AKRON Ohio's first sextuplets do well and get off respirators

The babies are too premature to know how to suck or swallow.
AKRON (AP) -- Ohio's first set of sextuplets has been weaned off respirators and the babies are breathing mostly on their own.
"Everything is going very well," said Dr. Anand Kantak, medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at Akron Children's Hospital, on Friday. "It's the best expected scenario. This is what we wanted to happen."
Jennifer and Keith Hanselman's six bundles of joy were delivered by Caesarean section at Akron General Medical Center on Thursday, weighing a combined 13 pounds, 10 ounces.
Ties to Mahoning Valley
The father is the son of Bud and Nancy Hanselman of East Liverpool. They and another son, Scott, operate Books and Hooks on Maple Avenue in Girard.
The three girls and three boys were listed in critical condition at Akron Children's Hospital, a typical condition for babies born underweight and 12 weeks early.
Getting the babies off respirators quickly significantly reduces the risk of lung damage, Kantak said. Doctors cautioned that it would not be unusual for some or all of the babies to be put back on respirators at some point.
"They're real tiny," said Mrs. Hanselman, 29. "They're skinny at this point. They don't have much fat. But they're beautiful to me."
The babies could go home in eight to 10 weeks, doctors said. To do that, they must be able to eat on their own and gain weight, maintain their body temperature without an incubator and grow out of apnea problems -- episodes when they stop breathing momentarily, a common side effect of premature birth.
Fed intravenously
Born after only 28 weeks of gestation, the Hanselman babies are too young to know how to suck or swallow, so for the next few weeks, they'll be fed intravenously. They will be introduced to tiny amounts of their mother's milk through a feeding tube.
Mrs. Hanselman said she was looking forward to going home to Cuyahoga Falls after nearly five weeks of bed rest.
"I'm glad it's over," she said. "I was getting tired of hospital food and not being able to do anything, being hooked up to all kinds of tubes. To turn over in bed at night was a 10-minute ordeal."
Relieved mother
Hanselman, who hadn't seen her babies since giving birth, said she was relieved that her sextuplets were thriving beyond expectations.
"I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop -- for something to go wrong, because things have gone so well," she said.
The babies are: Isabella Jean, 2 pounds, 10 ounces; Sophia Ivy, 1 pound, 9 ounces; Kyle Allen, 2 pounds, 6 ounces; Logan James, 2 pounds, 8 ounces; Alex Edwin, 2 pounds, 8 ounces; and Lucy Arlene, 2 pounds, 1 ounce.