Sextuplets’ prognosis uncertain

Abington Memorial Hospital introduced the parents of sextuplets born there last week - Brendan and Stacey Carey of Feasterville - Monday morning, but all they would show of the babies at this point was a fuzzy ultrasound.

The babies - Emma, Samantha, Olivia, John, Patrick and Connor - were born almost 10 weeks premature on June 1 with the help of 60 hospital employees divided into color-coded teams. They weighed from 1 pound 1 ounce to 2 pounds 5 ounces. Most full term babies weigh between six and nine pounds.

All are in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit in critical condition. They are on breathing machines and are receiving nutrition intravenously in addition to their mother's breast milk. Their prognosis is uncertain.

"They are in no way out of the woods," said neonatologist Gerard Cleary.

Babies born this early typically spend 10 to 12 weeks in the hospital. They have a 10 percent chance of death and a 15 percent risk of significant disability. Multiplied across all the babies, he said, "the risks for this family are extraordinarily high."

In a short presentation devoted mostly to thanking hospital personnel for their efforts, Stacey Carey, who had undergone fertility treatments, said she was "very, very surprised" to learn she was pregnant with six.

"We also have a 16-month-old daughter, so our family of nine is now complete," she said to chuckles from the crowd of hospital staff, reporters and photographers.

Carey said the couple has not thought out all the logistics of caring for the babies, but have a "strong support system."

Stacey Carey, 33, is a teacher in the Centennial School District. Brendan Carey, who did not speak during the news conference, is 41, and works as a bartender at SugarHouse Casino. They live in a four-bedroom house and have one car, a four-passenger SUV.

Sextuplets are quite rare. Of the 4.2 million births in the United states in 2008, only 46 were quintuplets or larger groups of multiples, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Stephen J. Smith, an Abington perinatologist, said Stacey Carey underwent a fertility treatment called ovulation induction.