Hospital-Produced Video : Nation’s First Test-Tube Quads Star in a Sleeper

And now, the world’s first quadruplet video.

Childless after seven years of marriage, Jill Kuzmanic of San Pedro underwent an in vitro fertilization procedure and gave birth to one, two, three, four premature babies last week--apparently the first test-tube quadruplets born in the United States.

This being the video age, the two-pound tots, backed by a tinkling, music box-type melody, made their debuts Tuesday in a one-minute movie produced by Long Beach Memorial Medical Center for the benefit of the press and parents.

The babies, born via Caesarean section 12 weeks early, had sleeping roles in the hospital’s production. But Stephen, Kristopher, Kirk Jr. and Paige got rave reviews from their father (equal raves for each, naturally).

“I almost had tears in my eyes watching them,” admitted Kirk Kuzmanic, 28.

Jill, 27, was thinking ahead.

“We don’t have bedrooms for all of them,” she said. “We plan to make the living room into a nursery. We never use it for anything anyway. . . . I guess we’ll buy a van, too.”

“With children’s seats,” added Dr. Houchang Modanlou, the center’s director of neonatology, smiling.

As for the direction of the family finances, Kirk Kuzmanic, who runs a car wash with his father, cracked, “I don’t have an answer now.”

Asked if she worked prior to her pregnancy, Jill laughed and said, “Oh, just part-time. It seems like I’ve been trying to get pregnant my whole life.”

Meanwhile, the 9-day-old quads--three boys and a girl--were resting in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, breathing on their own and in stable condition.

Cautious Optimism

Although Dr. Ken Komatsu of the center’s staff said he had “every reason to be optimistic” about the babies’ future, he cautioned that they are “not yet out of danger.”

The quartet probably won’t be coming home for 2 1/2 to 3 months, but their mother checked out of the hospital Tuesday. She has some shopping to do.

“I haven’t bought a thing (for the babies),” she disclosed.

The couple has one other child, Morgan, age 7 months, whom they adopted late last year. One month later, the Kuzmanics got the go-ahead to participate in the in vitro fertilization program at UCLA Medical Center. She then gave birth at Long Beach Memorial.

Last year, an Australian woman had the world’s first test-tube quads.

6 Fertilized Eggs

In the in vitro procedure, eggs are removed from the mother, fertilized with the father’s sperm in a laboratory, then reimplanted in the mother’s uterus. Six fertilized eggs were reimplanted because the success rate with one egg was only about 5%-20%, doctors said.

“Usually only one takes hold,” said Dr. Patrick Merrill of the center’s staff. “It was a surprise that four took.”

A surprise to the mother, too.

“I have three sisters and a brother, and I always thought my mother was crazy not to know when to stop,” she said with a laugh.