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The Region - News from June 21, 1985

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The three surviving Frustaci septuplets, who turn 1 month old today, continue to make small daily improvements, with the firstborn breathing without the help of a ventilator, according to Laura Johnson, a spokeswoman for Childrens Hospital of Orange County. The babies’ mother, Riverside high school teacher Patti Frustaci, 30, visits the infants every day. Frustaci gave birth by Caesarean section to the four boys and three girls 12 weeks prematurely after taking fertility drugs. The seventh, a girl, was stillborn. Three more died in the next three weeks because of a lung disease. The survivors--one girl and two boys--also suffer from the affliction, called hyaline membrane disease, but are making gains, Johnson said. The infants, who all weighed less than two pounds at birth, are not expected to go home until at least mid-July, hospital officials have said.

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