Octuplets' mother already has twins, four other children

[Adsos Letter]

Source: LA Times
By Jessica Garrison, Andrew Blankstein and Jeff Gottlieb
January 30, 2009

The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week already has six young children and never expected that the fertility treatment she received would result in eight more babies, her mother said Thursday.

The woman, who has not been publicly identified, had embryos implanted last year, and "they all happened to take," Angela Suleman said, leading to the eight births Monday. "I looked at those babies. They are so tiny and so beautiful."

She acknowledged that raising 14 children is a daunting prospect.

"It's going to be difficult," Suleman added, noting that her daughter's father is going back to Iraq, where neighbors said he worked as a contractor, to help support the expanded family.

According to her account, when her daughter discovered that she was expecting multiple babies, doctors gave her the option of selectively reducing the number of embryos, but she declined.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-octuplets30-2009jan30,0,5460225.story

[Eurobabe]

1. this is sick

medical malpractice and terminal stupid = deadly combination

[Adsos Letter]

2. yeah...14 kids...and her husband has to go to Iraq to be able to support them.

[jannyk]

7. Not 'husband' - it's her father that's going to iraq - no mention of Husband yet. nt

[Adsos Letter]

8. you're right...I misread that...

[TorchTheWitch]

9. Heard on the news she's a single mother... there's no husband n/t

[progdonkey]

5. Yeah, already two-year-old twins and three-year-old?

This is clearly a woman with severe mental issues. Who has a third child, then a few months later goes for yet another, and after that pregnancy turns out to be twins (so now it's THREE babies!), she waits just a year before thinking, "Hmm, fertility drugs. That sounds cool. No, don't abort any of the eight that have taken."

I'd bet there's some sick psychology going on here regarding feeling abandoned by her Iraq-bound husband, so she's filling the hole up with babies.

Some women do that with cats--and they're called "crazy cat ladies." She's worse, since human babies require just a little more care, attention and financial support.

:banghead:

[Le Taz Hot]

15. Of course there's no way of knowing the psychology

but I know a person that has been OBSESSED with having babies. Daughter of a good friend who JUST got a hysterectomy (she's 44). She had 9 children with 6 different men -- only 2 of whom stuck around to make sure their progeny were safe. Of the 9, NONE have lived with her their entire childhoods, though she currently has 3 at home (the youngest is a year-and-a-half). The problem is that she's not real interested in them after they get about 4 years of age. Lucky for her, I guess, that her oldest is starting to pop them out (age 17) so she'll have an endless supply of endless grandBABIES.

Just a note: the man bound for Iraq is her FATHER. There's no mention of the baby daddy.

[progdonkey]

18. ah, misread that detail...

I missed who they were talking about with "her daughter's father." Also I notice it's not "her (the interviewee's) husband." Are they divorced?

What a wonderful environment for 14 little children.

There really should be laws against having that many children. I know, it's easier said than done, and the Religious Right especially will be pissed about it, but there's no reason for anyone to have more than one natural birth in a two or three-year-period.

What I hate especially, though, is when these freaks thank God for the "blessing" and "miracle." It's like, these women are really Frankenstein's monster: scientists with drugs have turned them from humans bearing one or two children to a cat with a litter of 8 underweight kittens. God obviously didn't want you to have children.

This case is like a merger of the two separate strains of freakishness: you have the psychological sickness of always wanting to be pregnant and have a baby (like that Duggar baby machine that used to be a woman, which has spit out 17 kids--with one on the way! As always), and the fertility drugs gone wild like the McCaughey septuplets.

[LisaL]

23. The OP article says its the woman's father who is going back to

Iraq.

[KittyWampus]

27. it's her FATHER not her husband going to Iraq

[undeterred]

38. Yeah, women-

we're all nuts. :sarcasm:

[progdonkey]

47. what's with the attitude?

I wasn't saying anything about women in general. The only reason it would seem limited to women is because--and here's the shocker--men can't give birth. :eyes:

[undeterred]

49. Then why throw in the jab about women and cats?

Do you really think there aren't men who have the same problem? The tone of your posts sounds like you have contempt for women.

[progdonkey]

50. I have contempt for women...

...who treat their bodies as baby factories, with no consideration for how much harder it will be on the children they either already have or are about to have. Unless you want to tell me that that applies to an overwhelming majority of women, I'm not saying anything about women in general.

And the "Crazy Cat Lady" is, yes, a stereotype, but I was using it only to refer to these women who have literally litters of children. Would it soothe your sensitive nerves if I said instead, "These women who have litters of children are like people who have lots of cats and can't take care of them"? There's no real difference between the statements, it's just that "Crazy Cat Lady" is a known "character."

"Do you really think there aren't men who have the same problem?"

No, which is why I never said that. Maybe you should stop dreaming up statements that others haven't made. It'll help prevent you from making other unfounded accusations of misogyny.

[undeterred]

51. Nice post, serial killer.

:crazy:

[progdonkey]

52. um, okaaaay....

So, I criticize women who have litters of children at a time, and that not only makes me a misogynist with contempt for ALL women, but now I'm a serial killer? Were you sniffing glue when you read my post?

Oh, by the way... http://www.americablog.com/2009/01/octuplet-mom-wants-2m-from-oprah-hires.html

It turns out that it's not looking like she has a psychological problem or something of the sort that would make her a pitiable person. Instead, she's asking for $2m for media interviews.

To put it more clearly for you: an unemployed, unmarried, uneducated mother of six purposely had 8 more children so she could be a media "star" like the other fertility freaks.

You don't have contempt for a person like that?

[meowomon]

3. OK, this is fertility most foul

What is so god damned important about her genetics that would place these eight lives at risk?

[Adsos Letter]

4. I admit to having no clue...

there must be some kind of psychological need she is trying to meet.

The days of needing 14 kids to work the farm are long gone...

[LisaL]

22. Add to this, fertility treatments (where embryos are implanted into a woman)

aren't cheap. I imagine those kind of treatments cost 10th of thousands. Would insurance even pay for those?

[Darth_Kitten]

42. WHY would she even need fertility treatments?

With 6 kids already, gee was she having real difficulty getting pregnant?

Yikes.

[LisaL]

53. Apparently she is infertile. Her fallopian tubes are plugged,

and the other six are also from IVF.

[Lasher]

6. Well whoulda thunk it?

Fertility drugs can cause multiple births? No kidding, did somebody just discover that or something?

So many people today are being responsible about having kids, having two or three at the most. And yet we still see people turning themselves into clown cars.

[ima_sinnic]

10. why the hell didn't this breeding machine adopt some children?

"fertility treatments" should not even be an option as long as there are orphaned children around the world. so this woman thinks her DNA is so goddam special the world should now make way for her brood, who don't even have a real father -- note that it is the GRANDFATHER who is going to Iraq to "help support" them. I will bet any amount of money that the taxpayers will also be "helping" to support them, and the entire planet pays a price, too, in terms of resources, especially in the U.S.

[Undercurrent]

11. There is plenty of craziness to go around in this story.

The woman, her husband, and the fertility doctor. All around the bend.

Sheesh!

[theHandpuppet]

12. The woman lives with her parents in a three bedroom house

No mention of a husband. The woman's father is going back to Iraq to help support this brood.

[Undercurrent]

14. Your right.

I read the part about the father going back to Iraq, and thought it was the father of the babies. But it's not. "Her marital status is unknown."

[shaniqua6392]

13. Who in the hell implanted that woman with 8 embryos when she

already has 6 children and is a single parent living with her mother? Sickening. I wonder if she is on government assistance and we all just paid for this irresponsible behavior.

[Nay]

16. Who the hell indeed? IIRC, fertility treatments are expensive -- who

paid for them? Is it now just a matter of showing up at the dr's door and offering money? No psych test or home interview? Jesus. This is so messed up on so many levels.

[shaniqua6392]

19. They only typically implant between 1 and 4 embryos,

with 2 embryos being the standard most used. Irresponsible doctors and and irresponsible mother. I just heard that the hospital said there are donations pouring into the hospital. Meanwhile, a homeless shelter has had to close their doors because donations have fallen to critical levels. Meanwhile, a food bank has empty shelves. I could go on and on. Why would anyone give a donation to this irresponsible woman? If I find out she is on Medicaid, I am going to scream. There are millions of single parents out there who have lost their jobs that need our help right now.

[treestar]

24. Something strange is going on here

Doesn't sound like they are wealthy, and why did the doctor do it? I bet some weird facts are going to start coming to light.

[get the red out]

17. The worst part

is that the media is so in love with the whole Frankenstein pregnancy issue, using the word "miracle" enough to make you puke. This isn't a miracle it is a mad scientist's wet dream.

[EnviroBat]

29. Exactly!

It's a sick fucking experiment. "Miracle"... My god, we are surrounded by stupid.

[LisaL]

20. Why would a doctor implant 8 embryos into a woman?

8?

[treestar]

21. She was having her 7th child, but needed help to get pregnant?

Fertility treatment for a woman with 6 children - odd. Or did she need infertility treatment each time?

[juno jones]

25. I am aghast that a doctor would perform such a treatment

for a woman with 6 children.

Seems unnessesary and I'm postive there's something weird at work. Maybe she craves the attention given the Duggars.

[cmf]

26. This makes me so angry I could spit nails

The selfishness of some people never fails to amaze me. What type of lifelong problems are those children going to have because of being born prematurely? What the hell type of doctor implants a woman with 8 freaking embryos?

[EnviroBat]

28. Fucking stupid...

6 fucking kids wasn't enough?

Over populate the Earth! Retarded.

[DemBones DemBones]

30. What happened to "Her body, her choice"???

:shrug:

[geek_sabre]

31. these discussions don't exactly help the "pro-abortion" labels that the

anti-choice folk place on us.

[DemBones DemBones]

34. No, they don't. nt

[KittyWampus]

32. Is it really legal for someone who can't support themselves to have IVF? Is it really legal

to have IVF when you've already got 6 kids? Is it really legal to have EIGHT embryos implanted?

[DemBones DemBones]

35. Apparently it is. nt

[ima_sinnic]

41. duh--the planet cannot sustain this kind of "choice"

gee, why shouldn't every woman go out and give birth to litters at a time? do you have any understanding of the concept of "carrying capacity"? do you think the resources of the earth are unlimited and infinite? should every woman say the hell with it, I don't care if there isn't enough to go around, I want the glory and the attention, I want to have the most babies of anybody in the world?

In the grand scheme of things, species that devote energy to parental care, such as humans and other mammals, do NOT have large litters, because the proportion that will survive is very high. And parents can devote only so much time to individual offspring (ask the Duggars' children how they feel about being used as free babysitters for their younger siblings). Species like fish and insects that release massive numbers of eggs do so because only a fraction will survive.

"Playing god" by artificially creating multiple fetuses is downright stupid. This woman obviously could care less about anybody but her own selfish little self. The only way those children are going to "make it" is with lots of input from others in the community (which I guess she just assumes she will get and "deserves")--people whose time and money could be better spent helping children without parents and other worthy causes instead of 8 sickly infants whose mother wants to be some kind of breeding machine.

Breeding for cash is quite popular now--you do watch TLC, right? She can follow the example first set back in the 30s by the parents of the Dionne quints and CASH IN! (but don't ask the kids how they feel about being exploited as sideshow freaks or anything ...)

Hey, a baby mill is more profitable than a puppy mill! Now that puppy mills are illegal and being shut down, start a human baby mill!

I just got a very urgent plea from our local homeless shelter. Here in Maine it seems that donations are down at a time when homeless people can literally freeze to death, and I would guess that donations are down everywhere in this depressed economy. Should I send them a note and say, gee, I can't donate any more for several years because a woman "chose" to give birth to 8 premature infants, artificially, without even a husband? What if something happens to "grampa" over there in Iraq? My tax dollars better not be paying one red cent for these little frankenbabies. She wanted them, she can damn well pay for them herself, and make sure every single one is educated enough to make a contribution to society.

[dendrobium]

44. Women can do what they want with their bodies.

If this woman were naturally conceiving these children I would have little problem with it. The issue is the ethics of the fertility doctors who would consider this woman a suitable candidate for treatment. These octuplets would not have been possible without medical intervention and therefore it is not unreasonable to question the ethics of this situation. These Doctors need to answer for this experiment that they have conducted.

[blogslut]

33. Dr. Nancy Snyderman was not happy

I realize she's a teevee doctor/performer, however, she was trying really hard (on MSNBC) to express that this mother's situation was not optimal. She came just shy of calling the decision irresponsible. The MSNBC lady kept trying to paint the story as miraculous and old Nancy was having none of it.

[DemBones DemBones]

36. Perhaps she's envious of the money fertility specialists make.

They didn't create or deliver those octuplets for free.

[blogslut]

37. No. They didn't.

I'm sure they made their tidy sum and moved on to the next sucker.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

43. Perhaps, as a Doctor...

she understands the incredible risks this woman took going to term with 8 fetuses? They were born premature, underweight, and will spend the first few months of their lives in a NICU. A woman's body is not made to feed 8 fetuses/infants, it is that simple. That is biology speaking, not some one's moral judgement about the situation. This woman chose foolishly to ignore nature, and her chldren are already paying the consequences.

[Blaze Diem]

39. Poster child for the Evangelicals...Palin will have her standing by her side

along with Joe the Plunger..Campaign 2012.

[kskiska]

40. Family filed for bankruptcy & lost a home 1 1/2 yrs. ago

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.

more…
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/30/earlyshow/health/main4764432.shtml

[frylock]

45. idiocracy

[stuntcat]

46. I am glad my life is half over

The rest of this century will be a NASTY DISASTER, worse every day. The apes should be so ashamed of making more and giving the next 90 years to innocent ones.

[Mari333]

48. it just keeps reminding me of apu