For the most part, I've been steering clear of the debate about whether or not a woman with 6 kids should receive fertility treatments for more children.
Today, another article came out, in which the grandmother of the newborn octuplets spoke out about her daughter, finally identified as Nadya Suleman, age 33. In the article, the grandmother says that all 14 of her children were conceived by in vitro fertilization, because the mother is unable to conceive naturally.
A friend of the mother also stated that the mother once said she gets paid for it, when asked how she can afford to go to school, and get so many in vitro fertilizations done. One of my concerns over this matter is that right there- getting paid.
Because she was implanted with at least 8 embryos, I've often wondered if it was done with the intent to try and break records with having as many live births as possible. With in vitro, it's common to implant several fertilized eggs- usually 3 or 4, because they don't always take, and it's an expensive procedure. This has lead to an upswing in multiple baby births, but it also gives an in fertile couple the chance to have a baby of their own.
Of the 6 children the mother already has, at least one son is autistic. The Grandmother has warned her daughter that she will not be taking care of the children anymore when she comes home from the hospital with the 8 new children.
In a prior article, the grandmother stated that her husband, the grandfather of the children, will be going back to Iraq where he can find work as a contractor to help support the family.
It was also finally revealed that the mother is, in fact, single, and has been with each pregnancy. She has been going to school on and off through her adult life, and plans to continue towards getting a masters degree now that the octuplets have been born.
My own thoughts on this are varied- first off, I think that with 14 children, the children will not get any quality amount of one on one time with their mother, especially as there is no father in the picture, and she'll be spending time at school.
I have to wonder if she and the doctor who has handled all of her in vitro fertilizations did so with a goal like this in mind, and wonder if perhaps, the doctor wasn't paying her to do this. I also wonder if they weren't going for a record on live births and a record in number of viable embryos implanted into the same woman. I have a feeling that the mother stands to earn a lot of money off endorsements, books, and probably even a movie deal.
I believe wanting to have a child is up to the woman, and that she should have every right to reproduce as she wants to. If that meant having 18 kids like the Duggar family, or having just 1 child like many familes, it's her choice.
In this instance, though- the unrelenting use of fertility procedures, having to have her parents support her and her children, continuing an extremely high risk pregnancy with disregard to her other children, or the effects it will have on her newborns... I think she was being selfish in this instance.
What are your thoughts on this? Below is the article in which the grandmother speaks out.
LOS ANGELES – The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week conceived all 14 of her children through in vitro fertilization, is not married and has been obsessed with having children since she was a teenager, her mother said.
Angela Suleman told The Associated Press she was not supportive when her daughter, Nadya Suleman, decided to have more embryos implanted last year.
"It can't go on any longer," she said in a phone interview Friday. "She's got six children and no husband. I was brought up the traditional way. I firmly believe in marriage. But she didn't want to get married."
Nadya Suleman, 33, gave birth Monday in nearby Bellflower. She was expected to remain in the hospital for at least a few more days, and her newborns for at least a month.
A spokeswoman at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center said the babies were doing well and seven were breathing unassisted.
While her daughter recovers, Angela Suleman is taking care of the other six children, ages 2 through 7, at the family home in Whittier, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
She said she warned her daughter that when she gets home from the hospital, "I'm going to be gone."
Angela Suleman said her daughter always had trouble conceiving and underwent in vitro fertilization treatments because her fallopian tubes are "plugged up."
There were frozen embryos left over after her previous pregnancies and her daughter didn't want them destroyed, so she decided to have more children.
Her mother and doctors have said the woman was told she had the option to abort some of the embryos and, later, the fetuses. She refused.
Her mother said she does not believe her daughter will have any more children.
"She doesn't have any more (frozen embryos), so it's over now," she said. "It has to be."
Nadya Suleman wanted to have children since she was a teenager, "but luckily she couldn't," her mother said.
"Instead of becoming a kindergarten teacher or something, she started having them, but not the normal way," he mother said.
Her daughter's obsession with children caused Angela Suleman considerable stress, so she sought help from a psychologist, who told her to order her daughter out of the house.
"Maybe she wouldn't have had so many kids then, but she is a grown woman," Angela Suleman said. "I feel responsible and I didn't want to throw her out."
Yolanda Garcia, 49, of Whittier, said she helped care for Nadya Suleman's autistic son three years ago.
"From what I could tell back then, she was pretty happy with herself, saying she liked having kids and she wanted 12 kids in all," Garcia told the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
"She told me that all of her kids were through in vitro, and I said 'Gosh, how can you afford that and go to school at the same time?"' she added. "And she said it's because she got paid for it."
Garcia said she did not ask for details.
Nadya Suleman holds a 2006 degree in child and adolescent development from California State University, Fullerton, and as late as last spring she was studying for a master's degree in counseling, college spokeswoman Paula Selleck told the Press-Telegram.
Her fertility doctor has not been identified. Her mother told the Los Angeles Times all the children came from the same sperm donor but she declined to identify him.
Birth certificates reviewed by The Associated Press identify a David Solomon as the father for the four oldest children. Certificates for the other children were not immediately available.
The news that the octuplets' mother already had six children sparked an ethical debate. Some medical experts were disturbed to hear that she was offered fertility treatment, and troubled by the possibility that she was implanted with so many embryos.
Others worried that she would be overwhelmed trying to raise so many children and would end up relying on public support.
The eight babies — six boys and two girls — were delivered by Cesarean section weighing between 1 pound, 8 ounces and 3 pounds, 4 ounces. Forty-six physicians and staff assisted in the deliveries.
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Comments: 39
she had kids already
she cant afford to take care of 14 kids, the state will, and like you said, she has alot to gain with this birth.
This is human lives she is playing with
and it is unfair to these kids
Call this one Nadya, the octuplets, plus 6. This is America: Land of the Free and home of the dollar.
I think the outrage should be directed at the medical community. What kind of interviews did they give to people seeking these treatments? Can a person with psychological problems get them? How many embryos is the limit? The answer to that last one has been provided already. It seems that the guidelines for a woman her age is 4 to 5 but they can split.
If a woman age 20 decides to go for 14 being single she can get there. There are no law to stop that person and there ought not be any. It's not the business of the government (The people) to legislate who gets how many and how. We can sit around and call her names all day, it really is not our business.
No. But I am sure she has seen Jon and Kate plus 8 and the Duggard family with 17 kids. They are making money off of having kids not the other way around.
She will end up better off financially than she is today because America is interested.
Praying for all 14. I hope they grow up and turn out alright despite coming to a world where ALMOST EVERYONE is already betting against them.
Boy, they can feel love. You people should hate less.
I guess she had my 2.2 for me. lol
I am praying for the children to be healthy.
I wonder when the mom will talk. I would like to hear what she has to say.
It sounds to me like the grandmother is at her wits end, and does not want to take on the stress of raising 14 grandchildren who are under the age of 7, and rightly so.
I also think that I could never publicly air my grievances with my child like this... how horrible.
That said, having 14 children in a span of 7 years is a huge risk and I am appalled that any Dr would offer this option!
I do believe that this family will need public assistance for at least the next 15 years or so... that is literally ammounting to over $100,000 in food and medical alone, not counting any cash assistance she ends up getting.
I truly believe that humans were not meant to give birth to litters. There are so very few natural multiple births because it is supposed to be that way, leave the litters of 5+ to dogs and cats, they are better at parenting that many anyways...
6 kids under the age of 7, one of which is autistic, and the youngest two who are toddlers and twins, must be extremly time consuming and hard to do. I think the grandmother is looking at the newest 8 as more than she can help out with.
It seems like if I remember right, the first parents who gave birth to 6 got help with their kids from families in the area all volunteering to help with day to day things. I imagine this woman will likely have similar offers.
I question her decision to make her family so large, though, knowing she can not handle the day to day raising on her own. She's relied heavily on her parents to help raise them. If the grandfather is heading to Iraq, and the grandmother is taking a step back, she's going to be overwhelmed all too quickly. 1 newborn is hard enough- 8... I mean, she'd constantly be needing to feed one of them- as soon as one is fed and full, it's on to the next. By the time she finishes with number 8, number 1 would be hungry again.
It's going to be hard. Very hard. She's going to need help- any parent with even a set of twin newborns knows the work is much harder than with one newborn. She's in over her head with this, I think. She has very little by way of a support system for her family now.
I am not saying that CPS does everything perfectly, but how will it be possible for her to competently take care of that many kids who are all so young. Even just one autistic child needs a significant amount of care that he probably isn't getting. Very unfortunate that she seems to be more concerned about her NEED for more children as opposed to their NEED for parents who can take good care of them.
I'm sorry, but if you knew before getting pregnant that you couldn't afford it, and already have 6, why in the world would you try for more?