Octuplets in California

Maybe it is my pregnancy, maybe it’s the fact that I’ve always said I want a big family, but I can’t get my mind off of this woman in California with 14 children. I watched her interview on Dateline last night and came away with so many different thoughts.

I agree with her – if I were to find out I was pregnant with 6 babies, I wouldn’t abort any of them. I just can’t be responsible for that.

I think it’s terrible that she says she had a dysfunctional home but can’t really say what the dysfunction was – her mother was a little distant? Her parents can’t be all that bad – they’re there helping her raise all of these kids.

Something about her saying her children are filling a void in her rubbed me the wrong way. And that she doesn’t want to be married, she wants the love of her children. Your children can’t provide the companionship and support that a partner can provide. And they shouldn’t be expected too, nor should they be expected to fill a void you have – you need some help for that.

I am not against single women having children…I don’t think lack of a partner should preclude someone from being a parent. But the extent to which she’s doing it. Single moms of 1 or 2 struggle…but 14.

She kept saying on the interview that when she gets her master’s degree in a year and a half, she’d start working and be able to support her kids.

1. What kind of salary does a family of 15 require – she has no work experience, how could she get that?

2. How can she work 8 hours a day and manage a household of so many children, especially some children with special needs.

And in terms of supporting her family, she’s currently accepting food stamps but she somehow came up with $60,000 to pay for IVF treatments ($10K for 6 pregnancies) and whatever her nose job and botox cost. Nevermind the manicure and tips she was sporting in the interview.

As a mom-to-be, I haven’t had my eyebrows done in 6 months and haven’t gotten a mani/pedi since I was in the Dominican Republic where it cost 4 dollars. I don’t understand how people come up with this kind of money. Something doesn’t add up.

But despite my racing thoughts about the situation, I do wish her and all her children the best. I hope that the doctor who implanted so many eggs in a single, unemployed student with six children is somehow debarred and I hope that her 8 babies don’t have any of the delays or troubles that they are predispositioned to have.

I’m torn because I don’t really believe anyone can tell a woman whether or not to have children or how many children a person can have….but her situation seems so selfish and irresponsible. For her kids sake, I hope her decisions were and continue to be the right ones.