How many is too damn many?

Family: Octuplets' mom has 6 other kids
'They are so tiny and so beautiful,' newborns' grandmother tells paper

WHITTIER, Calif. - The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week has six other children and never expected to have eight more when she took fertility treatment, her mother said.

Angela Suleman said her daughter expects a big challenge raising 14 children. The good news, she said, 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 a hospital in Bellflower but has requested that doctors keep her name confidential. 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, including twins.

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.

'We have a huge house'
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."

Suleman said her daughter had embryos implanted last year, and after finding out she was pregnant with multiple babies was given the option by doctors of selectively reducing the number of embryos. The woman declined.

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

Worldwide attention
Dr. Harold Henry said the woman was already pregnant when she came to Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center, and she was counseled on the option of aborting some of the fetuses. Doctors had been expecting only seven babies, but an eighth was born in the cesarean delivery.

The six boys and two girls, the second octuplets born alive in the United States, have garnered worldwide attention as media have attempted to find out more about the mother and her family. Hours after media gathered outside the Whittier home, Kaiser issued a statement on behalf of the mother requesting privacy.

"Please know, in our own time, we will share additional details about this miraculous experience," the statement read. "The babies continue to grow strong everyday and make good progress. My family and I are ecstatic about all of their arrivals. Needless to say the eighth was a surprise to us all, but a blessing as well."


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

Seven of the infants were being tube-fed donated breast milk. One of the boys was expected to begin feedings Friday.

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

The birth of the octuplets already has raised eyebrows, with fertility and reproductive experts saying that such high-risk pregnancies should be avoided.

"When we see something like this in the general fertility world, it gives us the heebie-jeebies," Michael Tucker, an Atlanta-based clinical embryologist and leading researcher in fertility treatments, told the Los Angeles Times.

"If a medical practitioner had anything to do with it, there's some degree of inappropriate medical therapy there," the Times quoted him as saying.

Ethical questions
Asked by a reporter whether medical ethics may have been breached and whether fertility assistance was provided to a mother who already had multiple children, Henry replied: "That's still a private, personal question."

"Our patient was counseled regarding her options for pregnancy. The options were to continue the pregnancy or selectively abort. The patient chose to continue the pregnancy," Henry said. "Our goal is to provide the best possible care for our patients, no matter what the situation or circumstances."

Some fertility specialists have said the children face increased health risks because they are octuplets and born nine weeks premature. At birth, they ranged between 1 pound, 8 ounces and 3 pounds, 4 ounces.

Doctors say they advise against higher-order births, but acknowledge the decision is not theirs to make.

"Who am I to say that six is the limit?" said Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, medical director of Fertility Institutes, which has clinics in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York City. "There are people who like to have big families."

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."

The last octuplets known to have survived birth in the United States, six girls and two boys, were born in Houston in 1998. One of the babies, a girl, died one week later.


The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28927339?GT1=43001

I'm just saying...if she already had 6 kids, apparently she does not have any issue conceiving....so why do In-Vitro? and she's living at home with her parents...so that also leads me to believe she could not take care of the once she already has and needed help.

She na even married and who was the doctor that did this? He needs to be slapped.

For some reason, I think she did this for publicly or money and for some reason I think she's a black female.


ok let me stop...we will find out soon enough..."the meida" has a way of bring all the dirt to the light

Grandma: Octuplets mom obsessed with having kids

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.

She really figure to do this just to get aid from the government and other Organizations then she'll sit home without working..

This case is gettng deeper and deeper aas the facts unfold.
The mom not only has 6 other kids but all were concieved by invitro. Her mother says she is obsessed with having children and has been since she was a teenager.

I think it was a bit unethical on the part of the doctors to implant her with so many embryos knowing her history which includes the fact that she has no husband or support other than the grandma who says, once the mom comes home, she is outie.

It took like 48 doctors to deliver those babies and since they are premature, they will need at least a couple years of intensive care. They are here now so we'll should all pray for all the help they need to come to them.

Just seems like some real thought should have been given to this decision by the doctors involved. The other countries that do in vitro have guidelines that restrict them from implanting more than two embryos in one patient.
This is a first for the US so they maybe should really look into some regulations.

Octuplet mom defends ‘unconventional’ choices
Nadya Suleman denies being selfish, says she holds each baby 45 minutes

By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 9:45 a.m. ET, Fri., Feb. 6, 2009


The Southern California woman who gave birth to octuplets last week told TODAY’s Ann Curry in an exclusive interview that growing up as an only child, she had always dreamed of having “a huge family.” She also denied charges that she was irresponsible to have so many babies — especially with six other children already at home.

“People feel, you know, this woman is being completely irresponsible and selfish to bring these children in the world without a clear source of income and enough help to raise them,” Curry told Nadya Suleman in a segment that aired Friday on TODAY. “The world outside is saying, ‘What are you doing?’ ”

“I know I'll be able to afford them when I'm done with my schooling,” the 33-year-old single mom replied. Calm, poised and articulate in the glare of the media spotlight, Suleman added: “If I was just sitting down watching TV and not being as determined as I am to succeed and provide a better future for my children, I believe that would be considered, to a certain degree, selfish.”

‘I love my children’
Suleman, who said she holds each premature infant 45 minutes each day, said she was hoping to have one more child after having six previous children, all of whom are under the age of 7. She said she had six embryos implanted, two of which resulted in twins. Curry reported that although Suleman has received disability payments from the state of California, she said she refuses to accept welfare payments. Suleman and her children live with her mother, Angela Suleman.

“All I wanted was children. I wanted to be a mom. That's all I ever wanted in my life. I love my children,” she told Curry.

Curry said that Suleman said she intends to return to college in the fall to complete a master’s degree in counseling. Suleman had worked in a state mental hospital from 1997-2006, but spent much of the time after 1999 on disability after injuring her back in a riot at the facility.

Suleman said she is a good mother.

“I'm providing myself to my children. I'm loving them unconditionally, accepting them unconditionally,” she told Curry. “Everything I do, I'll stop my life for them and be present with them. And hold them. And be with them. And how many parents do that? I'm sure there are many that do, but many don't. And that's unfortunate. That is selfish.”

‘Phenomenal risk’
Suleman said she was fully aware of the risks of carrying eight fetuses. “Those are my children, and that’s what was available,” she said. “It’s a gamble.”

In a separate segment, NBC’s chief medical editor, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, said the gamble didn’t end with the live births of all eight babies.

“That risk is not only to mom — her uterus can rupture and she can die — there’s a phenomenal risk to eight babies. Eight babies, by definition, cannot be born normal weight and robust,” Snyderman told TODAY’s Matt Lauer after watching Suleman’s interview with Curry.

She explained: “They’re going to watch these kids very carefully for eating problems, growing [problems], and then seizures, jaundice, heart problems, lung problems, blindness, developmental delays — there’s a laundry list of things. Long term, because some of these children will be physically or mentally challenged, there’s a looming price tag out here. The hospital bill alone will run $1.5 to $3 million. Forget about getting to college; just to get through special-needs stuff — it’s going to have to come from somewhere, either the taxpayers of California or her family or her church or the hospital. But she can’t do it alone.”

NBC contributor and psychiatrist Dr. Gail Saltz added that there will be emotional issues to deal with as well. “Undoubtedly these eight children are going to have issues: at the minimum, the issue of neglect,” Saltz told Lauer.

“Obviously, she’s saying she’s going to love them, but there are 14 children and [only] one of her,” Saltz continued. “There’s going to be an absence of some emotional needs. There will probably be developmental delays at best in these children; maybe learning disabilities. There are going to be major issues that they’re going to need various therapies for.”

Childhood dream
Suleman said she went to the same in vitro fertilization clinic to have all 14 of her children. All were conceived with donated sperm from the same father, Suleman said.

Suleman told Curry that the father is a bit overwhelmed right now, but she is hoping that he will want to get to know his children when he is ready.

“How did an only child end up with 14 children?” Curry asked Nadya Suleman.

“That was always a dream of mine, to have a large family, a huge family, and I just longed for certain connections and attachments with another person that I really lacked, I believe, growing up,” she replied.

The entire exclusive interview will air along with exclusive video of the babies on TODAY Monday, Feb. 9, and on Dateline at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10.

“Describe what you felt you lacked within,” Curry said.

“Feeling of self and identity,” Suleman replied. “I didn't feel as though, when I was a child, I had much control of my environment. I felt powerless. And that gave me a sense of predictability. Reflecting back on my childhood, I know it wasn't functional. It was pretty dysfunctional, and whose isn't?”

Saltz later opined to Lauer that Suleman’s statement reveals emotional issues. “I think she’s in a bit of denial here and quite defensive, because in fact she does talk about the fact that this has been her life’s mission: to have babies, have babies, have babies. There’s an obsession to this, and I think it’s quite disturbing,” the psychiatrist said.

“When you don’t have a connection in childhood, you go see a therapist,” she added. “You don’t have 14 babies.”

An ethical debate
While the world celebrated the birth of fairly healthy octuplets, public sentiment has shifted as it's been revealed Suleman also has six other children, ages 2 to 7, and is a single parent who conceived all 14 of her children through in vitro fertilization.

The divorced single mom told Curry she tried to get pregnant for years before finally succeeding.

“I went through about seven years of trying, through artificial insemination, through medication. And all of which was unsuccessful. And then the first IVF procedure from that facility — it was successful. And then I just kept going in.”

While it hasn't been revealed which doctor implanted eight embryos at once into Suleman, the octuplets' birth has sparked an ethical debate in the medical community.

Dr. David Adamson, former president of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, said he was bracing for some backlash against his specialty.

In 30 years of practice, “I have never provided fertility treatment to a woman with six children,” or ever heard of a similar case, said Adamson, director of Fertility Physicians of Northern California.

‘Most sought-after mom in the world’
Suleman was released from Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center in the early morning hours on Thursday, avoiding reporters and photographers, said hospital spokeswoman Nancy Tovar-Huxen. Suleman's publicist, Mike Furtney, told The Associated Press that she was staying at “an undisclosed location” where she was confident she could avoid reporters and photographers.

Later in the day, she sat down for her interview with Curry. NBC said that the network did not pay Suleman for the interview.

Furtney said the mother was still evaluating potential offers, including possible book and TV deals, and might do other interviews later.

”There are lots of potential opportunities out there and she's looking at them carefully,” he said.

Meanwhile, hospital officials said the six boys and two girls born to Suleman on Jan. 26 were in good condition Thursday. The eight babies are the longest known surviving octuplets in the world.

Furtney said Suleman is “feeling great” and looking forward to being reunited with her octuplets, who are expected to remain in the hospital for several more weeks.

“She's happy to be out of the hospital, although she misses her children,” he said. “She can't wait until they join her.”

Joann Killeen, Furtney’s partner, told TODAY earlier this week that her client is being deluged with offers for book deals, TV shows and other business proposals, but has not decided what she might do other than care for her children, her newly hired spokeswoman said Monday.

“She's the most sought-after mom in the world right now,” Killeen said. “Everyone wants to talk to her.”

The country's first set of octuplets was born to Nkem Chukwu of Texas on Dec. 20, 1998. A week later, the tiniest of the infants died of heart and lung failure. The surviving seven siblings celebrated their 10th birthday in December.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The entire exclusive interview, including the first video of the eight babies, will air on TODAY Monday, Feb. 9, and on Dateline at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10.


© 2009 MSNBC Interactive. Reprints
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29038814/?gt1=43001

I quess that is her business if she wants all those babies. But it look like she didn't take the mother she lives with into consideration at all.

I live with my moms and pops right now in transition to a new home. I worry or at least try to be considerate of not tirning too many lights
on or running up any bills...what I look like bringing 8 more kids into the home that I already brought 6 in. Come on now.

Grandmother Is Upset Over Octuplets
http://news.aol.com/article/octuplets-grandmother-upset-over/319875?cid=12

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."

anybody been following this? I saw part of the interview with her and her monther...it was a mess

The lady obviously has some deep denial issues. I saw part of that interview too. Her mother ain know what to to do. I hope people don't start hating on her too bad cause those kids will need all the help they can get.

They can't help it that their mom is little bit jacked up. The lady that ha sthe 8 kids o the reality show says she had 50 people a week from her church and family helping her with those kids. And she and her husband made good money and could afford those kids.

Howin the world did ths woman expect her on little mother to help her handle 14 kids?

WELL SHE ALREADY STARTED GETTING THREATS FROM PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY SAY ITS THEIR TAX DOLLARS THAT WILL GO TOWARDS TAKING CARE OF THOSE KIDS. MAYBE CHINA STYLE WILL HELP HERE. 1 PER FAMILY. LOL