Superpregnancy

Since the birth of her son Gregory four years ago, Mrs. Edna Stanek, 34, of Lakewood, Colo., has hoped for another child. A fortnight ago, she more than got her wish when she delivered sextuplets. Although one of the babies died shortly after birth, at least two of the infants seemed to have a good chance of surviving.

The odds against having sextuplets naturally are around 5 billion to 1, and the odds against having all six survive are probably beyond computation. But Mrs. Stanek had help. Unable to conceive after the birth of her first child, she had been taking a fertility drug called Clomid. When it proved ineffective, doctors switched her to Pergonal,* which frequently causes a woman to release more than one egg a month and has been linked to previous multiple births. After taking daily injections for only two weeks, she became pregnant.

Delayed Delivery. Almost from the start, Mrs. Stanek knew she was super pregnant. By the twelfth week her doctors told her she was carrying more than two fetuses. By the 24th week they announced there would be at least four and ordered her to bed. By the time she was admitted to Denver's General Rose Memorial Hospital, X rays had confirmed that she was carrying sextuplets.

To safeguard the six against prematurity and to give them as much time as possible to develop, doctors managed to delay the delivery for about three weeks.

They injected alcohol directly into Mrs. Stanek's bloodstream--to act as a muscle relaxant and suppress uterine contractions--and they left a bottle of vodka on her bedside table with instructions to drink three ounces a day. When Mrs. Stanek, who was later moved to Colorado General Hospital because of its high-risk nursery facilities, went into labor, she was only seven weeks ahead of her due date.

The delivery was even more controlled than the pregnancy. Thirty medical people from three hospitals crowded into the operating room to help as doctors delivered the first baby naturally, the other five by caesarean section.

Another 15 nurses, aides and technicians assisted from outside. Two pediatricians and a nurse were assigned to each baby.

The Stanek babies were large for sextuplets. They ranged in weight from just under 3 Ibs. to 3 Ibs. 10 oz. Doctors placed them in incubators, and gave four of them extra oxygen to breathe. Even so, their underdeveloped lungs quickly encountered the same respiratory problems that account for half of all deaths among premature babies. The weakest of the six, a girl the Staneks had named Julia, died of hyaline membrane disease, a disorder of the inner lining of the lungs, 44 hours after birth.

Among the known sextuple births, no full set of babies has ever survived. Doctors, who consider the Stanek delivery "a marvelous achievement," were deeply concerned about the shaky condition of three of the Stanek babies. But they were encouraged by the health of two, who seem to be doing "quite well." The father, Accountant Eugene Stanek, 31, mourning the loss of one of the babies, nevertheless at week's end could look forward to the possibility of one day bringing the surviving five home.

* Clomid (clomiphene citrate) is a drug that stimulates the pituitary gland to release hormones and so prepares the ovaries for ovulation. Pergonal (menotropins), a hormonal extract from the urine of postmenopausal women, induces ovulation by directly stimulating the ovaries.

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