by Susan M. Heim
A 33-year-old woman in Southern California gave birth to six boys and two girls on January 26, 2009. They are only the world's second set of live-born octuplets. The babies weighed between 1.8 and 3.4 pounds and were in stable condition. The unidentified mother, who lives with her parents, already has six children between the ages of 2 and 7. Doctors were surprised to find octuplets during the Caesarean section as only seven babies had been detected.
In 1998, the first live-born octuplets were born in Houston, Texas. One child died a week later, but 5 girls and 2 boys survived and are now healthy ten-year-olds.