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It's A Long, Long Wait For Blessed Trip Home

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By STEVE KORNACKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 14, 2007

Photos Of The Byler Sextuplets | Slideshow: Inside The Byler Home

ST. PETERSBURG - After 13 days getting to know her sextuplets, Karoline Byler says she can tell them apart. Jackson Robert and Ryan Patrick have round faces, like the Kiewra side of the family, while the other four have long, thin faces like her husband, Ben's, side.

'And Charlie has such a small face,' she said Thursday. 'He looks like a little old man.'

Byler laughed, glowing with the pride of a new mother, times six.

Photos and video of Florida's first sextuplets were released Thursday morning at All Children's Hospital, and posters of the infants were displayed at a news conference.

'That photo of Zoe holding Eli's foot is our favorite,' Byler said. Zoe is the couple's 4-year-old, who asked for a sibling and got a six-pack.

Mackenzie Margaret, the only girl in the set, improved from serious to fair condition Thursday. Hospital workers removed her ventilator and a chest tube, and she has begun drinking pumped breast milk.

Ryan and Jackson are on ventilators and remain in serious condition, while Brady Christopher, Eli Benjamin and Charlie Craig are fair.

'We are very happy with the progress of the infants,' said neonatologist Fauzia Shakeel. 'They have premature lungs and premature brains. Hopefully, they will catch up.'

They are expected to go home to Wesley Chapel in November, but Byler said Jackson and Ryan could stay as long as four months and into the new year.

'What I want for Christmas is the nine of us taking a picture in front of our tree on Christmas morning,' she said.

For the meantime, all her new jewelry will have to do; she still wears the hospital ID bracelet for each child.

'Mine came off when I came home last week,' she said, 'It's my little way of thinking of them when they are not with us. When they come home, the bracelets will come off. In two months, they will be pretty tattered things. But I am keeping them there.'

The babies are only the 14th surviving sextuplets born in the United States. Their parents have joined a sextuplet support group with some of the other families, and Karoline has been exchanging e-mail with Jenny Masche, who gave birth to her sextuplets June 11 in Phoenix.

'We're talking about getting them together someday,' Byler, 29, said. 'Then we will have 12 little ones. You realize you are not the only ones, and that it's doable.'

Though, she added, 'It still blows my mind. ... I can't believe there are six of them.'

Ben Byler, 30, said he's 'a little scared, a little excited,' but feels up to the task of raising what he called 'a basketball team with two cheerleaders.'

'We have a lot of help,' he said.

Families and friends have pitched in, while donations continue coming from the community, which staged a baby shower for 500 last month in Lutz.

'It's been crazy,' Karoline Byler said. 'I never thought people would care this much about our family.'

Ben, who runs a bread and bagel route in Tampa for Pepperidge Farms, said his employer is covering his route for the next two weeks while he still gets paid.

'They did say they are setting a company precedent, though,' he said. 'They said in order to get what they are giving me, you need to have sextuplets or more.'

The Bylers hoped to have two children when they were married, but after taking fertility drugs, they realized the potential existed for two or even three more.

'When Dr. Karen Raimer told us there were six,' Karoline said, 'I nearly fell off the table.'

She said another doctor suggested selective reduction of the embryos to give the remainder a better chance for survival.

'We would not consider it,' she said. 'If we had done that, which four would not be here right now? Ryan, Jackson, Mackenzie? We were supposed to have six for a reason. God's been on our side.'

The six were delivered by Caesarean section.

The Bylers visit their babies daily, and have already gotten to change diapers. All the children except Jackson are taking breast milk, a wonderful 'bonding moment,' their mother said.

But she can't wait for them all to come home, and for that Christmas photo by the tree.

Asked what Santa will think, Karoline Byler laughed. 'Santa will be broke.'

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.

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