8 Babies Born to California Mother

One was hiding behind the mother's spleen, but joined seven, count'em, SEVEN brothers and sisters when a California woman gave birth to the only other set of surviving octuplets ever born in the U.S. and the world.

Media reports said the six boys and two girls were born within five minutes Jan. 26 at the Kaiser Permanente Hospital, starting at 10:43 a.m. The mother has asked not to be identified.

Nkem Chukwu of Texas, at age 27 in December 1998,  gave birth to the first set of live-born octuplets.  One girl was born early and the other siblings were given another two weeks in their mother's womb to improve their changes of survival. One baby died a week later. 

She and her husband, Ike, live in Houston with the remaining children, who turned 10 in December 2008. 

According to CNN.com by 1998, nine babies were the highest known multiple birth, which occurred during 1971 in Sydney, Australia. Three of the children died at birth. 

Octuplets have been born in Britain, Turkey and Spain, but not all survived during birth.  

In recent days fertility experts have been critical of the births, citing health risks to the mother and babies, and financial burden to the family, according to abcnews. com. As well, ABC reporter Mike Von Fremnd has said the mother of the octuplets already may be a single mother of six.