First Frustaci Septuplet Leaves Hospital

Squinting into the glare of the sun and television cameras, the firstborn Frustaci septuplet left her home of 108 days, Childrens Hospital of Orange County, and headed Friday to Riverside with her parents and 1 1/2-year-old brother.

“She’s a beefer, isn’t she?” said the baby’s father, Sam Frustaci, as 5-pound, 2 1/2-ounce Patricia Ann was held up by her mother, Patti, for pictures before going home.

Dressed in a white frilly bonnet and yellow dress with white lace, Patricia Ann left behind the two other surviving septuplets, Richard Charles and Stephen Earl, who are expected to be released in the next one to four weeks. Patricia Ann, who weighed 1 pound, 11 ounces at birth, was kept at the hospital until she gained sufficient weight. Her brothers will follow her home when they add a few more ounces, doctors said.

“She looks fantastic,” a beaming Patti Frustaci said as she carried her daughter through the crowd.

The Riverside High School teacher gave birth to the four boys and three girls 12 weeks prematurely on May 21 after taking fertility drugs. The last child to be delivered, a girl, was stillborn, and three more babies died of lung disease in the following three weeks. It was the first recorded birth of septuplets, according to hospital officials.

“It’s been a long time,” Sam Frustaci said as he readied the car before Patricia Ann was discharged. “But we’re as ready as we’ll ever be and it’s kind of exciting.”

Asked what they would do first after they got their daughter home, Sam Frustaci replied, “Feed her,” as his wife strapped the baby into a car seat next to her brother, Joseph.

“This is truly an historic event,” Dr. Carrie Worcester, the chief neonatologist who cared for the Frustaci babies, said at a press conference before Patricia Ann’s discharge.

Patricia Ann suffered the “predictable problems” of babies her size--lung disease, a heart duct opening and infection--but she “overcame them very well” and now is a “healthy, beautiful baby,” Worcester said.

At home, Patricia Ann will be attached to a heartbeat and respiratory monitor to detect any breathing and cardiac irregularities during her sleep, said Dr. David Hicks, one of four neonatologists for the Frustaci babies. Premature babies are at higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome, he said.

She will be fed a specialized formula, vitamins and iron, but needs no medication, doctors said.

Hicks said that while Patricia Ann is as fully developed as expected for a premature baby her age, her development is comparable to a 2-week-old full-term infant. She “smiles, makes noises” and responds to light and dark,” Hicks said.

Asked about the baby’s mental capacities, neonatologist Ralph Rucker said the brain development of tiny babies “is never 100% sure,” but that Patricia Ann “has all the promise of being normal.”

Worcester said that 70% of babies Patricia Ann’s size have bleeding into their brains because of immature circulatory systems, and that this can be an indication of neurological problems. But none of the three surviving septuplets had any bleeding, “and that makes us feel very good. . . . We’re very optimistic,” Worcester said.

“I think those little babies are super,” Rucker said, adding that the two boys weigh close to five pounds. Doctors would not be more specific about the boys. “It’s Patti’s day,” Worcester said.

Rucker said Patricia Ann was the first to go home because “she was the first (born) and she’s female. Both those make a difference.” Patricia has been one of the biggest septuplets from the beginning and, statistically, female premature babies fare better, he said.

Why? “Nobody knows the answer,” he said.

The babies’ parents briefly answered a few questions Friday but would not participate in the press conference because they are bound by a contract with People magazine. Instead, they watched the press conference held by doctors from the back of the room.

As Patricia Ann was being carried into the car, Sam Frustaci said “it’s going to be different” having a daughter.

To celebrate the first septuplet’s departure, other young patients at Childrens Hospital painted a banner in blue, red, green, purple and orange that read: “We Love You Patricia Ann.” A dozen helium balloons were tied to the trunk of the Frustacis’ car, and the hospital mascot, a bear, waved goodby.

The seven Frustaci babies were delivered by Caesarean section within three minutes at adjacent St. Joseph Hospital. The six who survived birth weighed between 1 pound, 13 ounces and 1 pound, 1 ounce.

All suffered from hyaline membrane disease, a lung ailment common to premature babies that causes their air sacs to collapse because they lack a lubricating substance. They also had an opening in the duct between the aorta and pulmonary artery. The smallest, nicknamed “Peanut” and later named David Anthony, died 64 hours later and was buried with the stillborn infant, later named Christina Elizabeth. James Martin died after 16 days and Bonnie Marie died three days later.

Worcester said Friday that she had grown especially fond of Patricia Ann because at delivery the firstborn was under her charge. “She’s been my special one,” Worcester said. Although she will miss the baby, “I’m happy to see her go. This is what neonatology is all about.”