Los Angeles  - The mother of octuplets born earlier this week in California had refused to abort some the foetuses, her doctors said.

Despite the unexpected number of children, the woman refused to undergo a so-called reduction and decided to have all eight babies, the Los Angeles Times quoted doctors as saying in its Friday edition.

The woman, whose identity is still kept secret, was offered a selective abortion, Dr Harold Henry at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Centre said. The woman had consulted the doctors in her 12th week of pregnancy.

The six boys and two girls were delivered within five minutes of each other by caesarean section Monday morning. The delivery surprised doctors who had been expecting "only" seven babies.

Two of the newborns who had initially been put on ventilators, were now breathing on their own.

On Wednesday, the mother could see her babies for the first time in their incubators at the intensive care ward. According to People magazine, she was not allowed to hold her babies yet, but watched them sleeping.

The babies weighed in at between 880 grams and 1.47 kilograms each. All eight will spend about two months in an incubator, the hospital said, but the mother, who plans to breastfeed all her children, will be able to leave hospital in one week.

US television channel CBS reported that the woman already has six other children. An acquaintance, who asked to remain anonymous, said the octuplet's mother already had four sons and two daughters. (dpa)