Praising God and asking the world for help, the mother of seven surviving octuplets went home from hospital while her critically ill babies stayed behind to continue their long and uncertain recovery.
Mrs Nkem Chukwu (27) was still so weak she needed a wheelchair but, with a big smile, she told reporters she felt "great - I'm blessed" and vowed to return every day to see her five girls and two boys in the intensive care unit at Texas Children's Hospital.
"They're great boys and girls. . . the first time I saw them I was amazed at what God gave us," said Mrs Chukwu. "I'm not complete now without them."
She took fertility drugs to help conceive the babies, but had no regrets about having so many at once because she said she wanted "multiple" children.
"I was so thankful to God because that was what I wished for. . . I wanted to have as many as God wants to give me," said Mrs Chukwu, a tall, slender woman born in Nigeria. She did not rule out more children.
She and her husband, Mr Iyke Louis Udobi (41), thanked the world for their prayers and donations, which have included such things as a year's supply of groceries and nappies - but said still more was needed. They said their suburban Houston home and family car would not hold all the infants.
"We need seven more of everything we have," said Mr Udobi, a respiratory therapist at a Houston hospital. "I haven't gotten over the shock."
The first baby was born naturally on December 8th, four months premature, while the other seven were delivered by Caesarean section on December 20th. They weighed from 11.3 ounces (320 grams) to 28.6 ounces (810 grams) at birth. The smallest one, a girl nicknamed Odera, died on Sunday from lung and heart failure.
Mrs Chukwu has been in adjacent St Luke's Episcopal Hospital since early October.
Doctors offered her the option of "selective reduction", or aborting some of the foetuses to improve the chances of the remaining ones, but she refused.
"I didn't have `selective reduction' in my Bible, so that's why I didn't do it," Mrs Chukwu said.
The obstetrician, Mr Brian Kirshon, said Mrs Chukwu would take about six weeks to fully recover from her ordeal.
Doctors said it would cost about $250,000 to care for each baby until they leave the hospital. Mr Udobi, who like his wife is a Nigerian-born US citizen, was said to have medical insurance through his employer.