Septuplets Celebrate Birthday

The McCaughey septuplets, whose story of defying the medical odds stunned and charmed the world, celebrated their first birthday on Thursday.

"I think they're spending just a quiet day at home with the family," Kenny McCaughey's mother, Kathryn Addleman of Mason City, said Thursday.

Born Nov. 19, 1997 to Bobbi and Kenny McCaughey, the seven babies were at the time the first set of septuplets to survive. A Saudi Arabian woman has since given birth to another surviving set.

The McCaugheys celebrated the birthday a little in advance, on Nov. 8. Each baby--Kenneth Robert, Alexis May, Natalie Sue, Kelsey Ann, Brandon James, Nathan Roy, and Joel Steven --got a cupcake that matched a bigger cake.

Except for colds and ear infections "their normal baby illnesses," Mrs. McCaughey said their health has been good, although Natalie and Alexis still eat with the help of feeding tubes. Mrs. McCaughey said doctors cannot say when the tubes will come out.

The couple, who also have a daughter Mikayla, nearly three, had said they did not want the children exploited and wanted to raise their family quietly in Carlisle, about 10 miles south of Des Moines.

But the family did plan two television appearances and a book called Seven From Heaven also came out Thursday. They are a way for the family to give those who have been supportive a chance to see the babies, Mrs. McCaughey said last week.

"We just didn't feel that it would be right to say, 'Thank you very much but you're not going to see any pictures of the kids'," she said.

The family taped The Oprah Winfrey Show earlier this week in Chicago. The family was treated to a party, complete with hats and cake for the audience and presents for all the McCaugheys.

The show was to be aired Thursday, but in Chicago, where the syndicated show is broadcast in the mornings, it was pre-empted by the House impeachment hearings. A spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the producers' plans for the show.

On Friday, the family will be on Dateline NBC.

This weekend, after a Saturday open house, the McCaugheys will move into a new 6,000-square foot home built from donations. It stands a stone's throw from the tiny two-bedroom house the family of 10 has been living in.

That open house is the last public event planned for a while, the family's Nashville, Tenn.-based agency said.