Woman gives birth to octuplets

Most new mums have their hands full with just one baby to care for, but a woman in America has found herself with eight little bundles of joy after giving birth to octuplets yesterday. The woman, who has asked to remain unnamed, delivered six boys and two girls who weighed between one pound, eight ounces (0.680 kilograms) and three pounds, four ounces (1.474 kilograms) at a hospital in California. Her team of 46 medical staff from the Kaiser Permanente Medical Centre at the hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Bellflower had only expected seven babies and had scheduled a Caesarean section.

Dr Karen Maples, who had been taking care of the woman since her first trimester, said that her eyes "were as wide as saucers" when she realised there was an eighth child.

"We decided to proceed with the delivery in anticipation of seven babies. We had done some drills, some preliminary dry runs," she explained.

"Lo and behold, after we got to Baby G, which is what we expected, we were surprised by Baby H."

She added that two of the babies needed some help to breathe with ventilators but that all the octuplets and their mother were doing well and are in a stable condition.

It is only the world's second live-born set of octuplets on record; the first set were delivered in Houston, Texas, in 1998.