Arizona surrogate mother gives birth to quintuplets

An Arizona woman who agreed to be a surrogate mother for a couple unable to have children gave birth to five baby boys on Tuesday at a Phoenix hospital, officials said.

Teresa Anderson delivered the rare quintuplets by Caesarean section within 5 minutes and without complications at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center. All five boys were reported to be doing well in an intensive care unit.

Doctors said the quintuplets may be a record for a surrogate mother. "There are no statistics kept on the number of quintuplet births to surrogate mothers," said Dr. John Elliott, who delivered the babies. "Suffice to say, it's incredibly rare."

"I feel great," said Anderson, 25, a Mesa, Arizona woman, in remarks released by the hospital. "I thought it was amazing. It was just a wonderful blessing to see those babies and hear their cries."

Anderson was implanted with five embryos, but did not expect all to be viable.

The newborns - Enrique, Jorge, Gabriel, Javier and Victor - range in weight from 3 pounds, 7 ounces to 3 pounds, 15 ounces. Javier will have to undergo surgery later for a rare heart defect.

Parents-in-waiting Luisa Gonzalez and Enrique Moreno issued a statement thanking Anderson - who waived her $15,000 fee because of the cost the parents will have to bear with their new family.