[Natalie Allen, Cnn Anchor:] We begin this hour with new beginnings: seven babies, one mother. The five boys and two girls were born last night at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington. And it's a story not without some controversy. We get the whole story now and a checkup on the babies from Rea Blakey Rea.
[Rea Blakey, Cnn Medical Correspondent:] Natalie, we're told that these seven babies are being attended by a medical SWAT team, so to speak. It's a group of six team members that includes a neonatologist, a respiratory therapist, a nurse, a pediatric resident. These babies are being well guarded. And the hospital was well prepared for their arrival. They went through a number of dress rehearsals to make sure that everything would go as smoothly as possible as you mentioned, five boys, two girls. And at this time, we're told that the mother in good condition.
[Unidentified Doctor:] If they were to grab my finger, their hand would just barely go around it.
[Blakey:] The doctors say all of them are in critical condition in the neonatal intensive care unit. All but the smallest girl are on ventilators.
[Dr. Siva Subramanian, Chief Of Neonatology:] We are not out of the woods in terms of you know, as far as the babies, it's a great start.
[Blakey:] The babies were created through a process called ovulation induction.
[Unidentified Doctor:] Virtually all fertility drugs overcome the natural tendency of the human female to produce one egg per month.
[Blakey:] It was seven weeks into the pregnancy when the woman's doctor saw she was carrying seven babies.
[Dr. Mutahar Fauzia, Community Physician For Mother:] I said, "God, help me." I swear to God I'm not telling you a lie. There it was. I was and I meant it. And I explained the severity of the situation at that time to the parents.
[Blakey:] The family is Muslim and chose not to reduce the number of babies. But some fertility experts consider the birth of these seven babies to be treatment failure.
[Eric Widra, Shady Grove Fertility Center:] I think that high- order multiple births are as much a failure of treatment as no pregnancy is in fact, in many ways, more so.
[Blakey:] That's because of the risk involved. Natalie, we're told that the mother may likely be discharged sometime early next week. The babies will remain in intensive care for the next several weeks. The care of this endeavor, the doctors say, will approach something on the order of $1 million.
[Allen:] Oh, my. Hope they have insurance. Thank you, Rea Blakey in Washington.