‘Every Day a Bonus’ as Chances for Survival Improve : Septuple Pregnancy Reaches Critical 28th Week

For Patricia Frustaci, time is not of the essence. She’s in no hurry.

That’s because each passing day increases the odds that her seven unborn babies will survive. The 30-year-old high school English teacher from Riverside is nearing the end of her 28th week of pregnancy, and she is at what doctors regard as a critical point if the babies are to become the world’s first septuplets to live.

The chances for survival increase substantially after the 28th week, according to Frustaci’s physician, Dr. Martin Feldman of Orange.

“We expect her to deliver fairly soon,” Feldman said Friday. “But at this point no decision has been made as to when. She will decide by her overall medical condition.”

‘Surprised Everybody’

“We thought she might be going some time this week, but she surprised everybody,” said Debra Conkey, a spokeswoman for St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, where Frustaci has been confined since March 25.

“She’s a real trouper and is determined to go just as far as she can. Every day that goes by is a bonus. We’d really like to get her into next week, and she may even go further. She’s in good condition,” Conkey said, adding that the mother has been given drugs to delay the onset of labor.

Since entering the hospital, Frustaci has been under Feldman’s care, and as she neared the critical time in her pregnancy, more precautions have been taken, including confining her to bed.

“Up to this point, she was able to get up and down a bit,” Conkey said. “But now she is completely confined to bed in order to prolong (the pregnancy) as long as possible.”

Conkey noted that in one case, the pregnancy of a woman who gave birth to sextuplets went 37 weeks.

“However, if she goes into labor and it can’t be stopped, they’ll go ahead and take the babies,” she said.

Average Is 40 Weeks

The average term for an uncomplicated pregnancy is 40 weeks, according to Conkey.

At present, Conkey said, the babies “probably weigh around a pound, maybe less than that. There’s no real way to measure them precisely.”

The hospital is taking steps to improve the babies’ chances for survival, Conkey said. Numerous extra pieces of specialized equipment needed for such a large delivery have been borrowed from or donated by several companies. They include cardiac and oxygen monitors, as well as beepers for the large team of doctors, nurses and therapists who will handle the births.

Feldman will perform the Caesarean section delivery and care for the mother, and each baby will be attended to by a neonatologist, a doctor who specializes in care of pre-term and critically ill newborns, Conkey said.

Network for Calling

“It’s kind of neat because there’s not a ton of these types of doctors in the county, and they have set up a network that has them on call,” Conkey said.

Also on hand for each infant will be two nurses and a respiratory therapist. The presence of multiple fetuses increases the chance for premature birth, and respiratory failure is one of the biggest dangers facing pre-term babies, Conkey said.

Additionally, Conkey said, Childrens Hospital of Orange County, which is next door to St. Joseph, has made arrangements to provide specialized intensive care for the infants if the need should arise.

Frustaci grew up in Fullerton and Orange and attended El Modena High School. She and her husband, Samuel, an industrial salesman for a Buena Park firm, already have a year-old son, and she had been taking a fertility drug for three months before the septuplets were conceived last fall.