Will she live in a shoe?

[Like2Plan]

I, too, am stunned by what little I have heard about this situation.
I have no idea how she will care for all those children. How do two parents with high order births? It seems like there is tons of help from the community and there are donations. But, my impression from what I've read of accounts of most parents of high order multiples is they would rather not be in the situation where their kids had so much public exposure and public interest (and pubic opinion about how to raise them ).

I hope the babies will be healthy and everything will turn out okay for them. It seems like the Mom has lied about several things, so I'm not sure what is true. She said that 6 embryos were implanted. If so, then, she must have two sets of identifcal twins in the bunch.

News accounts put the babies birth at only 9 weeks premature which is amazing in itself and speaks very highly of the prenatal care she was given. The birth weight of the babies was between 1 pound, 8 ounces, and 3 pounds, 4 ounces --which is pretty good considering the number of kids she was carrying. Hopefully, the babies will be okay long term.

Public opinion definately is not with the Mom. But, the babies are here and they have to be cared for. The suggestion of govt intervention (and terminating parental rights) does make me queasy. I'm thinking of the Dionne quintuplets. The family was poor, so the state took custody of the children to "protect them" and to see to their best interests. They set up "Quintland" and put the children on display and charged admission...

[Goldy1]

I have one child due, waited after 8 years of marriage and feel 99% sure I am done after this. I can't fathom wanting that many kids.

Who cares, but it is a shame? She will be loaded with a realty show etc which people are hoping does not happen, but let her earn some money. I do not find the whole thing very interesting. So she has a uterus. lol.
I am sure we will hear about those poor innocent children for years.

A lot of what goes in with fertility treatments makes me uneasy. HEaven forbid if I had a son who was donating his sperm with my genes in it for this kind of stuff. I digress..lol.

[PrincessPerky]

While I love children myself, I think there is a reason why God tends to hand you only one or two at a time.

The inherent danger to the babies should have stopped a Dr from implanting so many regardless of what the mom asked. (or her financial state)

As to the future, the libertarian in me says let em sink or swim and hang the consequences, the mother in me would fully support the children in any way possible, and being ripped from each other would not be in their best interest . So it is a no win situation.

[boosami]

It would take steady private donations and volunteers for her to keep this litter.

Who's going to be the first to start the steady stream?

Welcome to The Nadya Suleman Family Website

[cptacek]

She'll get a Discovery Health show and move into a brand new house.

I don't like that someone implanted 8, but once they were implanted, I don't think they should have been aborted. I don't like the idea that the government could tell her she has to be sterilized or that she can't have any more kids, but I do think that CPS should keep a very close eye on the situation and be prepared to move if they find anything out of the ordinary.

[Snowgirl]

In my Canadian ignorance , I'm wondering how she paid for the in-vitro procedure? I thought that US people were getting either private medical insurance ($$$), no insurance because denied or not enough $$, and I've also heard about Medicare (public insurance for whom?). However, from the fertility forums I've frequented, it seems that even good private insurance often do not pay for infertility treatment. Most people save of get a loan to afford this. How does a welfare mom pays for that? I would guess she is on Medicare (please enlighten me is wrong on that), and I'm quite surprised it would pay for such treatments ? Even our public health care here does not pay for most fertility treatments!

[cantretire]

Showgirl - I have the same question!

[Cassandra]

To answer your question, Snowgirl:

Octuplet Mom

She has estimated her in vitro fertilization procedures have cost $100,000.

Suleman has said she saved for the treatments by working double shifts and also used money from a disability award exceeding $165,000 that she received after an on-the-job back injury.

The benefits were discontinued last year.

and

A dozen states, including California, have laws requiring insurance companies to cover infertility treatment, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But California does not require insurers to cover in vitro procedures. It's not clear what type of coverage Suleman has.

(The parts I quoted are towards the end of the article.)

[wincrasher]

It's been reported that she saved for them while working in a mental hospital as well as the disability settlement that she got. She also has student loans for school, but has been spending them on living expenses, and I guess, turkey basters.

[Goldy1]

Fortunately, I never needed any kind of fertility help, but I know one of the insurances I had thru work was called HAP and I remember reading in the plan brochure it would pay for one round of fertility treatment which I thought generous. I don't think any of the other insurances I had would pay and think it would state not covered, and I have heard of people with insurance paying out of pocket so I do not think it is a routinely covered procedure. (which I don't think it should be)
I read somewhere that medicare was spending many millions a year for men to get viagara. I mean, there are citizens who can't afford a health check up or doctor visit, and seniors get some sex enhancement drug! (buy it yourself if you need it)and add to that by the time I retire you will probably need to be 88 to get medicare. Also most of the insurance plans I had wouldn't even cover birth control if I wanted it, which I found ironic b/c if I had a kid it would add to more fees, right? lol. whatever!

[Snowgirl]

To answer your question, [b]Snowgirl[/b

Thanks a lot Cassandra, it helps clear out things. I must admit I hadn't read into depth, was just appalled by it! (I have friends that spend 10k-20k on fertility procedures and they don't even have a kid yet...)

[zetta]

A dozen states, including California, have laws requiring insurance companies to cover infertility treatment,

CA law just requires "root cause" treatment -- for instance, if a man isn't producing sperm and there is surgery that will fix it, the surgery must be covered. It excludes IVF. At the height of the dotcom boom, some employers would pay the extra bucks to get an infertility rider that would cover IVF, but I'm sure it's pretty rare these days.

[GREENBACK]

CA law just requires "root cause" treatment -- for instance, if a man isn't producing sperm and there is surgery that will fix it, the surgery must be covered. It excludes IVF. At the height of the dotcom boom, some employers would pay the extra bucks to get an infertility rider that would cover IVF, but I'm sure it's pretty rare these days.

And CA wonders why they're broke

[Exile]

This is a case of ova-population.

[neatdesign]

I have to admit, I have been glued to this story ever since word leaked out that she already had 6 kids before having the octuplets. It's truly a fascinating case, considering all the ethical dilemmas it raises -- not to mention how much it's (justifiably, in my opinion) angered the American public.

Here are two questions that I've not seen or heard discussed yet, which I've been curious about:

1) According to various sources (I don't know if the mom has confirmed this, though), all 14 children were created using the same sperm donor. Some of these sources have also said that the sperm donor is a friend of the mother's and that the mother hopes he'll join their lives as their father and a part of their family. Apparently his name is on some of the children's birth certificates but not all of them.

My question is: Do you think this man is in danger for having to pay children support for one or more of these children? I'm honestly not familiar with how things go with babies created using donated sperm, but I would've thought it unusual for the sperm donor's name to appear on the birth certificate. Is he on the hook for these children financially? Will she try to get him to support her in some way??

2) Several people have raised the suggestion in this thread (and elsewhere) that the children should be adopted out among multiple families. This raises another ethical issue: Is it right to split up this woman's octuplets and/or set of twins so that they are raised separately? Some people feel that multiples (twins, triplets, etc) should be kept together at all costs, that it can damage them in some way to be separated at birth or in young childhood from their siblings.

~ Jenney