When 8 is more than enough!

[mrpayroll]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090130/...alif_octuplets

Family: Octuplets' mother has 6 other children

By Thomas Watkins, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 1 min ago

WHITTIER, Calif. – The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week already had six children but refused the option of reducing the number of embryos she was carrying last year, her mother said.

Angela Suleman said good news for her daughter is all the babies appear healthy.

"I looked at those babies. They are so tiny and so beautiful," Suleman told The Los Angeles Times on Thursday.

Suleman's daughter gave birth to the octuplets Monday at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center but had requested that doctors keep her name confidential.

She also was counseled about the risks of her pregnancy — then in its 12th week — and about the option of aborting some fetuses when she arrived at the hospital, Dr. Harold Henry said.

Suleman said her daughter had not expected so many embryos to keep developing, but rejected selective reduction.

"What do you suggest she should have done? She refused to have them killed," Suleman told the Times. "That is a very painful thing."

Doctors had been expecting only seven babies, but an eighth was born in the Caesarean delivery.

Media knew little about the woman until a family acquaintance told CBS' "The Early Show" on Thursday that the mother is "fairly young" and lives with her parents and her six children.

Within hours, media had camped out at the family's home in Whittier, where the babies' grandfather pulled up in a minivan in the evening and briefly spoke to The Associated Press. Beside him were two children — a 7-year-old and 6-year-old — who said they were excited to have eight new siblings.

But the grandfather warned that media may have a tougher time finding the family after the babies are released from the hospital.

"We have a huge house, not here," said the man, who would only identify himself as Ed. "You are never going to know where it is."

The mother's other children are 5 and 3, and 2-year-old twins, neighbors told the Times.

The six boys and two girls are only the second octuplets born alive in the United States. The were born nine weeks premature and ranged between 1 pound, 8 ounces and 3 pounds, 4 ounces at birth.

Dr. Mandhir Gupta said seven of the babies were breathing without assistance. One was still receiving oxygen through a tube in his nose.

All babies continued to receive intravenous nutrition. They were expected to remain in the hospital for several more weeks.

It's not clear if the octuplets' mother had embryos implanted. Another option is egg stimulation through fertility drugs, which provides less control. The doctor is supposed to use blood tests and ultrasound to monitor how many egg follicles develop. If too many do, the doctor is supposed to stop the drugs.

Doctors say they are not in the business of regulating family size. But they try everything to avoid higher-order pregnancies to prevent health problems for mothers and infants.

National guidelines suggest that doctors limit the number of embryos implanted to avoid multiple births. Women are also counseled to not go through with attempting pregnancy if too many eggs have budded when they're taking fertility drugs.

Dr. James Grifo, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the NYU School of Medicine, added: "I don't think it's our job to tell them how many babies they're allowed to have. I am not a policeman for reproduction in the United States. My role is to educate patients."
___

Associated Press writer Shaya Tayefe Mohajer in Bellflower and AP science writer Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

This has been big news around here and I'm surprised no one has posted this story.

At first it seemed to me that this was a blessing to this woman. But when I (and many others) learned that she already had 6 children, lives with her parents and it's not clear how many different persons have fathered her 6 other children, now there is a lot of controversy.

She should never have been allowed to have fertility treatments with 6 other children to take care of. And so far, it doesn't seem that there is a father in the picture to also help with the upbringing of the 6, now 14 children.

Though, I am glad that the 8 babies seem to be in good health and will hopefully live a healthy life. But guess who is going to foot the bill to take care of these 14 children?

Chris

[D.Pham00]

Originally Posted by mrpayroll

This has been big news around here and I'm surprised no one has posted this story.

I'm surprised it took you so long to post it.

[fujishig]

She's been trying to keep her name out of the news, but a lot of people that say they know her are coming forward (plus, the mom's name is public). Now I've heard that she's 33, and that she probably got the fertility treatment somewhere outside the US (perhaps Mexico).

That is an interesting point about whether or not doctor's have an obligation or right to regulate how many kids a person can have. However, unless she and/or her immediate family are extremely wealthy, good luck raising 14 kids in Southern California.

[orangecrush]

Maybe she was shooting for a massive tax credit, but miscalculated how far away she was from Jan 1st?

[emptysky]

I can't imagine why a woman with 5 successful pregnancies that led to 6 children in 7 years needed fertility treatments--clearly her reproductive system works exceptionally well.

[FlickMan]

14 kids married - disgusting
14 single - disgusting and atrocious

If I had my way, she'd be denied every option of State/Govt support, including an appearance on Oprah to be bestowed with truckloads of diapers, baby food and college money.

[D.Pham00]

Originally Posted by emptysky

I can't imagine why a woman with 5 successful pregnancies that led to 6 children in 7 years needed fertility treatments--clearly her reproductive system works exceptionally well.

fame. and free money.

[The Bus]

Originally Posted by mrpayroll

This has been big news around here and I'm surprised no one has posted this story.

You say this a lot.

[chris_sc77]

She needs to stop fuckin'.

[D.Pham00]

you know, this reminds me of the Simpsons where Apu has octuplets, then overshadowed by a woman who was on cloud 9.

[pedagogue]

They shouldn't be allowed ANY gov't assistance....as our tax dollars shouldn't have to pay for her enormous family.

[Dave7393]

Originally Posted by mrpayroll

At first it seemed to me that this was a blessing to this woman.

I never consider that these families are blessed; it's never their intention to have this many children, they're never prepared for it, and the children often have severe disabilities. No thanks.

[Oraphus]

she needs to be neutered like a common cat.

[fujishig]

So the natural rebuttal is going to be... you're going to make the kids suffer for being born (if you deny them gov. aid, if/when they need it)? I agree it would be a good preventative measure, but it's already done...

[mrhan]

Wow, another clown car story.

[Mrs. Danger]

Originally Posted by FlickMan

If I had my way, she'd be denied every option of State/Govt support,.

What makes you think she is going to be getting support from the State?

I wonder if she wants to raise a lot of children, but not to have to have a lot of sex. This is a good way to do that. Get a good supply of young'uns, then tell the men to buzz off.

[FlickMan]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Danger

What makes you think she is going to be getting support from the State?

I wonder if she wants to raise a lot of children, but not to have to have a lot of sex. This is a good way to do that. Get a good supply of young'uns, then tell the men to buzz off.

Cuz thats how it usually goes - and if she dont..I still find it disgusting and atrocious, and I am nowhere near being some sort of Gaia, earth loving treehugging, carbon footprint overpopulation freek. I just find this type of stuff - disgusting

[Giantrobo]

Originally Posted by FlickMan

Cuz thats how it usually goes - and if she dont..I still find it disgusting and atrocious, and I am nowhere near being some sort of Gaia, earth loving treehugging, carbon footprint overpopulation freek. I just find this type of stuff - disgusting

Why? How is this affecting you? It's her body. She wasn't trying for 8 and some women like having babies.

So far there's no evidence that she's on Welfare. I mean I could be wrong but, thus far the info coming out suggests she's married and they both with the help of her parents are doing fine without being on Welfare.

[mrpayroll]

Originally Posted by The Bus

You say this a lot.

And I mean it.

Chris

[mrpayroll]

We were discussing this at lunch and someone mentioned this story.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/...n4764432.shtml

Octuplets' Family Filed For Bankruptcy

BELLFLOWER, Calif., Jan. 30, 2009

(CBS) CBS News has learned that the family of the octuplets born this week outside Los Angeles filed for bankruptcy and abandoned a home a little over a year-and-a-half ago.

Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman says the mother is in her mid-thirties and lives with her parents.

There's been no mention of the octuplets' father, Kauffman observes.

The grandfather, she adds, is apparently going to head back to his native Iraq to earn money for the growing family. He told CBS News he's a former Iraqi military man.

Kauffman reported Thursday, and the octuplets' maternal grandmother now confirms to the Los Angeles Times, that the babies' mother already had six young children.

And a family acquaintance had told Kauffman that two of the six other kids are twins, and the six range in age from about two to about seven.

The mother's name is still being kept under wraps.

But her mother, Angela Suleman, also tells the newspaper her daughter conceived the octuplets through a fertility program.

Suleman told the Times her daughter had embryos implanted and, "They all happened to take."

On The Early Show Friday, the scientific director of an Atlanta-area fertility clinic blasted whichever clinic did the implantations, saying he's "stunned."

Doctors at the hospital where the octuplets were born, Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center in Bellflower, Calif., some 17 miles southeast of L.A., say the patient came to them already three months pregnant.

Asked at a news conference whether fertility assistance should be provided for a mother who already has multiple children, Dr. Harold Henry, part of the team that delivered the octuplets, said, "Kaiser has no policy on that, adding that doctors counseled the woman on her options.

"The options," said Henry, "were to continue the pregnancy or to selectively abort. The patient chose to continue the pregnancy."

Dr. Karen Maples, who also helped deliver the octuplets, read a statement from the mother saying, "My family and I are ecstatic about all of their arrivals."

The woman and her children live in a neighborhood of small, one-story homes, Kauffman reports, all with two-to-three bedrooms at most. Soon, she pointed out, there will be 14 children and at least three adults living in one of the homes -- until the grandfather heads back to his native Iraq,

Kauffman says unanswered questions include where the woman got the fertility treatments and how they were paid for.

On The Early Show Friday, Michael Tucker, scientific director of Georgia Reproductive Specialists, says all these developments leave him "stunned. As the story's unfolded and it's gone from the potential use of just fertility drugs, or misuse thereof, to actual, apparently, IVF (in-vitro fertilization) with transfer of embryos, this is just remarkable to me that any practitioner in our field of reproductive medicine would undertake such a practice."

Tucker, who has a doctorate in reproductive physiology, says it's "absolutely" possible the octuplets' mother got pregnant with them by taking fertility drugs on her own without the help of a clinic, "and that seemed the most plausible scenario, simply because the profession, we're policed by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, has focused so minutely on the fact that we need to reduce the number of embryos that we transfer. We really are all about seeking the one, the one embryo that's going to make the healthy, single-born baby.

"And this kind of multiple plethora excess of babies is too much of a good thing. And it's rather a slap in the face of the whole profession, simply because it's going in the wrong direction.

"And it's unfortunate, because the media pick up on this and seem to go, I think, Arthur Kaplan from UPenn (University of Pennsylvania) said the media tend to go goo-goo gaga over this and, in fact, it's really a bit of a medical disaster."

"Had she walked into a fertility clinic and said, 'Listen, I've got other children, the oldest seven, the youngest two,' co-anchor Julie Chen asked Tucker, "is there any ethical responsibility on the clinic's part to say, 'I'm not going to treat you,' or, 'You know what? This is not a good idea?" '

"Suffice to say," Tucker responded, "I've been in this business for 25 years now. And it's pretty much standard practice in all clinics to have some form of psychological evaluation of the patient. Also, their sociological circumstances. And I'm stunned, actually, that a clinic would proceed to treat a patient in this circumstance and then even to get to perhaps the transfer of embryos and ponder the transfer in, I believe, the lady's mid-30s, a 35-year-old -- she should be receiving two embryos, maximum, as a transfer into her uterus to have had eight transferred is somewhat -- is extremely irresponsible."


© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc

Chris

[Giantrobo]

Yeah isn't he going back to Iraq as a Contractor to help the family? That's what one report said that I heard today.

[mrpayroll]

Wow, and this!

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_w...m_who_gav.html

The Web site momlogic.com quoted a neighbor as saying a sperm donor was used to conceive the octuplets and the six previous children, who range in age from 2 to 7.

It sounds like she doesn't like sex!

Chris

[chowderhead]

Originally Posted by Giantrobo

Why? How is this affecting you? It's her body. She wasn't trying for 8 and some women like having babies.

So far there's no evidence that she's on Welfare. I mean I could be wrong but, thus far the info coming out suggests she's married and they both with the help of her parents are doing fine without being on Welfare.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/...n4764432.shtml

CBS News has learned that the family of the octuplets born this week outside Los Angeles filed for bankruptcy and abandoned a home a little over a year-and-a-half ago.

Very irresponsible. I doubt very much that she could afford to take care of these children without financial assistance. I don't care about the family from Arkansas or the one on the TLC channel because they seem to be able to afford taking care of their children but this woman is probably going to be living off of others for a long long time. Shameless.

[mrpayroll]

This of course is heresay.

http://www.momlogic.com/2009/01/octu...perm_donor.php

Neighbor: Octuplets From Sperm Donor

Friday, January 30, 2009

In an effort to try and find out more about the woman who gave birth to octuplets earlier this week, we went to the home she shares with her parents and six other children in Whittier, California.

What we learned is that her whole neighborhood is buzzing about the possibility that the 33-year-old mother used the same sperm donor to conceive the octuplets AND her other six children.

In an exclusive interview with momlogic, one neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, revealed that the very pregnant young mom was THE hot topic of conversation at the neighborhood Christmas party. He says, "From what I heard she likes kids, she wants a jillion kids. She even lied to the doctors who impregnated her." The grandmother of the octuplets told the LA Times she never expected fertility treatments would lead her to conceive her eight babies. Neither doctors nor family members have commented on whether or not she used donor sperm.

When asked if he knew who the father of the baby is, the neighbor said, "She is single. She used a sperm donor, someone she knew, who donated sperm a long time ago. He donated the sperm for the first six kids and she used his frozen sperm for these one. I don't think the sperm donor knows about these eight kids. He was not involved."

According to the neighbor, the parents are very supportive of their daughter and even lost their own home in an effort to support her. "The parents lost their house supporting their daughter," the neighbor went on. "They actually bought this house for her, but then they lost their house supporting her and her kids and they had to move in with her. And now her father has to go back to Iraq to earn more money to support her. Her father either works as a truck driver or an interpreter [in Iraq]."

As to whether the mother herself works, the neighbor says: "She's a professional student and I want to know where the money's coming from to do this. Maybe she's using her student loans to do it."

The family is very private: "They stick to themselves and you can always hear the grandma yelling at the kids because they are so rambunctious."

Although many think the birth of the octuplets is a happy miracle, the neighbor disagrees. "We should find out who the doctor is and where the money came from because this is irresponsible. The girl seemed a little off -- and I don't want to be paying for her kids."

Chris

[William Fuld]

Originally Posted by Giantrobo

So far there's no evidence that she's on Welfare. I mean I could be wrong but, thus far the info coming out suggests she's married and they both with the help of her parents are doing fine without being on Welfare.

What have you read that suggests she's married?