St. Louis Couple Welcomes Quintuplets

Apparently 5 is the new 2 because for the third time this month a U.S. couple has welcomed a set of quintuplets! 

After a long struggle with infertility, Beth and Jim Glass of south St. Louis are now the parents of five tiny babies. 

As with most couples who have had mega-multiples, The Glass’ were shocked to find out that 5 embryos had taken. At six weeks, doctors said they thought she was pregnant with twins, but when they listened again at seven weeks heard not two – but five. 

Beth was put on bedrest in early June to ensure a successful pregnancy and was induced today after getting to 33 weeks. 

According to the hospital, the babies and mom are doing well. 

In Birth order, here are their weights: 

• Abigale Elizabeth – 3 pounds, 4 ounces 
• Luke Mitchel – 3 pounds, 1 ounce 
• Evan Michael – 3 pounds 
• Brady Quinn – 3 pounds, 12 ounces 
• Sydney Elise – 3 pounds, 2 ounces

Congratulations to the couple. Life is about to get exciting! 

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Plane Diverted After Baby Arrives 8 Weeks Early!

There was some excitement in the air this week when a plane flying from Germany to Colorado received an unexpected extra passenger during the flight.

Heather Randle was flying alone from Buku, where here husband worked, to her home in Denver, Colorado. When she boarded her second flight after a layover in Frankfurt, Heather, who was 32 weeks pregnant, noticed she felt ill but blamed it on an apple she forgot to wash before eating it earlier. The plane, which had 295 passengers when it took off, was in for a big surprise when Heather’s water broke in the air. She pushed the in-flight call button; still unaware she was in labor.

Flight attendants whisked her to the front of the plane, where three doctors and a nurse, who luckily were on board as passengers, joined her. Baby Trudence Sophia was born in the air, just over seven weeks premature. Heather expressed her gratitude that karma was on her side, “I was absolutely blessed that there were three doctors on that plane and a nurse, and that they were all willing to get up. I mean they didn’t have to get up and do anything – they could have said someone else will deal with it. They were there for me.”

Heather’s husband, Bryce, was notified and he rushed to Winnipeg, where Heather’s flight made an emergency landing to get mom and the new baby girl emergency help. Trudence is in neo-natal intensive care, but doing well.

The surprise delivery was not Heather’s first mid-flight surprise. Her husband proposed to her in the air as well. – Jill, Staff Writer

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Newborn Kept ‘Frozen’ for 4 Days To Fix Fatal Heart Condition

A 4-month-old baby who suffered complications after undergoing an intricate heart operation was “frozen” for four days to improve his heart problems.

When Finley Burton was 10 weeks old his parents took him to the doctor because he was not putting on weight and had breathing difficulties.

Tests revealed that he had a large hole at the top of his heart, a small one at the bottom and a narrowing of his heart’s main artery.

When complications during the surgery caused his heart to go into junctional ectopic tachycardia, doctors then made the decision to lower his body temperature by 3.5 degrees from 37C to to 33.4C to stabilize the organ.

The process involved placing his body in a “cool bag” to reduce his metabolism, which slowed his heart rate.

He was also hooked up to an external pacemaker and given intravenous drugs that paralyzed him to make sure he did not disturb the equipment by shivering.

“Nothing prepares you for seeing your baby in hospital like that. I just cried,” Finley’s mom, Donna Link-Emery said. “Then he was gradually weaned out of his paralysis and his temperature was brought back to normal and his heart started to beat properly again.”

Amazingly he only needed to spend an additional 12 days in the hospital after his body temperature was brought back to normal and now continues to recover well at home.

Dr. Asif Hasan, who operated, said:

“Finley had a big operation for such a small baby, We’re pleased with how well he did.”

Someone is clearly a little fighter!

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Twins in Serious Condition After Fox Attack

Twin 9-month-old girls are in the hospital in serious but stable condition after a fox attacked them. The wild animal made its way into their home and attacked the pair as they were sleeping.

The police and paramedics were called to the London home at 10 PM when the fox attack was discovered. The fox managed to climb into an upstairs bedroom window. The window had been left open to allow a cool breeze in on the warm night.

“We were watching Britain’s Got Talent, it had just finished,” the twins’ mother, Pauline Koupparis told BBC London yesterday.

“We heard the girls cry. I went up the stairs. As soon as I got to the second step I thought it’s a funny cry, it’s not a normal cry. It was quite muffled but very pained.

“I went into the room and I saw some blood on Isabella’s cot. I thought she’d had a nose bleed. I put on the light and I saw the fox. It wasn’t even scared of me. It just stared me straight in the eye. I started screaming.

Then I realised that Lola was also covered in blood. My husband came running up – by this stage we were both screaming hysterically – and the fox didn’t even move. My husband lunged at it a few times and it just moved a few inches each time.”

Foxes are most likely to attack in self defense or to protect their children. It is estimated that there are 27 foxes per square mile in the urban areas of England. Rural living foxes tend to be much larger due to the size and amount of prey they have access to. IN both rural and urban areas, attacks are very rare.

In 2002 a 14-week-old infant was bitten by a fox that ran into a home. Later in 2004 a woman was bitten on the leg when she stepped into her yard at night.

Foxes can attack animals as large as lambs when they are hungry. Though attacks on humans are rare, the fox may have been starving and looking for an easy meal.

The girls are currently in serious but stable condition at Royal London Hospital. Summer, staff writer

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Preemie Holds on to Mom’s Finger to Assure She’s Fine

Kylee John knew that she had given birth to a brave heart in spite of her fragile appearance when her daughter Erin clutched her finger tightly for as long as one minute days after she was born prematurely.

Kylee says,

“It was a remarkable moment. My husband Steven captured it on camera. It was as though she was holding on to me. Telling me she wasn’t going to let go.”

Kylee became pregnant with twins in July 2008 but during her routine 23 weeks check up it was discovered that she was suffering from Pre-eclampsia. The mom-to-be was taken to the hospital where her condition worsened to a condition where the body’s organ start shutting down called Hellp Syndrome. Doctors immediately sped into action to save the mother’s life and at 24 weeks Kylee gave birth to identical twins Erin weighing 1 pound and Sian weighing just 10 ounces.

“It was touch and go whether I would survive,” says Kylee. “So even though I was 24 weeks pregnant, doctors decided they had to deliver the twins to save me.”

The births however were not marked by the usual smiles and joyous moments as doctors gave little chances of survival for both the twins.

“When I had recovered, I was wheeled down to see the twins and I just couldn’t believe how tiny they were. Their skin was completely translucent – they just didn’t look like babies at all. The doctors told us right from the start that Sian wasn’t going to survive as she was just too tiny. They had to resuscitate her straight away, but they didn’t know if Erin would survive either as she only weighed just 1Ib.’

But that is when Erin showed her first signs of being a fighter when she held on to her mother’s finger.

As two months passed, while Erin raised hopes of survival, Sian grew weaker and weaker.

‘It was heartbreaking. The doctors told us that it was only machines keeping her alive and there was nothing more they could do for her. Sian slipped away whilst we were by her side.’ says Kylee.

Doctors meanwhile did everything they could to make Erin stronger and healthier. She had a laser eye surgery to stop her from going blind and after 11 months in the NUCI, she finally string enough to go home.

‘She is still tiny for her age.” says her mom, “She wears clothes for six to nine month old babies and she has to have physiotherapy to help her muscles develop but she is now sitting up, and starting to stand. She has a good appetite and she is catching up now with other babies of her age. We are so proud of her.”

“She is one of the smallest babies ever to survive in Britain and she had a massive battle for survival. But she has come through it all – she may be tiny but she is a real fighter.”

– Atula, Staff Writer

Many times these tiny babies arrive with minute chances of survival but somehow work to show us that they are more than a statistic. Never underestimate a preemie. – Lisa, Editor

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Amazing Newborn Survives Rare Heart Surgery at One-Day-Old

Named Riley, for it’s Gaelic meaning for brave, a UK newborn is living up to that name and more. At just 24 hours old, the tiny fighter survived a rare heart surgery that will hopefully buy him time until he is old enough for a transplant.

Riley has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition that affects only one in 5000 births. When his mom Kerrie was 20 weeks pregnant, a routine ultrasound picked up the baby’s heart problem. At that time Karrie and husband Ryan were given three options – to terminate the pregnancy, give comfort care and let the baby die or opt for the most risky surgical route which they chose.

“I don’t think I would ever have forgiven myself if we hadn’t given him a chance at life.” Said Kerrie, “ We wanted this little boy so much. It was shortly after that scan that we decided to name him and fight every step of the way for him.”

Kerrie was then referred to Evelina Children’s Hospital in London, one of the world’s renowned centers for caring for children with cardiac problems, where she gave birth naturally to Riley 2 weeks early and weighing 6lb 3oz.

Kerrie said:

“Riley cried when he was born. I fell in love with him straight away.That was the only time I cried in front of him. Since then, I’ve tried to be as positive as possible as I thought he’d sense if I was upset. I’ve tried to stay happy and enjoy my gorgeous wee boy. I only had a two-minute cuddle with him before they took him away.”

Because Riley was born with only half a heart doctors needed to perform on him right away.

Known as the Norwood procedure, surgeons worked to ensure that Riley’s single chambered heart could support the body by supplying blood flow to the lungs by using a plastic tube. Kerrie said:

“I didn’t really think of Riley not making it. I wanted to focus on him and make sure he knew I was there. It was a shock though. Before the operation we were able to get close to Riley but after the surgery a tube was breathing for him and we couldn’t cuddle him any more.”

During the days after his surgery Riley suffered a collapsed lung, but eventually he was declared well enough to travel home in Scotland.

While in hospital nurses kept daily notes of his recovery and as Kerrie celebrated her first mother’s day at home with her son she received a picture using paint prints from Riley’s feet.

“I got a World’s Best Mum rosette. Now we’re just enjoying every moment we can with him. Occasionally he will look a little blue but he’s getting bigger and stronger. We get more smiles out of him every day. I’m loving being a mum and doing ordinary things like going out with him in the pram. Everyone has been so kind.”

It hasn’t been easy for the family as all the procedures are expensive including the travel expenses they have to incur going to London.

But inspite of all the troubles and challenges, the couple know that their child is priceless and will do whatever it takes to give him a life. Riley will need three more operations at specific intervals till school going age to buy him time for the heart transplant and even after the surgeries doctors say he has 40% chance of survival without the transplant.

Kerrie is hopeful for the future.

“I hope Riley gets the chance to live all his dreams. He’s done so well so far. He’s definitely a fighter at heart.”

We agree!

-Atula, Staff Writer

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UK Baby Arrives Weighing Almost 14lbs!

Hospital staff at a UK hospital got a bit of a surprise last week when one of their laboring moms welcomed a baby that was DOUBLE the size of the average newborn.

Sharon Needham and partner Paul Crossland won’t have any use for their 0-3 or even 3-6 month clothes after their son, Harry, arrived weighing a whopping 13lbs 15ozs!

Mother of five Miss Needham, had to give birth by Caesarean section because doctors suspected the baby was too big for a normal birth.

Left conscious during the operation, only seperated by a curtain, Paul and Sharon were left speechless when the midwife handed Harry over.

She said:

‘We were both flabbergasted. When the nurses popped him over the curtain we were both speechless. I thought they’d given me someone else’s baby.

‘I had a growth scan the day before and the staff said he would be about nine and a half pounds so it was a massive shock.

‘The nurses were shocked as well. They said he was the biggest baby the hospital had ever delivered.

‘When we went up to the special care ward, they couldn’t believe he was newborn, they thought he had been transferred to the wrong ward and should have gone to the paediatric ward.’

The astonished mother, said:

‘There has never been a history of big babies in the family but I knew he would be fairly heavy because I couldn’t walk with Harry in the final days of pregnancy.

She was even more uncomfortable with him that during her twin pregnancy 13 years ago.

Medical staff calculated that she was carrying around three litres of water and her placenta weighed much heavier than normal – at 1.6kg.

Other record births:

• Britain’s heaviest newborn was Guy Warwick Carr, delivered in Cumbria in 1992 weighing 15lb 8oz .
• The heaviest baby ever born was produced by Anna Bates of Canada in 1879, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. She weighed 23lb 12lb and died 11 hours after birth.
• The record for a baby which survived is held by a boy born weighing 22lb 8oz at Aversa, Italy, in 1955.
• The heaviest recent birth was a boy born last September to a woman in Northern Sumatra Indonesia at 19lb 3oz.

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NJ Mom Becomes First Woman to Give Birth to Twins after Heart Transplant

Just months after receiving a new heart, 29-year old Stefania DeMayo, defied odds and carried not 1 – but 2 babies, to become the first woman to carry twins after a heart transplant.

It all started when Stefania first fell ill during her honeymoon. Doctors said that she was suffering from a rare condition called restrictive cardiomyopathy, which may have begun with a simple tooth infection.

‘The doctors are still not sure how it started,’ said Stefania.’But I was so ill. At one point I was in so much pain I said to my husband: “Just let me die. But luckily he made me fight.”’

Days progressed to weeks, months and years and in 2008 after three years of suffering, a donor heart was finally found that matched her rare blood type. That heart was of 14 year old Sean Clegg, who had been killed by a car while riding his bike.

When Stefania finally had a successful transplant at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center she felt her life was worth living after all.

‘At first I felt my heart beating so strongly in my chest I thought there was something wrong. I had energy for the first time in years.’

Doctors had advised her to avoid pregnancy for at least a year, but nature had other plans and within a few months, Stefania was pregnant with twins.

The news began another 7 months of ordeal for the couple as the doctors thought pregnancy with twins was too much of a pressure for the transplanted heart. They were also told that the babies had a 90 per cent chance of being diagnosed with Downs Syndrome.

A nucal fold test, done after a few weeks revealed the babies did not have Downs syndrome but twin transfusion syndrome (TTS) where one baby was taking most of the nourishment in the womb, making the other underdeveloped.

The couple were again warned that the small baby might die, turn toxic and kill the large baby.

‘They thought both babies would die or I would have to abort the smaller baby to save the other, said Stefania. It was devastating. I couldn’t bear it.’

But although the nurses and doctors warned them about the complications, they all stood by her all the time. At 20 weeks and then again at 25 weeks, Stefania started experiencing labor pains, but luckily the babies held on until 32 weeks when they were delivered by c-section.

‘I was very low on amniotic fluid and I was rushed to hospital yet again,’ she said. ‘There was about 50 medical experts in the room for the birth, they had a specialist for everything – they took very good care of me.’

Arriving weighing just 4lbs 2oz and 2lbs 13oz, Melania(above) and Natalia(left) were placed in incubators for weeks. Shortly after birth, doctors had to perform a surgery on Natalia for a rotated bowel and also remove her appendix.

Finally when the twins came home, Stefania and Richard, her husband could think of only one person they needed to thank, Gail, Sean’s mother.

‘Thanks to Sean Clegg, who gave me his heart, there are now three people living that wouldn’t be here without him.’

Gail and Stefania now plan to raise awareness about the importance of carrying a donor card.

Cardiologist Dr. David Baran says,

‘We knew it was going to be an extremely high-risk pregnancy. It is a wonderful feeling to be part of the team which made this miracle possible.’

– Atula, Staff Writer

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Mother of the Bride Helps Deliver Passer by’s Baby

Anette Soborowicz was all dressed up for her daughter’s wedding when her professional instincts as an emergency-room nurse were called to test by a passer by.

It all began when Ben Sherwood of New Berlin was driving his wife Kimberley to the hospital well into labor. She could sense that the baby was coming out and in desperation the couple flagged down a police officer near Milwaukee Art Museum for help.

It turned out the officer was as terrified with the situation as Ben and he then turned to a nearby wedding party for help. The father-to-be kept calling for a doctor and it was this distress call that Anette answered.

“And all of sudden a woman in a peach dress comes running in her high heels and comes down and jumps in (to the Sherwood’s car).”

She rushed to the spot and was soon assisting Kimberley in bringing into the world a beautiful new baby boy named Lincoln Sherwood.

A moment that was followed up by a crowd of cheers from not one but two wedding parties.

“I turned around and there’s a bride there and I just had this inquisitive look,” said Ben. So the bride explained that it was her mother who just caught the baby.

With the day’s adventure ending with a wedding and a birth, Anette summarized the events best – The Sherwoods had a son and she gained a wonderful son-in-law. – Atula, Staff Writer

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Couple Leaves 7-Week-Old Baby In Car For 2 Hours While In Casino Gambling

A California couple has been arrested and charged with child endangerment after they left their seven-week-old baby in the car while they gambled inside a local casino.

A Thunder Valley Casino security guard told police he walked by a car parked in the casino’s parking garage and noticed a car seat covered with a blanket in the back seat. He pushed the car to see whether or not a baby was in the seat, and that’s when he noticed movement from beneath the blanket.

Concerned for the baby’s well-being, the guard pried the door open, took the baby from the car and brought it to the casino’s emergency medical personnel to be checked out.

As police arrived to locate the car’s owner, the couple returned to the car, and were immediately arrested. They claim they only left the car long enough to use the restroom.

The casino’s surveillance video, however, showed the two had been gambling for two hours.

The baby was taken into custody by Placer County Children’s System of Care and both suspects remain in custody on 50-thousand dollars bail each.

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