CNN - First septuplet leaves hospital

Kenneth McCaughey

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Tiny Kenneth Robert McCaughey continued to set the pace for his six siblings Saturday when he became the first of the McCaughey septuplets to go home from the hospital.

Kenneth, the first-born and largest of the world's only set of septuplets, was released from Blank Children's Hospital at Iowa Methodist Medical Center to his parents, Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey of Carlisle, Iowa, at 10:45 a.m. Saturday. He weighed 5 pounds, 6 ounces.

Doctors have been monitoring the babies for certain milestones before deeming them healthy enough to be released. Those milestones include maintaining body temperature, remembering to breathe, taking food dependably and gaining weight.

"The doctors have said all along that the babies all need to reach these milestones. Sometimes they reach these milestones earlier than their original due date," hospital spokeswoman Lynne Yontz told CNN.

"Everybody feels very positive," she said.

The other three boys and three girls, Alexis, Natalie, Kelsey, Brandon, Nathan and Joel, are now 6 1/2 weeks old and remain in fair condition, the hospital reported. No date has been set for their release, although doctors have said they hope to send them home by the end of January.