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Neighbors of the cow were interviewed on an LA radio talkshow, and one neighbor, a nurse, commented that she believes it's entirely possible that she probably crossed the Mexican border for the drugs, used a Mexican doctor to GET pregnant, then transfered her care to the US for the pregnancy. Yes, Medicaid (Medicare?) is involved somehow.
Now we'll have to foot the bill for all the physical problems these babies will surely develop. Stupid ****.
Just to give her the benefit of the doubt, she MIGHT have just gone through a divorce or her husband MIGHT have just passed away. Those words are coming from my dh, not me, lol.
They will need to come up w/ a good and catchy name for their families reality tv show. "John & Kate plus 8" is already taken. Wonder if they have any other children? Hmm, "Jim and Lynn and 8 surprises". Or how about "100 Fingers and 100 Toes". That is if mom, dad and all 8 kids each have 10 fingers and 10 toes.
This comment from the doc cracked me up:
"She's a very strong woman, so she probably will be able to handle all eight babies," said Dr. Mandhir Gupta, a neo-natologist who cared for the infants."
What doc in his right mind would say THAT! There is not a SANE woman around that could handle EIGHT screaming babies at ONE TIME all hungry at the SAME TIME! Her "saving grace" is that she will be going home soon and the babies will be in the hospital for at least 2 months.
[*]If you are having that much difficulty conceiving... crud, this one's going to get me in trouble, even more than the pro-choice comment... maybe you shouldn't have children.
Based on your previous posts, I'm guessing this was written with some facetiousness.
If it's not, here's my take: no one I know going through IVF or IUI treatments doesn't deserve to know the joy of having children and experiencing parenthood simply because they couldn't conceive naturally. After a miscarriage, countless negative pregnancy tests and 7 IVF cycles, I finally gave birth to my children last year. My husband and I grateful that ART exists to those of us who cannot conceive the traditional way but do recognize that it needs to be utilized with responsibility.
************
My first reaction to the news was "Ugh...here we go again...the media is going to glorify HOM (high order multiple) pregnancies/births again and everyone is going to wonder if they're going to be the next Jon & Kate". I cannot stand "Jon & Kate + 8" for how that couple has pimped out their children for a TV show instead of giving them as normal a life as possible. Anyway...
I am truly heartbroken that the octuplets are going to experience pain and undergo test after test, hooked up to IVs and tubes while in NICU, months in the hospital and who knows what kind and how many years of PT once they're released from the hospital. Not to mention the probability that none of the 14 children will ever have the individual attention they certainly deserve.
Going on the assumption that the mother took something like Clomid, her case seems to have been horribly mismanaged. I doubt this is IVF - no reputable RE I know would ever transfer 8 embryos - and even if only 4 were transferred (again unlikely especially considering her reported age-range and the fact that she already has 6 kids), the likelihood that all 4 split in some fashion to become 8 embryos is highly unlikely. A single embryo splitting into two identical embryos has a <2-3% chance of occurring.
RE's on The Today Show explained things in terms of the risks, consequences, etc...quite well:
Again, I'm just going on the assumption that she took fertility drugs under the supervision of a doctor. I think it is extremely irresponsible to get pregnant with 8 fetuses. There are ways to prevent this before implantation - canceling a cycle or converting to an IVF cycle where the number of embryos can be controlled.
I do have to wonder, however, if she obtained her IF drugs legally or if she just blew off her monitoring visits (they do ultrasounds to check the maturity of follicles and blood work to check hormone levels every day/every couple of days depending on the practice). The ASRM has some strict guidelines that are generally adhered to so it seems that this could have been a case of the doctor being totally irresponsible and horribly mismanaging a cycle or the patient not following what she was directed to do.
Everyone here knows how wacko people can be. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that she thought by getting pregnant with and giving birth to HOMs that she'd wind up the beneficiary of a "Jon & Kate" existence.
Call me a cynic.
Last edited by Sampaguita; 01-29-2009 at 10:55 PM..
Mother Who Lost Octuplets Still Feels Pain
Thursday, January 29, 2009
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Just a few days after an unnamed woman in Southern California gave birth to octuplets, Mandy Allwood remembers what it is like to give birth to eight babies.
In fact, Allwood, of Warwick, England, who gave birth to octuplets on Sept. 30, 1996, remembers thinks of her babies every single day.
Within three days, all eight of the octuplets had died, the Daily Mail reported.
Click here to read Dr. Manny’s blog on the dangers of giving birth to eight babies.
Allwood’s octuplets were just like the ones in California – six boys and two girls - which made her feel all the more emotional when she learned of their birth Tuesday morning from a friend.
“I hadn’t even the vaguest inkling there was someone out there pregnant with octuplets, so I struggled to take it in at first,†she told the Mail. “But when it did sink it, all those memories flooded back. . . . Of course I’m thrilled for this lady, but it makes me feel like such a failure myself.â€
Allwood said she was unmarried at the time she conceived the babies and describes her relationship with the octuplet’s father as “destructive.†Her ovaries were polycystic, which can cause infertility, so she chose to use fertility drugs.
After a series of miscarriages, Allwood said she became reckless and starting taking the drugs without a doctor’s supervision.
Looking back, Allwood said if she were under a doctor’s supervision in those early stages, she might have chosen the method of selective reduction in order to give her babies a chance at life.
Kind of supports the possibility that this patient might have been reckless and taken the drugs with no doctor supervision as well.
There is no excuse for this. Who in their right mind would give her fertility drugs? That MD needs to be disciplined by the State Licensing Board. or have his hospital privileges revoked. It makes me sick to think of what the total cost of this fiasco will be, you know this woman will never pay a dime. And meanwhile thousands more Americans lose their jobs and health insurance each week.
I agree. This just doesn't sit well with me. I hope the thoughts in my head are really off base. I'd get banned if I posted them.
So you "feel sorry" for my TWO children, whom I had responsibly, raised on my own without assistance, and who are both college-educated and hard-working members of society now, and neither of whom has produced any illegitimate children or ever drawn government assistance of any kind...
...yet the fact that this single woman on assistance irresponsibly chooses to have fourteenchildren doesn't seem sad to you?
Good priorities there. These are the kids you should be crying over.
Where was it stated that she is on assistance? Is this confirmed or speculated? All I've seen is just that she lives with her parents in a house on a cul-de-sac and that her father is a contractor in Iraq to help support all the kids.
And for the record, my daughter is the light of my world, but I agree with SuSuSushi that birth does not qualify for the term "miracle". I don't think that something that happens every day to everyone on Earth can be considered miraculous. Spontaneous remission from a deadly disease - miracle. Childbirth - important, wonderful, cherished, but not a miracle.
So you "feel sorry" for my TWO children, whom I had responsibly, raised on my own without assistance, and who are both college-educated and hard-working members of society now, and neither of whom has produced any illegitimate children or ever drawn government assistance of any kind...
...yet the fact that this single woman on assistance irresponsibly chooses to have fourteenchildren doesn't seem sad to you?
Good priorities there. These are the kids you should be crying over.
Who cares if you never used assistance. I use assistance and I am not ashamed of it!!! I worked for years, still do, and my husband works as well. I see a part on our paychecks that takes out for the money I am using for assistance.
Why do they have assistance? If there are so many people like you who think it is so wrong and irrisponsible, why have it? If the people didn't vote that way, how did it come to be?
There are things we learn in kindergarten. One being that we share. Simple kindergarten stuff.
And everyone's "shoulds" make no difference. The assistance is there for us to use it. Yes, there are SOME people who work for cash or not at all and do drugs and get assistance and pop kids out every couple years. So maybe the PARENTS don't "deserve" any compensation for bringing children into this world, but the kids DO. And that is all that matters.
Again, where did it say she was on assistance? And how much? obviously NOT housing, she has a home!!!!!
I'm not crying over your kids. Great, your kids are hard-working and educated. Well, I'm sure my kids will be too. The only difference is, I call my little perfect daughter an "angel" and a "miracle." And YOUR kids are miracles in my eyes. Maybe not by the typical definition but none the less, miracles.
I don't feel the need to say anything to you anymore.
By the way, I have my annual check up today. I have Illinois All Kids Insurance "assistance," I pay a $2 co-pay. And next month, my daughter has her 1 year well baby check up. And it is free. I'm so glad I worked since I was 14 and paid my taxes and even more grateful my husband busts his a** 70 hours a week and pays taxes as well, or that "assistance" might not be there
And I have no problem with MY taxes supporting a billion babies born out of wedlock from uneducated mothers who may or may not have ever worked a day in their lives. I love babies. I love people. Everyone and Everyday is a miracle to me
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Her "saving grace" is that she will be going home soon and the babies will be in the hospital for at least 2 months.
That MD needs to be disciplined by the State Licensing Board. or have his hospital privileges revoked. It makes me sick to think of what the total cost of this fiasco will be, you know this woman will never pay a dime. And meanwhile thousands more Americans lose their jobs and health insurance each week. 
