Frustaci Babies Named; 3 of 5 Believed Nearly Out of Danger

As three of five surviving Frustaci septuplets were pronounced nearly “out of the woods” today, names of the seven infants born May 21 were released.

“That means I think they are going to make it,” Dr. Carrie Worcester, director of the newborn intensive care unit at Childrens Hospital of Orange County, said of three of the infants.

However, a boy named James Martin Frustaci remained critically ill with only a 50-50 chance of survival, Worcester said at a morning news conference at the hospital in the city of Orange.

A baby girl, named Bonnie Marie, has not improved in the last 24 hours, but has not worsened either, Worcester said.

Patti Frustaci, a 30-year-old Riverside schoolteacher, was so exhausted that she asked a nursing director to appear at the news conference in her stead and release the names chosen for all seven babies.

The firstborn daughter has been named Patricia Ann, said Tes Pane, director of obstetrical and gynecological nursing at St. Joseph Hospital, where the mother is recuperating.

The remaining surviving babies were named Stephen Earl and Richard Charles, Pane said. The stillborn infant was named Christina Elizabeth and the infant boy nicknamed “the Peanut” was called David Anthony.

Pane said Patti Frustaci may be released from the hospital as early as Wednesday morning “barring complications.”

Samuel Frustaci, 32, father of the babies, did not appear at the news conference and was reportedly making funeral arrangements for the deceased babies.