The largest of the McCaughey septuplets was breathing on his own and removed from a ventilator Friday, and his six brothers and sisters are making "significant progress," a physician said.
The babies were born nine weeks premature Wednesday and have been listed in serious condition, but Dr. Robert Shaw said Kenneth, who weighed 3 pounds, 4 ounces at birth, had been upgraded to fair today.Kenneth was nicknamed "Hercules" by doctors because he had held up all his brothers and sisters in the womb. He was the first out during mother Bobbi McCaughey's Caesarean section.
"He is doing all of the breathing on his own very comfortably," said Shaw, a neonatologist at Blank Children's Hospital. "He seems to have had an edge from the very beginning and that played out at the bedside as well."
Kenneth and his tiny siblings - Alexis May, Natalie Sue, Kelsey Ann, Brandon James, Nathanial Roy and Joel Steven - all had been on ventilators since their birth Wednesday, common for premature deliveries. Shaw said the others were following a more typical - that is, a bit slower - time frame.
"All of the other babies are making some significant progress, but we are anticipating it will be an additional two to three days of ventilator and extra oxygen support," Shaw said.
The babies' size and condition, uncommonly good for premature, multiple babies, had cheered the doctors and nurses from the beginning.
Nurse Julie Oliver said Thursday the babies "have little fat cheeks, some have nice little fat thighs."
"They really all are quite individual looking, quite interesting looking, a lot bigger than we all maybe thought at first," she said.
Their father spoke publicly for the first time Thursday, and he was beaming.
"I've just barely touched them. I don't want to really pick them up yet," Kenny McCaughey, 27, said during a news conference at the family's church in Carlisle. "They're just still on their breath-ers and monitors and everything, and probably will be for quite a little bit of time."
His 29-year-old wife, who had a tubal ligation minutes after giving birth, spent a brief time with her little ones that day and again on Thursday.
"She is definitely just amazing. God's really blessed her, and the human body can do a great many things," her husband said.
The family has been showered with gifts including a van with the names of the babies painted on the side, a year's supply of groceries and a new house yet to be built.
Both parents also talked on the telephone Thursday with President Clinton, and a tape of the call was released today with their permission.
McCaughey (pronounced McCoy) invited Clinton to come see the babies, and Bobbi McCaughey told Clinton she was "much better" than the day before.
"I've had good care and good doctors, so I guess they just kept me going," she said.
Clinton joked that when the children reach school age, "you'll be able to get a job running any major corporation in America, because you'll be the best organized manager in the United States."
"That or I'll be in a straitjacket somewhere," Bobbi McCaughey replied.
Shaw expressed cautious optimism about the septuplets' chances of survival.
"It would appear the babies are thriving on having a bit more space. And we are pleased to see that," Shaw said.
"(But) we have certainly seen some ups and downs in the course of all of the babies," he said. "We're very encouraged at the start that they're off to and the progress that they have made."
The babies' big sister, 21-month-old Mikayla, was also excited at seeing her brothers and sisters.
"I brought her down yesterday and she just kind of sat there in my arms and said: `Baby! Baby!' " McCaughey said.
"Our high expectations include not only surviving but thriving," he said. But "plans right now are to let them rest as much as possible, to limit exposure to possible infections and help them continue to grow stronger."
Dr. David Alexander, medical director at Iowa Methodist Medical Center where the babies were born, said premature babies typically go home around their original due date - late January for the McCaugheys.