2 of Frustaci Babies Buried; 2 of the 5 Most Ill Make Gains

Samuel and Patricia Frustaci buried two of their septuplets Friday in a private ceremony in Riverside, the same day in which the two most critically ill of the surviving five babies made small gains for the first time in several days.

Samuel Frustaci said the two dead babies--stillborn Christina Elizabeth and David Anthony, nicknamed “Peanut” because he was only half the size of the other siblings and who survived only 64 hours--were buried at Olivewood Cemetery near their Riverside home in a private ceremony.

“It was attended strictly by the family,” he said.

Also Friday, the owners of Mid-Way Honda, an auto dealership in nearby Fontana, gave the Frustacis a new station wagon to use for a year, including free servicing and the first tank of gas.

‘Just Like Christmas’

“This is just like Christmas, I tell you,” said Patricia Frustaci, 30, who estimated the car would seat the entire family, including their 14-month-old son, Joseph.

Meanwhile, the five surviving infants remained on respirators at Childrens Hospital of Orange County. All are suffering from hyaline membrane disease, an inability to produce a fluid that keeps the lungs from collapsing.

“Doctors still are very concerned about them,” hospital spokeswo-man Laura Johnson said Friday of 11-day-old infants James Martin and Bonnie Marie. “But it is at least a step in the right direction,” Johnson said of the several small changes that showed they were gaining in their battle to survive.

Earlier this week, doctors said babies Patricia Ann, Stephen Earl and Richard Charles were “out of the woods” and would probably survive to develop normally.

TV Appearances

Meanwhile, it was disclosed Friday that the Frustacis will be interviewed live on all three television network morning news shows on Monday, the same day People magazine hits the stands with a first person account of the history-making births.

Previously undisclosed details of the highly publicized story will be revealed in the parents’ account of the pregnancy and delivery in People magazine.

“It’s a 10-page spread. That’s the most I ever remember in a single issue,” Lois Armstrong of the magazine’s Los Angeles bureau said. “It is a departure for us to run that much.”

Armstrong, who spent several hours interviewing both parents, called it a “grabbing story” told in the parents’ own words.

“What’s so interesting is that it’s the mother and father talking,” she said. “They’re so warm and so human. When you listen, you know just how the mother hung in there, how much she suffered, how determined she was to deliver those babies.”