Woman Gives Birth To Octuplets In California

[SewingDeb]

I heard three months in the hospital but I would not doubt she had to stay in the hospital for an extended time in order to carry 8 babies.

 

[Linda7NJ]

After giving this much much thought, I've come to the conclusion that my beef isn't with this woman, it's with the doctor that implanted 8 embryos.

This woman, by all accounts loves her children and cares for them with the help of family. Thousands do the same. Her children aren't being abused or neglected as far as we know. Her choice to not selectively reduce, was hers alone to make.

I wish her and all of her children well

 

[Boyz_Mum]

Thanks Amity for the up close story!

I don't know anything about IVF, but twins are "formed" when the egg splits upon conception- is that right? (I think the doctor knows more than a few embryos were implanted...)

On the local news they spoke about this situation a little bit- grandma really didn't seem thrilled by the attention or the situation. I feel very bad for her as her daughter made choices that obviously affected everyone involved.

 

[SallyLu]

I'm not seeing baby companies breaking the doors down on this one - good - as I'd be (well, I'd influence my kids) boycotting them.

I hope that Diane and Oprah do not make a deal with her.

The cost of all this is unknown so why reward her with goods and sponsorships?

I love children and I wouldn't want any child to go without but enough already!!!

Please - don't flame me as this is my opinion only.

 

[nanny1]

I'm not seeing baby companies breaking the doors down on this one - good - as I'd be (well, I'd influence my kids) boycotting them.

I hope that Diane and Oprah do not make a deal with her.

The cost of all this is unknown so why reward her with goods and sponsorships?

I love children and I wouldn't want any child to go without but enough already!!!

Please - don't flame me as this is my opinion only.

With you all the way SallyLu.

It's one thing to have them and another to bring them up. This whole situation is very,very distirbing to me.

 

[twinkiesmom]

I am no expert - but the only way the embryos could have multiplied is if one or more split into identical twins. I don't believe fertility drugs can cause that to happen. Fertility drugs could cause her to produce a ton of eggs, but they wont cause one embryo to multiply.

Were the other six kids conceived naturally? It doesn't seem like this woman has a fertility issue. (I can't see how an insurance company would pay for cycles enough to conceive 14 children.)

If she was fertile and sexually active, the fertility drugs could enable her to make numerous embryos naturally in addition to the modest number (normally no more than 3) implanted.

Edit...I see from other news sources that they were all IVF...Ahh...Also read that she had blocked tubes....Guess she is very fertile (ovary wise) and made lots of embryos from just one or a few egg retrievals. An extremely fertile person could make 14 embryos in one cycle. The embryo transfers are not as expensive or labor intensive as the egg retrievals. I wonder if she was using two clinics to transfer the embryos....or a nurse on the sly to do the transfer....or she could have taken the frozen embryos to Mexico. I think they're kept in a container of nitroglycerin.

 

[MeoW333]

This may explain some of her motive -- she wants money and attention.

Thanks Amity for the up close story!

I don't know anything about IVF, but twins are "formed" when the egg splits upon conception- is that right? (I think the doctor knows more than a few embryos were implanted...)

On the local news they spoke about this situation a little bit- grandma really didn't seem thrilled by the attention or the situation. I feel very bad for her as her daughter made choices that obviously affected everyone involved.

The grandparents aren't happy at all about it, from reading their comments.

"But when Nadya Suleman's father, Edward, briefly emerged, he did not appear full of the joys of enlarging his family with more grandchildren. "I wish it happens to you people, so you go through hell," he snapped at the media throng as he unloaded bags of shopping from his car. It was later revealed that Edward was considering going back to his native Iraq - where he has worked as a contractor - in order to raise some cash for the family. As the bidding war begins for Suleman's story, the quickest and most likely route to financial security is likely to be a publishing contract."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/01/suleman-octuplets-row

"Medical experts across America have queued up to express their rage. "If this resulted from an IVF treatment, we can say that transferring eight embryos in an IVF cycle is well beyond our guidelines," said Dale McClure, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Meanwhile, Arthur Wisot, a fertility doctor in Los Angeles, raised a further prospect. "I cannot imagine that any of the mainstream practices in the Los Angeles area were involved in this. I would guess... she either went out of the country or went to a practice that flies below the radar," he told a TV reporter."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/01/suleman-octuplets-row

Evidently the grandfather is a type of "military man"

"(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. "
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/30/earlyshow/health/main4764432.shtml

So i'm guessing the "contractor" work the grandfather is doing is the dangerous kind.

 

[nanny1]

Were the other six kids conceived naturally? It doesn't seem like this woman has a fertility issue. (I can't see how an insurance company would pay for cycles enough to conceive 14 children.)

If she was fertile and sexually active, the fertility drugs could enable her to make numerous embryos naturally in addition to the modest number (normally no more than 3) implanted.

Apparently none were conceived naturally. the same donor is the dad for all 14 children. His name apparently appears on some of the birth certs.

 

[Kat]

Hello Everyone!

Only one person (besides Tricia) on this site knows where I live....now, you'll all know.
I am a little more than a mile from the woman who gave birth to octuplets.

I can't give my opinion on the subject of IVF/octuplets/ethics, etc. because I haven't really formed one yet.
I will tell you what I know/saw.

I was outside gardening when I heard a helo, very low.
Helo kept circling for a little over an hour.
An area close, we call "Snake Hill", is notorious for having gang member trouble & some gun/shooting activity so Sheriff and media helos aren't unusual around here.

The Helo sighting yesterday was different.
A short time later I had to go to Rite-Aid to pick up a 'script for my Mom and saw news vans with tall poles, all driving in the same direction.

Being the good WebSleuther that I am (and also, very nosy :crazy: ) I followed.

I ended up at the end of the curve to the street where the Mom of the octuplets resides.
What I saw was total chaos with news vans and cars lining the street, 2 helos overhead, people packed in small groups and disturbing signs being held up by protestors; anti-abortion and anti-welfare signs.

I 'assumed' the people standing on porches and on front lawns were standing on their own porches and lawns, therefore, were neighbors.

I tried to blend in, tried to look like I belonged and had a purpose for being there. Unfortunately, that only lasted about 15 minutes, if that (memo to self: Refresh Sleuthing skills).

I mosy'd up to 3 adults standing close to a porch on a front lawn.
I said "Hi. I'm from around the curve". Which wasn't a total lie as that's where I parked my car.
They in turn were very nice, said Hi and pretty much let me stand there with them without telling me to leave....all of us continued to just stare at the chaos around us.

I heard, NOT Fact, just what I heard while standing with the group near the front porch:
The family in question pretty much keeps to themselves..not overly neighborly/visiting/coffee visits.
They do wave "hi" and smile.
There are 4 little ones that will play out on the front lawn of their own home once in awhile but most of the time they play indoors or in the back yard.
A neighbor (not one of the people I was standing with) who has spoken with the family told a neighbor I was standing with that the Mom of Octuplets was using her Workers' Comp win to support herself and her children.
The Octuplets Mom has never been married that any of them know of.
Up until a few years ago she worked (or did something-school?) outside the home, leaving every day at the same time and returning every evening about the same time, Monday - Friday.

Media seemed very in-your-face with some of the neighbors living closer to the home. To me, I got the impression the neighbors didn't want to comment.
I saw several neighbors backing away from microphones, waving their hand as if to say "no".

Two police/Santa Fe Springs Sheriff cars pulled up to the area I was at, parked their cars in a T on the street...to block any other cars from coming into the area, got out and started walking up to people asking if they resided there.

One of the people I was standing with asked if I had my ID on me. The look I gave, obviously told them I didn't or that I didn't belong there.
I'm not very good when confronted and know a lie is about to come out of my mouth.
Exit, stage right.

My only thought on the way home was about the young children in the home.
I hope the media has the common courtesy and respect not to film those little ones and not to stick a microphone in their little faces trying to get them to answer questions.
Those little ones didn't ask for this.

Hello Amity and thank you for sharing your experience of that day. It was fascinating. I agree, that caution should be used when the media investigates this situation because of the children that are in that house. I hope that they were not aware of the commotion outside their home and that it did not scare them. I also hope that other children that reside on that street were not frightened of the swarm of media and helo's.

I need to go back and reread all of the links that have been provided since I last visited this thread, last night my Husband had GR on and he said a short blurb about them but I didn't get to hear it because my Mother had called.

OT She and Daddy are in KY and the circumstances there from the ice storm are pretty bad. My parents are fine and have power now though, big relief.

 

[Mr. E]

Maybe she's trying to get her own show on TLC. TV seems to have been good to the Duggars and the Gosselins.

 

[Kat]

Maybe she's trying to get her own show on TLC. TV seems to have been good to the Duggars and the Gosselins.

Mr. E my Husband made the same suggestion. He wasn't kidding either.

 

[shannon2008]

I really do not like this story. I have nothing against IVF, especially for families that desperately want children and have trouble getting pregnant.

My issue is that this woman seems to be a "permanent student" who is relying on her parents to pay for her children. My issue is that she already had 6 children, one of whom is autistic, to raise.

Fertility medicine should not be used for someone who already has this many children in my opinion. I've heard stories that this woman lied about having kids to the doctors but that didn't make sense because a doctor can tell when a woman has had pregnancies or not. However, either way, the doctors responsible should have used better judgement.

I worry about this woman's ability to take care of this many kids and make sure that they receive the attention and stability they deserve. Most of all, I worry that the autistic child I read that she already has may not get the extra care needed because of the diverted attention to all of these newborns. Seriously, I would question ANYONE's ability to parent that many children as a single parent, no matter what their upbringing or income.

Not to mention the extra stress now put on the parents. At their age they should not be in a position to raise their daughter's kids. I feel sorry for the Dad having to go back to work.

It turns my stomach to think, even for a second, that someone would have children as a moneymaking opportunity. IF this is what this was....she should be ashamed of herself.

 

[bogeygal]

All I can think of is the nursery rhyme....

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.

She had so many children she didn't know what to do....

(Hope she gets help!)

 

[MeoW333]

I really do not like this story. I have nothing against IVF, especially for families that desperately want children and have trouble getting pregnant.

My issue is that this woman seems to be a "permanent student" who is relying on her parents to pay for her children. My issue is that she already had 6 children, one of whom is autistic, to raise.

Fertility medicine should not be used for someone who already has this many children in my opinion. I've heard stories that this woman lied about having kids to the doctors but that didn't make sense because a doctor can tell when a woman has had pregnancies or not. However, either way, the doctors responsible should have used better judgement.

I worry about this woman's ability to take care of this many kids and make sure that they receive the attention and stability they deserve. Most of all, I worry that the autistic child I read that she already has may not get the extra care needed because of the diverted attention to all of these newborns. Seriously, I would question ANYONE's ability to parent that many children as a single parent, no matter what their upbringing or income.

Not to mention the extra stress now put on the parents. At their age they should not be in a position to raise their daughter's kids. I feel sorry for the Dad having to go back to work.

It turns my stomach to think, even for a second, that someone would have children as a moneymaking opportunity. IF this is what this was....she should be ashamed of herself.

I agree, with her relying on her parents to pay for the children; they are at the age where they should enjoy their retirement, not have to bring up their daughter's brood of 14 children. She should have stopped way before the first 6. Unbelievable

"A neighbor of the Sulemans is speaking out - and she claims the father of the octuplets is a sperm donor, and is also the same man who donated for Nadya's first six kids. She also believes he's unaware that his sperm is still being used and doesn't know about the octuplets. The neighbor says Nadya is a professional student,' and even hints that she may have used her student loans to finance the fertility treatments."
http://www.fafarazzi.com/gossip/457676/neighbor-claims-octuplets-mom-used-a-sperm-donor

How on earth is it legal for someone to use student loans to pay for fertility treatments?? Isn't that fraud??

Here is more from the neighbor and the same article:

"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.'"

It is so sad, they should have gave the woman a serious mental health evaluation after the first 6 children. There are so many children that need to be adopted out there, and this woman is getting fertility to have 8 more children that they can't even afford. sickening and all at the price of her children!:furious:

 

[SallyLu]

I wonder when this woman worked at a fertility clinic?

I do tend to think student loans/grants financed this.

 

[Boyz_Mum]

Do any of you think the state will look carefully into this situation in regards to her "financing" the treatments with student loan money or looking after the welfare of the children?

The story has ruffled some feathers, that's for sure!

Maybe DiscoveryHealth can do a show in regards to the mental mindset at work with this woman...

 

[lucky181]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01312009/news/nationalnews/whoa__momma____152878.htm

"Suleman's father Ed, a Palestinian immigrant who hails from Jerusalem, brought bags of cookies and diapers into the family's three-bedroom house yesterday. He said the eight new bundles of joy were "God's wish," and added, "I have no idea what to do with God."

According to one neighbor, Suleman used the same sperm donor for all 14 kids. The donor was an acquaintance, who after getting married recently, asked her no longer to use his sperm, a neighbor said. "But she did it anyway," the neighbor said."

Yikes, I'd hate to be this guys new wife.

 

[JBean]

Interesting that most of the leaked information from our local new sources that I reported early on is almost all accurate.

 

[YellowDog]

I'll bet this woman has been playing the "system" like a fiddle for years. I feel sorry for the grandparents to have all of these illegitimate children thrust on them.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Maybe she's trying to get her own show on TLC. TV seems to have been good to the Duggars and the Gosselins.

Like I said...Lottery Tickets. All 14 of them!

I believe we will find she religiously watched both shows and decided to follow suit. The show with the octuplets, Jon and Kate, recently had them speaking about the perks which are coming from allowing the reality series.

I blame the Doc, too. His/her ethics should be questioned and he/she should be held accountable for allowing a woman with obvious issues to proceed.