I don't really know what to say. Either way someone is going to be offended I'm sure. But umm… what was she thinking?? What was that fertility doctor thinking?? I finally forced myself to read the full story yesterday. WOW! So her first 6 kids were all conceived via IVF. The octuplet's were conceived via IVF. The doctors *claim* that they did not implant that many and they split. That IS highly possible. I wonder how many were really implanted.
I totally understand loving motherhood, pregnancy, loving your chidren, but again I say WOW!!! I have 4. I can barely afford them. This girl is living with her mother, unmarried and unemployed. Now, I will say that I am impressed by all the accounts that she is an excellent mother. AND I am really impressed by the fact that she has a degree in child and adolescent development from California State University and she was pursuing her Master's. So even with that many kids she was trying to better herself. I think that is awesome. But, I also think if she wanted more kids she should have waited. She is still very young and there was plenty of time. Oh well, To each her own though right? What do you think?
I too would have concerns that the urge to have so many kids & the maternal health risks associated with that, do imply a welfare risk to the children that most of us would judge unacceptable. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Please take it as read, however, that I don't feel that I have the right to judge this womans choices-many would say that after having non-identical twins I too was a little foolhardy risking another pregnancy.
She may have her own reasons for choosing to have that MUCH babies at the same time. The question is how well will she be able to raise them? It is no little matter raising kids nowadays, that is, financially.
BTW, http://search.yahoo.com/404handler?src=news&fr=404_news&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fdoubletwinz.com%2F2009%2F02%2F04%2Fso-what-is-your-opinion-on-the-octuplet-mom&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fs%2Fap%2F20090131%2Fap_on_re_us%2Foctuplets already returned a 404 error.
She may have her own reasons for choosing to have that MUCH babies at the same time. The question is how well will she be able to raise them? It is no little matter raising kids nowadays, that is, financially.
BTW, http://search.yahoo.com/404handler?src=news&fr=404_news&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fdoubletwinz.com%2F2009%2F02%2F04%2Fso-what-is-your-opinion-on-the-octuplet-mom&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fs%2Fap%2F20090131%2Fap_on_re_us%2Foctuplets already returned a 404 error.
I’m concerned for several reasons. First, while I know you don’t have to be married to have children, having a partner in some form helps. Adoption agencies recognize this, making it much more difficult for a single person to adopt.
Second, when you adopt or take in foster children, they look at your income, household space (bedrooms) and ability to care for the children. It sounds like the fertility clinic doesn’t do any type of screening.
Third, I have three friends who have gone through in vitro. Only in one case, mostly because of their employer, did insurance cover the entire cost. For the other two friends all the associated treatments were very expensive. How did this mom afford all the treatments?
Finally, if my math is right, she started trying to have a baby at 19. After years of trying (since she wasn’t married I wonder who she was trying to get pregnant with?) she had the first in vitro at 26. Now, at 33 she has 14 children. While I do believe there’s no limit on love, and if a woman naturally had 14 children I’d sympathize and try not to judge, I wonder why at some point the fertility clinic didn’t question her motivation? Is it similar to people who undergo too much plastic surgery? As long as the patient pays the doctor performs? You can’t adopt 14 children with no visible means to care for them.
I’m not normally suspicious, but I do wonder about her boyfriend. While working at a local newspaper I encountered several cases where the woman claimed there was no father, but what she really meant was she didn’t list a father on the birth certificate so the state had to care for the children. In some cases the father was even living with her (but if he’s not on the lease for low-income housing in PA they had to say he wasn’t living there.) This way the state pays everything for the children, she is home with them and can collect unemployment or disability and the father is out working collecting a paycheck they get to keep for themselves.
I just have a feeling there’s much more to the story we don’t know about.
I’m concerned for several reasons. First, while I know you don’t have to be married to have children, having a partner in some form helps. Adoption agencies recognize this, making it much more difficult for a single person to adopt.
Second, when you adopt or take in foster children, they look at your income, household space (bedrooms) and ability to care for the children. It sounds like the fertility clinic doesn’t do any type of screening.
Third, I have three friends who have gone through in vitro. Only in one case, mostly because of their employer, did insurance cover the entire cost. For the other two friends all the associated treatments were very expensive. How did this mom afford all the treatments?
Finally, if my math is right, she started trying to have a baby at 19. After years of trying (since she wasn’t married I wonder who she was trying to get pregnant with?) she had the first in vitro at 26. Now, at 33 she has 14 children. While I do believe there’s no limit on love, and if a woman naturally had 14 children I’d sympathize and try not to judge, I wonder why at some point the fertility clinic didn’t question her motivation? Is it similar to people who undergo too much plastic surgery? As long as the patient pays the doctor performs? You can’t adopt 14 children with no visible means to care for them.
I’m not normally suspicious, but I do wonder about her boyfriend. While working at a local newspaper I encountered several cases where the woman claimed there was no father, but what she really meant was she didn’t list a father on the birth certificate so the state had to care for the children. In some cases the father was even living with her (but if he’s not on the lease for low-income housing in PA they had to say he wasn’t living there.) This way the state pays everything for the children, she is home with them and can collect unemployment or disability and the father is out working collecting a paycheck they get to keep for themselves.
I just have a feeling there’s much more to the story we don’t know about.
I too would have concerns that the urge to have so many kids & the maternal health risks associated with that, do imply a welfare risk to the children that most of us would judge unacceptable. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Please take it as read, however, that I don’t feel that I have the right to judge this womans choices-many would say that after having non-identical twins I too was a little foolhardy risking another pregnancy.
I don’t particularly like the idea of people continuing to use IVF after you have that many children, and then to blame it on a form of OCD. I have OCD, and if I were to do something that destructive to my system repeatedly, then chances are it would raise some alarm bells somewhere and I would be stopped. I get wanting to have kids, especially when you think you can’t have them, but she should have been more responsible.
I don’t particularly like the idea of people continuing to use IVF after you have that many children, and then to blame it on a form of OCD. I have OCD, and if I were to do something that destructive to my system repeatedly, then chances are it would raise some alarm bells somewhere and I would be stopped. I get wanting to have kids, especially when you think you can’t have them, but she should have been more responsible.