Home >  Health & Science

Ian, Simon, Olivia, Zoe, Joshua and Madison

Friday, March 21, 2003

By Christopher Snowbeck, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

For weeks, family and friends have been helping Joe and Erin Perry of Ross stockpile baby gear in anticipation of the delivery of Pittsburgh's first-ever set of sextuplets.

	Dr. Cynthia Sims shows 3-year-old Parker Perry how many new brothers and sisters he has during a news conference yesterday at Magee Womens Hospital. At left is father Joe Perry of Ross, whose wife, Erin, gave birth to the six babies, Pittsburgh's first set of sextuplets, on Wednesday. (Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette)

But less than 24 hours after the delivery of the six babies -- three boys and three girls -- at Magee-Womens Hospital, Joe Perry was overwhelmed.

"I've never felt so unprepared for something in my life," he confided at a news conference yesterday.

From the smallest, at 1 pound 9 ounces, to the largest, at 2 pounds 9 ounces, all six babies were in critical but stable condition yesterday. Ian, Simon, Olivia, Zoe, Joshua and Madison -- listed in their birth order -- were breathing with ventilator assistance and receiving intravenous feedings in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.

Doctors said they were cautiously optimistic about the babies' chances, noting one good sign from the delivery room: each voiced a vigorous cry upon entering the world.

Erin Perry, 33, was in fair condition following the caesarean delivery, which began shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday. Perry was in the 28th week and third day of her pregnancy and had been staying at the hospital for two weeks before going into labor.

If all goes well, it could be about six weeks before the couple takes the babies home, where one of the three bedrooms in their house is already occupied by their 3-year-old son Parker. The boy is excited about being a big brother, his dad said yesterday, and might not realize that it's unusual to get six siblings all at once.

"I'm sure he's assuming everyone has six children at once," joked Joe Perry, 33, the production manager at a manufacturing company.

Sextuplet births are so rare that the federal government doesn't track the number. Instead, the National Center for Health Statistics counts the number of multiple births of five or more that are born in each year. In 2000, there were 77 of these births.

The incidence of multiple births involving more than twins has increased by 272 percent since 1980, primarily because of assisted reproductive technologies, such as fertility drugs and in vitro fertilization.

Erin Perry, for example, started taking fertility medicines that stimulate the ovaries after unsuccessful attempts at getting pregnant. When she got pregnant last year, doctors explained the risks involved with carrying and delivering so many babies. But the couple decided against reducing the number of infants.

Dr. Charles Bender, medical director of Magee's neonatal ICU, said every organ system is immature in a premature baby and complications commonly involve the lungs, heart and brain. Helping the babies' lungs develop will be among the first major hurdles, he said.

Despite the challenges, the babies are "gorgeous" and "doing much as you would expect them to be," Bender said.

Dr. Cynthia Sims, a maternal fetal medicine specialist, agreed: "I think it's the best we could hope for in this situation."

Because sextuplet deliveries are so rare, the Magee doctors said it was difficult to talk in general terms about the babies' chances.

Dr. Edward Bell, director of neonatology at the University of Iowa, said the babies were good-sized and spent enough time in the womb to give them a good chance -- more than 90 percent of babies born in the 28th week survive, Bell said.

"So, that means that each baby has a very good chance of surviving," he said. "What you have to figure, though, is that even though it doesn't take a large amount of luck in the case of any particular baby, you've got to be lucky six times to get them all home."

An infant is considered full-term at 40 weeks, but most multiples -- especially high-order multiples -- are born far sooner. No case of sextuplet births in the United States has exceeded 31 weeks of gestation.

No fewer than 40 doctors and nurses staffed the delivery room at Magee when the babies were born. It took two elevator trips to get all the babies from the operating room downstairs to the intensive care unit.

Along the way, grandparents got their first peek at the babies.

Erin Perry's mother, Pat Driscoll, said the couple enjoys great support from friends and family. The Driscolls live in Conway, Beaver County, and three of their four other children still live in the Pittsburgh area. Like his wife, Joe Perry has siblings who live in Pittsburgh and his parents live just a mile away from the couple's Ross home.

The delivery "doubled up" the grandchild total for paternal grandparents, taking it from six to 12, said Richard Perry.

The family's faith has been important in preparing for the babies, Pat Driscoll said. The couple attend Assumption Catholic Church in Bellevue.

Ed Driscoll said the H.J. Heinz Co. has donated 300 cases of baby food to the family. Friends have dropped off high chairs, car seats and 20 large plastic bags of clothing.

Helping his son deal with the transition has been just one of the many concerns in Joe Perry's life these past few months. The prospect of caring for six new babies confounds the imagination, but Perry said he and his wife have had to focus on the present. A social worker at a nursing home, Erin Perry has been off work and on bed-rest since November.

"We've just been trying to stay focused on keeping Erin healthy for the past several months and taking it day by day," he said. "I'm relieved. It's been an anxious couple of months."