Bloggers, columnists react to California octuplets

WE shared the CBS News coverage with you after a woman in California gave birth to octuplets last week. At first, she was anonymous. Now, more and more information is coming out, and it's raising all kinds of questions in the media and on the Internet. I'm sure there's more information to come, but many bloggers are reacting to what's already known.

Lisa Belkin at Motherlode at The New York Times wrote Update on the Octuplets.

I covered medical ethics for years for this newspaper, and wrote a book on the subject, and while I have not directly heard this mother’s story nor that of any doctors involved, at the moment I cannot think of a scenario that would ethically allow the implantation of eight embryos in a woman who already had six children. Actually I can’t think of scenario that would allow the implementation of eight embryos ever. There is just too much risk here — to the mother, to the newborns, even to the emotional needs of the existing children. And we need not even get started on the expense.

Britgirl at Like It Is wrote On Octuplets, Having 14 Kids and Other Stupidities of our Times.

No, what’s ridiculous is that this mother who

• is single, with the stability of the husband being in doubt (I’m not sure whether the husband referred to is the grandmother’s husband or the mother’s. A little confusing)
• is apparently without two brain cells to rub together
• is selfish and irresponsible
• has apparently just declared bankruptcy, so… let’s see now, won’t have money
• lives with her grandmother, so hasn’t got her own place

and…

has six OTHER children ranging from 7 to 2 years old…

…had fertility treatment. W.T.F?

Nechama Brodie at The Hunter Gatherer at The Times in South Africa wrote Mother of octuplets already has six kids.

The birth of the multiples – the first time ever that all eight have survived (a previous set of octuplets, born ten years ago, lost one baby; seven survived) – has prompted wide debate over the use and abuse of fertility treatment, and whether or not it is ethical to allow a woman to carry so many foetuses. I can’t help but think, in this “reality TV” world we live in, people are desparate to become “celebrities”.

Caltechgirl at Not Exactly Rocket Science wrote Keep your laws off my octuplets!

You can't have it both ways, either people get to choose the family they want, or they don't.  And if they don't, who makes the rules?  Based on what?

Darragh at This is what I do wrote Mother of octuplets has six other children.

I can only imagine what this woman must be thinking or planning. Of course in the back of my mind the Kilkenny man is thinking "All she needs now is one more for a hurling team."

Deanna at Deanna's Ramblings wrote Octuplets Make Fourteen.

As I said, I get the want and need to have a child.  But what’s the point where more is too much?  What’s the point when the problems outweight the benefits?  I really don’t know what the answer is.  But this situation strikes me as unhealthy.

Meagan Francis wrote octuplet opinions.

But the truth is, I haven’t been able to muster up much of an opinion on this at all. It’s just too bizarre, with too many unanswered questions. First of all, I don’t feel like it is really a story about big families at all. It’s more a story about medical technology and the ethics of using it.

Karla at Baby G's From the Start wrote Did You Hear About the Octuplets?

So, I do think it is a little wild that a women who already has 6 kids at home, is bringing home another 8....and is going to have the time and supply to breastfeed them all. It kind-of makes my situation seem like a breeze. I mean if she can do that, how could triplets be a challenge? I assure you my friends, it is a challenge. 14 kids seems downright impossible. Especially if 8 are preemies, which carry many challenges alone.

Deacon Greg Kandra at The Deacon's Bench wrote Octuplets: pro-life to the max.

UPDATE:As a couple commenters have noted, there are serious moral questions about how this was done. And I have to add: there's something just plain peculiar about this whole thing. A woman with six children (including a set of twins) has IVF to have more, knowing full-well she could have a lot more...and she may not even be married?

It's...odd. To say the least.

Monica Mingo at Rantings of a Creole Princess wrote Single Mother of 6 + Fertility Drugs + Octuplets = Single Mother of 14.

I don't quite know what to make of this.

Initially I'm like...is it anyone's business if she has 14 children?

Then I'm wondering...if she already has 6...why would she want more if she's a single mother?  But again...is it anyone's business?

I guess the fact that she's a single mother of 6 already makes one question her choice of taking the fertility drugs right?

Should people be up in arms thinking about her receiving welfare for these children?  Should the factor that the welfare she would receive  not be enough to cover the basics be taken into consideration?

Should someone even GET welfare for a child they had by taking infertility drugs?????????

THIS ONE IS ALL OVER THE PLACE! 

Rachel at Rachel's Tavern wrote Let's Not Get Too Excited About the Idea of Octuplets.

While multiple pregnancies may be fascinating or interesting, the challenges shouldn’t be glossed over, especially when we are talking about high order multiple pregnancies. From child care issues, to medical and financial challenges the difficulties and risks are numerous. Parents, doctors, journalists, and the general public need to grapple publicly with what these HOM births mean for society. Unreflective celebration and freak show voyeurism seems to be the dominant way of viewing HOM pregnancies at this time.

Bonnie Rochman at TriangleMom2Mom in Raleigh, N.C., wrote Eight Babies!?

One baby is a handful. Twins must be nuts, triplets absolute insanity. More than that is hard to fathom.

Yes, babies are a blessing. But eight of them? That’s blessing overload. Eight is such a big number, it’s comical. Except it’s not. Who’s going to take care of all those babies?

Who’s going to pay for the wipes and the diapers (newborns often leave their mark on up to 10 diapers a day for the first three months; that’s 7,200 diapers in the first 90 days), the clothing and the car seats, not to mention the passenger van required to accommodate those car seats?

Who’s going to feed them? And how?

Room for Debate at The New York Timeshad a perinatologist, a medical writer, a reproductive-genetic physician and an author weigh in on the issues with Eight Is Enough.

Aisha Sultan of Parents Talk Back at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote Mother of octuplets already had 6 kids, lives with parents.

This is the height of selfishness and abdication of parental responsibility. The doctor who implanted a woman with six young children with all those embryos should be charged for all the medical care the tax payers will foot in this case.  Instead of showering this woman with free diapers and formula, social services should keep a close eye on the health and welfare of a these 14 children. 

Expect to see many more freakshows like this and others as doctors and women without a conscience race to push the envelope. Who will be the first to have a dozen teeny babies? Who will be the first 90-year-old to give birth? Have we become completely immune to how unnatural these stories are?

This is medical technology gone bad, very bad.

Dr. Amy Tuteur of The Skeptical OB wrote Who helped a mother of six conceive octuplets?

Something does not add up here. A young, presumably unmarried woman, living at home with her parents, who already has 6 children is exceedingly unlikely to be diagnosed with infertility, is unlikely to be treated for infertility even if she is having difficulty getting pregnant, could not have had 8 embryos placed in her uterus by in-vitro fertilization and would almost certainly be counseled to avoid intercourse in any cycle where 8 follicles were developing. Add to that the fact that the woman showed up for care already pregnant with octuplets and suspicions are raised that this pregnancy was conceived in a deliberate effort to have a spectacular outcome, including any publicity and money it might generate.

What do you think?

 

Related posts CBS News report: A very special delivery as US mum has octuplets

also blogs at Deep Muck Big Rake. Write her at becky_handsfull@yahoo.com.

Comments

[meagan]

I think this is exactly the kind of thing that makes it so hard to be a family with high order multiples. More people making assumptions about my family, more people thinking HOMs are "an event" rather than just a real family trying to make their way through the world (or the store, or the library, or where ever) in peace!

But I suppose, bring on the octuplets, maybe then my triplets won't seem so fascinating!

[Caffeinatrix]

I think whatever medical professional was party to this should have their license revoked. Fertility treatment is meant to help people conceive when they cannot do so otherwise. To set a clearly fertile woman up to possibly conceive and subsequently birth EIGHT babies is unethical. Even if she WANTED to carry eight babies, it's wrong. Every single one of those baby's future well-being has been compromised by this irresponsible decision.

[ilinap]

This is wrong on so many levels: the mother, the doctor. Motherhood in and of itself is a selfless act, but what she has done is utterly selfish.

[Linda]

Becky, thanks for pulling this reaction together - I can't help agreeing with the commentators who say that, however much we may disagree with the choice that this woman has made, enforcing limits on how many children we can all have, has very sinister connotations.

And I agree with Meagan. It's really important that families with higher order multiples can get on with their lives as much as any other family, without somebody they have never met sitting in judgment and starting to talk about 'freakshows' - some people have more than one baby at once and even when you have 'just' two at once, you can feel like you are public property when you venture out in public.

Personally, I find remarks such as calling someone's children a "litter" very hurtful indeed.

There have been reports in the UK press this weekend about moves to advise families they should 'stop at two' - as a mum of two children I can't see how that will should be imposed on anyone else.

But yes we should all be encouraged to take responsibility and what puzzles me is why a woman who already had six chidlren had access to fertility treatment.

[Carrie]

To be honest, I'm still in shock that these babies exist. A few weeks ago, I read that the average weight of newborn triplets was 3 pounds, 12 ounces (I was trying to find out the average weight of newborn twins at the time, if you're wondering).

These octuplets apparently weigh 1lb 8oz to 3lb 4oz, and I'm thinking that triplets would have been born later than the octuplets were.

How did she do it? What did she eat? And to think I've been worrying myself stiff over the increased risks in a twin pregnancy!