- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: WOMAN PREGNANT WITH EIGHT BABIES HAS MISCARRIED THREE OF THEM
- Date: 1st October 1996
- Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 1, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV EXTERIOR KING'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL, LONDON, WHERE MANDY ALLWOOD IS BEING TREATED 0.07 2. LV AMBULANCE, HOSPITAL SIGN (2 SHOTS) 0.16 3. CU NEWSPAPER HEADLINES ON LOSS OF ALLWOOD BABIES (5 SHOTS) 0.48 4. CONSULTANT OBSTETRICIAN AT KING'S COLLEGE DO
- Embargoed: 16th October 1996 13:00
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- Location: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM / FILE
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA943YL3CJVLDNIW5UC6O3SX9O2
- Story Text: - INTRO: A British woman pregnant with eight babies has miscarried three of them and doctors say the chances of survival for the remaining five are poor.
Mandy Allwood, 31, was in hospital in London on Tuesday (October 1) after miscarrying three of her eight nineteen-week old foetuses on Monday (September 30).
The three babies born prematurely who died were all boys and weighed less than 200 grams (seven ounces) each. Allwood's health was not in danger, doctors said.
Doctors said the future of the surviving foetuses was bleak.
"It would be something of a miracle if she proceeds another five weeks to give them a chance of survival," obstetrician Donald Gibb told a news conference.
In August, Allwood declared her intention to try to become the first woman in the world to give birth to eight babies despite medical advice that they would fail to survive or be born severely handicapped.
Allwood, who is divorced with one child, became pregnant after taking powerful fertility drugs and ignoring medical advice to avoid sex for a while.
Doctors warned her it would be better to abort some of the foetuses to give the others a chance of survival. She refused.
Friends of Allwood said on Tuesday she had become so huge that she could hardly walk, despite being only five months into the pregnancy.
Allwood's publicist Max Clifford said on Tuesday that she was as well as could be expected and wanted the five remaining foetuses to survive.
A tabloid newspaper offered the divorced single mother a one million pound contract if all the babies were born alive.
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