By MIRANDA LA ROSE Tuesday, March 12 2013

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Petra Lee Foon and Kieron Cummings, the mother and father of the sextuplets who were born last week at the Mount Hope Women's Hospital....

One week after the premature delivery of sextuplets to Petra Lee Foon and Kieron Cummings, the babies are “doing very well” by premature babies standards.

This is according to medical and nursing staff of the Mount Hope Women’s Hospital (MHWH) who would not provide information on the babies due to patients’ confidentiality.

“Forget the nonsense about the first born baby being critically ill,” one senior nursing staff member said.

“We have looked after babies more critical than Number One. Those babies have thrived. He’s good,” she said. Nevertheless, a medical staff said he was still not out of the woods.

“All the babies are doing very well for their age, and have even shown some improvement in birth weight,” she said.

With the exception of the firstborn, a boy, the others are off the ventilators and breathing on their own.

According to their development, a medical staff said the babies, who weighed between one pound, nine ounces to just under three pounds would have to achieve a certain weight, among other conditions, before they could be discharged.

Depending on their growth and development, one could be discharged before the other.

The Masche sextuplets of Phoenix, Arizona — three boys and three girls — delivered by Caesarian section in 2008, weighed between two pounds, one ounce and three pounds at birth. They were all discharged within 35 days after their birth at the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Arizona.

If this is an indication to go by, the Cummings/Lee Foon sextuplets could also be home by the time they are 40 days old, a medical staffer told Newsday.

However, more sceptical members of staff said they could stay for longer periods, possibly months.

Meanwhile, pre-natal and post-natal staff in the hospital marked one week since the birth of the local sextuplets, beginning over the weekend, by taking some much needed rest.

Nursing administrator of the women’s hospital, Sr Claudette Fraser-Udika and nurse-in-charge of the Maternity Operating Theatre, Cathy Cadogan, had told the media on March 4, the day the babies were delivered by Caesarian section, that they had so much wanted the entire procedure to be well executed that they were preparing weeks in advance.

Cadogan said she could not cook her husband a hot meal on March 3, because she had to ensure everything was in place in the theatre.

With the discharge of Lee Foon, they said they were able to get much needed rest on the weekend. They have formed a bond with Lee Foon and have kept in touch with her even though she has been discharged.

Lee Foon, according to a family member, is recovering very well at home, but family members are being very guarded about her because of the possibility of postpartum depression.