A woman in California is believed to have become the second person in the US to give birth to a set of octuplets.

 

US mum gives birth to octuplets

The babies - six boys and two girls - were delivered in the space of five minutes by caesarean section in Bellflower, California, nine weeks premature.

Weighing in at between 1.8lbs and 3.4lbs each, they are said to be doing well and were in a stable condition in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center.

But two of the babies needed some help to breath with ventilators, according to a hospital spokesman.

The 52-member medical team were stunned by the delivery as they had been expecting only seven babies.

Hospital officials said they will be kept in incubators for at least six weeks and the mother, whose identity has not been revealed, is planning to breast feed them all.

Nkem Chukwu gave birth to the world's first set of octuplets in Houston, Texas in 1998.

Although one baby died about a week later, the surviving children celebrated their 10th birthday last December.