Sextuplets: 2 Girls And 4 Boys, All 2 Pounds -- It's The 2Nd Living Set In The United States

ALBANY, N.Y. - A woman who had taken fertility drugs gave birth yesterday to sextuplets - four boys and two girls - only the second living set in the United States.

Michelle Haner, 28, underwent a Caesarean section at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany.

The babies, who were due June 16, weighed in at about 2 pounds each. Five were on respirators last night, but doctors said they were healthy.

"I always joked with my wife, I said I'd love a dozen. I always wanted a big family. I love kids," said the new father, Norman Haner, a 34-year-old state Department of Corrections worker.

Advances in infertility treatments, including drugs that stimulate more eggs, have dramatically increased the rate of multiple births, but sextuplets remain exceedingly rare.

Keith and Becki Dilley of Indianapolis had sextuplets in 1993 after she took fertility drugs.

There are also two living sets in Great Britain, one in Argentina and one in Canada, hospital officials said.

The Haners also have a 16-month-old daughter, Courtney. Haner said he and his wife used fertility drugs for her, too, after trying for several years to have a child. The family lives in Chatham, 25 miles south of Albany.

Mrs. Haner used the drug Metrodine for the sextuplets, said Dr. Edgar Henriques, her reproductive endocrinologist.

While their prognosis is good, the babies are prone to infection and have to be monitored carefully, said Dr. Albert L. Bartoletti, chief of neonatology at the hospital.

If all goes well, Christian Eric, Ryan Thomas, Mary Ellen Theresa, Joshua Erin, Breanna Mae and Austin Nathaniel should be able to leave the hospital around May 15.