Friday, February 6, 2009

What is "Octuplet Mom" thinking? Seriously.

To tell you the truth, I haven't wanted to touch this story with a 10-foot-pole. If only because, at least in the beginning, I thought it's a mother's/family's business as to how many kids they decide to have. Not mine.

However, as details of the now-famous "Octuplet Mom" emerge, the story becomes less about how great it is that these multiple births (and a bonus baby) survived and more about, What the heck was this woman thinking? What were her doctors thinking? Who's going to pay for this? And, yes they survived, but what will their quality of life be -- for all 14 of those children ages 7 and younger?

(A couple of my LA Moms Blog peeps weighed in here and here about the 33-year-old Southern California woman who gave birth Jan. 26 to eight babies via fertility treatments.)

Yes, it still may be none of my business in the end (even as a California taxpayer who might be helping to foot the bill). But, honestly, it's hard taking care of one toddler. I can't imagine the demands of eight newborns in addition to six other kids who also need their parents.

Nadya Suleman claims, as you can see in the NBC "Today" video above, that she wants to be a mother who can spend quality time with all her children. And she's hoping to support them once she has her master's degree. Well, doesn't she kinda need to support them now? And who's going to take care of them once she goes to school? And once she's out in the workforce? The parents she now lives with? When does quality time get sacrificed for just plain providing -- something parents of fewer than 14 kids worry about every day?

And don't even get me started on the ethics of the doctors who implanted six embryos in a young woman who already had six children and no job.

I'm honestly baffled. In the beginning, I was amazed by the medical science that allowed eight babies to be delivered (with one having been a surprise) healthy ... and, I hope, happy.

Now, I'm only worried about the Pandora's Box medical science has opened and questionable physicians helped birth.

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