6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

[Momo]

What else have you guys heard about this?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090130/...ctuplets/print

[diggitydot]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

According to a gossip website:

-This "mother" already has six other children children. Yes, SIX!

- There's four older boys and two girls. And two of those six are twins!

- That's a total of 14 kids!!!!

- AND her husband, a contract worker, is set to return to Iraq!

- And we're hearing the mom is only in her late twenties!

- And she still lives at home with her parents!!!! In a two bedroom house!!!!!!!

http://perezhilton.com/2009-01-30-shocking-new-details


It was on the news this morning and DD2 turns to me and says, "Look, mom...she had a litter, just like kitty!"

[ladymoreta]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

ABC has a story about this: Octuplet Mom May Have Already Had 6 Kids (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=6764771&page=1). Here are some excerpts:

The woman's mother, Angela Suleman, told the Los Angeles Times that her daughter had indeed undergone fertility treatments and that the embryos were implanted last year.

...Neighbors told ABC News that the woman is a single mother in her thirties who already has six other children. It appears the family will live in a three-bedroom house bursting with babies when the octuplets are released from the hospital in an estimated two months.

...Dr. Charles Sophy, medical director of Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, cautioned that giving birth to octuplets would put eight times as much stress on a single mother and pose a daunting task in terms of rearing. "It costs money to raise children -- to raise these kids is probably going to cost about 2-and-a-half million dollars, just to give them basics," he said. "That is not baseball lessons or piano lessons. That is food, clothing or getting to school every day -- that is a lot of money."

A mother of six on welfare would receive approximately $1,645 a month from the government, according to estimates from child welfare services. A mother of 14 would receive about $2,678 a month in support -- not nearly enough, Sophy says, to create a stable, safe environment for 14 children.

The Department of Children and Family Services would worry that, in a house of 14, there would be a lack of attention or that the children would be at risk of abuse or neglect.

I'm just kind of shocked at why she would do this.
- What's going to happen to these 14 kids?
- Should the mother have a psych evaluation?
- Can/should we as a country do anything to prevent this (for example, limiting the number of eggs that may be implanted)?
- Do you think it matters how many kids a woman already has and her ability or inability to afford them?
- Should the government just stay out of it and deal with the consequences if/when the children are reported as being neglected or abused to the authorities?
- Or should they increase the amount of welfare they pay to make sure the mother can create a "stable, safe environment"?

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

I don't know much about infertility treatment, but is it normal to implant 8 embryos?? I thought 2-4 was more the norm. :huh:

[Michele]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

I heard the 6 were all under 7yo....that's fairly close together no? Even with a set of twins.

I hope the rest of the story comes out soon....because I question her mental stability to purposefully add more children/stress to her life when she (?) lives in a small house with her parents (at least she has help?) and a (?) husband who is going to be leaving the country soon....

I can understand the not-wanting-to-selectively-terminate part....but not the "let's implant 8 embryos" part or the "let's hyperstimulate my ovaries" part....I mean, if she does have 6 children under 7 years old, I wouldn't suspect fertility issues.....

ETA: the article says they have a huge house somewhere else?? And that the older children are 7y and younger....

[Bittersweet]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

I don't know much about infertility treatment, but is it normal to implant 8 embryos?? I thought 2-4 was more the norm.

This LA Times article (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 0225.story) states that under the guidelines of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine normally no more than two embryos are implanted if the woman is under the age of 35. It seems absurd to implant 8 embryos in the womb of a woman who has obviously been able to readily become pregnant (with or without fertility treatments). :huh:

This story just disturbs me. It implicates a number of ethical dilemmas, most of which I don’t have the brain power to logically analyze.

[poky]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

...under the guidelines of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine normally no more than two embryos are implanted if the woman is under the age of 35.

This makes me wonder about Kate Gosselin's doctors, or maybe the guidelines have changed in the lat 5 years? AFAIK, she was well under 30 when she had her sextuplets, and I'm 99.9% sure none of them are identical twins.

[Bittersweet]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

I don't think Kate underwent IVF. I think her multiples were the result of fertility drugs (to stimulate ovulation) that worked a little too well in her case. Don't know for sure, though.

[poky]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

Oh oh oh! You're probably right, and I was conflating the two. Never mind, then!

[SuzySunshine]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

So as someone that has been through fertility treatments I'm appalled at this situation for a couple of reasons.

There are a couple of ways this could have happened.
1 - They implanted 8 embryos - HIGHLY unlikely if the doctor has any really doctoring skills.
2 - They implanted less embryos and multiple embryos split - this is very likely and I believe is the case of the famous septuplets (the ones with 7 what are their names??)
3 - IVF was not used and she was overstimulated from the fertility drugs. I've had this happen to me, depending on how you react to the drugs it is VERY possible. HOWEVER, any fertility doctor, again worth their weight in doctoring skills should have told her to cancel the cycle. But if you're not using IVF or insemination you're just having sex like any normal couple trying to conceive and just because the doctor told you not to have sex for the next two weeks doesn't mean patients listen.

The clinic where I go has only one case of quads and that was from a patient that did #3 and didn't listen when the docs told her to not have sex for two weeks.

There are several stories right now so its hard to say what is really going on. But if she's a single mom, on welfare, with 6 other children my question would be what the hell is she doing going through these types of expensive fertility treatments and how is she paying for them???

It really just baffles my mind and I hope we find out that most of this isn't true.

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

I'm assuming she has Kaiser. I wonder if they cover fertility treatments 100% or if it is extra.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

Some states do require that infertility is covered by insurance, I believe CA requires some coverage but not of IVF. IVF is not usually covered by most insurance.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

So according to the update that was on the news she came to Kaiser when she was already in her first trimester, they didn't do the IVF or over stimulation, whichever it ends up being.

[rainbabies]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

I thought it was her mothers husband that was going to iraq???

Eta: with 6 kids already, I'm not seeing the need for treatment. Clearly, she's not infertile!

[SuzySunshine]

Re: 6 + Octuplets = FOURTEEN!!!

I thought it was her mothers husband that was going to iraq???

Yep, that is what the news confirmed last night - they even had a very short interview (if you can call it that) with him.