Quintuplets born in Texas in five-minute span, hospital says
(CBS/AP) A rare set of quintuplets were born in a five-minute span in Texas, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center said Monday.
Pictures: Quintuplets born in Dallas
The Dallas-area hospital stated the three boys and two girls - named Will Edward, David Stephen, Marcie Jane, Seth Jared and Grace Elise Jones - are in stable condition. Their birth weights ranged from 1 pound, 12 ounces to 2 pounds, 11 ounces.
Hospital officials say the youngsters were born premature Thursday to missionaries Carrie and Gavin Jones. The two have kept a blog to detail the pregnancy.
Dr. Gary Burgess says the babies are doing as expected for quintuplets born at 27 weeks. They remain in the neonatal intensive care unit at UT Southwestern's St. Paul University Hospital.
The parents also have an 8-year-old son.
According to an emailed statement from the hospital, a trained delivery team of more than 50 personnel from across several medical specialties managed the successful births in less than five minutes. Each infant had its own designated unit ready to treat it, which included a neonatologist, neonatal nurse practitioners, nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists and radiology technicians. In the months leading up to the delivery, the hospital planned every detail, handing out special pagers and creating a color-coded system for each baby with its needed supplies. Weekly drills also took place.
"For all the anxiety that a quintuplet pregnancy generates, Carrie and Gavin are the perfect couple to have held it together," said Dr. Patricia Santiago-Munoz, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the hospital, said in the statement. She previously helped with the delivery of two sets of quintuplets before coming to UT Southwestern. "A birth like this takes a village."
