Septuplets born, 6 Survive in Critical Condition, 1 Dies : All Weigh Less than 2 Pounds

A 30-year-old Riverside schoolteacher gave birth by Caesarean section to septuplets at a hospital in Orange this morning, but the last of the seven did not survive.

Patti Frustaci delivered the four boys and three girls within three minutes, beginning at 8:19 a.m., at St. Joseph Hospital, hospital spokesman Don Hicks said. They were officially listed in critical but stable condition, but Hicks said they were “all good for having been born at 28 weeks.” Hicks added they all had “good color, which is a good report.” Five of the six ranged in size from 1 1/2 pounds to 1 pound, 13 ounces. The sixth, a male, was significantly smaller at 1 pound, 1 ounce.

Doug Wood, director of community relations for adjoining Childrens Hospital of Orange County, where the infants were transferred 10 minutes after delivery, said none of the six infants has “any major problem.”

“They’re very pink, very small and very thin,” Wood said. The color indicated that the babies have good circulation, he explained. The smallest child, he said, was so tiny that one could “easily hold it in one hand.”

Girl Died in Uterus

The seventh baby, a girl, died in the uterus, said Hicks, vice president of development and marketing for St. Joseph.

A spokesman for Childrens Hospital said the dead baby was very small and had “numerous congenital defects.”

Had all seven survived, it would have been a record. The Guinness Book of World Records lists three cases in which sextuplets (six babies) have survived.

Patti Frustaci, who conceived the septuplets after taking a fertility drug, was listed in good condition. She gave birth two days into her 29th week of pregnancy. A normal, uncomplicated pregnancy lasts 40 weeks.

The babies’ father, Samuel Frustaci, an industrial salesman, was in the operating room for the births and was “doing great,” according to Tes Pane, obstetrical nursing director at St. Joseph, who also took part in the delivery.

36-Person Medical Team

The babies were delivered by a team of 36 doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists. There was a neonatologist, a nurse and a therapist on hand for each of the seven babies. Frustaci’s obstetrician, Martin Feldman, led the delivery team. The mother was under general anesthesia.

Wood said that according to national surveys, newborns weighing less than two pounds have a survival rate of 35% to 40%.

Childrens Hospital has a licensed neonatal intensive care unit for the care of premature and critically ill infants, and that is where the infants were transferred.

Frustaci, a high school English teacher, had been taking the fertility drug Perganol three months last fall before conceiving the septuplets.

St. Joseph spokeswoman Debra Conkey said Patti Frustaci would be kept in the hospital’s intensive care unit “as a precaution” for several days, but should be able to leave the hospital in three to five days. She will not be able to visit the children until she is out of intensive care.

The Frustacis also have a 1-year-old son, who was also conceived after Patti Frustaci took Perganol and was born without complications.

Intend to Sell Story

The family’s attorney, Andrew Wallet, said the Frustacis intend to sell their story and have already received several offers from publications. “Quite honestly, they’re going to need (the money),” he said.

According to Guinness and hospital officials, the largest recorded multiple birth was nine babies in Sydney, Australia, in 1971. None survived more than six days.

Guinness lists three cases in which sextuplets (six babies) survived: in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1974; in Florence, Italy, in 1980, and in Liverpool, England, in 1983.

In the case of septuplets, there is no known case where all the infants survived.

The statistical occurrence of natural conception of septuplets is one in 500 trillion, but no statistics are available on such occurrences when the parents have been aided by fertility drugs, hospital officials said.