division of obstetrics-gynecology at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, told the Houston Chronicle that Lauren’s longer-than-usual gestational period gives the sextuplets good chances of survival.
‘Giving birth to three babies at 25 weeks is riskier than six babies at 30 weeks,Given today’s miracles of neonatal-intensive care, I’d say those sextuplets have a good chance of survival and survival without problems.” he said
The couple were offered the chance of ‘selective reduction’ at the early stages of the pregnancy, meaning they could abort some of the babies in order to increase the chances of survival for the others.
On her website The Perkins Pack, Lauren wrote: ‘We decided to go for all six and trust God with my health and the babies. We are completely trusting God throughout this adventure and we appreciate all the prayers and support from our family and friends!!’
With six babies to feed, bathe and clothe, Lauren developed a tight schedule. “I would make up bottles each night for the next 24 hours and set them in the fridge with labels on so everyone knew which baby they were for and at what time.”
Because of the different nutritional needs of the sextuplets, the family were using four different types of formula milk at one point. She also developed a shift system so that those volunteering to help could have the biggest impact.
“Friends would sign up to come and do feeding shifts in the middle of the night, they would help with giving the babies baths and doing laundry. We wouldn’t have made it without that generosity”They brought us dinner for an entire year!” Lauren reflects
While the Perkins’ loved ones donated their time, many also donated essential supplies.