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Iowa town braces for baby boom
November 13, 1997
Web posted at: 4:01 a.m. EST (0901 GMT)DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- One small Iowa town has become a virtual hospital waiting room.
As Bobbi McCaughey lies in the maternity ward of a Des Moines hospital and awaits the birth of her septuplets, her hometown of Carlisle waits eagerly for news of her impending delivery.
McCaughey was in good condition Wednesday at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, where she has been since mid October. The 29-year-old expectant mother is in the 30th week of her pregnancy with three girls and four boys.
The hospital says mother and babies are in good condition. No delivery date has been set, but a 40-member medical team is on standby.
Special delivery
In Carlisle, meanwhile, residents are becoming antsy. Florist La Vena Owens says the pregnancy is on everybody's mind all the time.
"It's kind on our hearts when we go to bed and on our minds when we get up in the morning so it's something you don't get away from," Owens says.
Owens and other townspeople have cause to worry.
Although so-called multiple-gestation pregnancies are relatively uncommon, women carrying two or more fetuses run higher risks of miscarriage, birth defects and giving birth prematurely.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine estimates that just one to two percent of pregnancies can be classified as multiple gestation, but the use of fertility drugs has made such pregnancies much more common. McCaughey herself had been taking fertility drugs to become pregnant.
Expectant father Kenny McCaughey continues to work as a billing clerk at a local car dealer, where well-wishes are already taped to the windows. He is not talking to the media, and receptionist-turned-media director Brooke Wilson is left to field dozens of calls about the impending birth.
"It's been long. We thought she would have gone before 28 weeks. We're glad she's made it this far. We're pretty impressed with her," she says.
Like many of the residents, service station owner David Bruce is tired of the reporters. He says his neighbors are fed up as well.
"I think most of them want the birth to be over so we can get back to our normal lives," he says.
He doubts, however, that things will ever be back to normal.
"Every week counts."
One expert cautions that the septuplets should stay in the womb for as long as possible.
"Every week counts," says Dr. Jennifer Niebyl, head of obstetrics and gynecology at University Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
Niebyl says statistics show that the infant survival rate for all births is 96 percent after the 28th week of pregnancy.
The townspeople of Carlisle hope to lay claim to being the home of the world's only surviving septuplets.
The last known delivery of septuplets was by a Saudi Arabian woman on September 22 following a 6 1/2-month pregnancy. Only one child survived.
The last set of septuplets born in the United States was to an Orange, California, couple in 1985. One was stillborn, three died within 19 days, and the remaining three had medical and developmental problems.
Correspondent Charles Zewe contributed to this report.
Related story:
- Des Moines delivers on multiple births - November 11, 1997
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