Birth of a Nation

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week or so, then you already know about the woman who gave birth to octuplets via in vitro fertilization (IVF)--even though she already had six children.

The birth has raised a storm of drama and controversy, among them:
--why did this woman want even one more child, when she's living at home with her parents and unemployed?
--what doctor was crazy (or unethical) enough to implant more than the usual two embryos?
--who's going to end up paying for all this?

Like a lot of people, I could care less about how many children this woman has; but when the burden of their care will more than likely fall on me as a U.S. taxpayer, then that makes it my business. The woman, while she allegedly has a college degree, is not working; lives at home with her parents (and her father is doing consulting work in Iraq in order to support this suddenly enlarged family--even after they've already filed twice for bankruptcy). Her mom is raising her other six kids while she's recovering from the birth of the eight. Also, word on the curb is that she likes to file workers' compensation claims and reap the benefits. Another interesting tidbit to this story is not only that the sperm donor is the same for all of her children (a little bird mentioned that the woman could not conceive naturally due to blocked Fallopian tubes), but also that she gave birth and is (along with the babies) under medical care at a Kaiser Permanente facility (which is a Medicaid/MediCal haven).

*sniff* You smell that? Smells like a scam.

Come on, y'all, do the math. IVF costs a minimum of $10,000 per cycle (each time the woman goes in to get implanted with the fertilized embryos); most couples who have gone through IVF will tell you that it usually takes at least two or threee cycles to get pregnant. Then there are the pesky costs of food, medical care, bottles, clothes, diapers, toys, and all the lovely things that come with having one child, let alone the 14 she now has with the birth of the octuplets. And since this lady decided to hire a publicist AND a spokeswoman, that costs money too.

(A publicist, y'all. And a spokeswoman. Seriously.)

The tab is now up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, now. That's not chump change, except maybe by Wall Street standards.

On the real, though, can you really blame her? It was only a matter of time before someone got it into their heads to have multiple children for the sake of notoriety and fame. How many times has the media reported on sextuplets, septuplets, and octuplets getting everything from free diapers and formula, to free four-year college educations? And let's not forget the popular show Jon and Kate Plus 8 on The Learning Channel, which chronicles the daily lives of parents who gave birth to sextuplets years after the birth of twins. And, above all else, there is the 15 minutes of fame accorded to the mother who actually carried those children for over 30 weeks and gave birth.

The old adage "use what you got to get what you want" comes into play here. The woman felt that what she had was the ability to deliver children, so she tried to parlay that into a lucrative arrangement. Unfortunately for her, it fell flat. Sponsors aren't lining up to donate goods and services for the children because of the public outcry. People are writing TV networks, begging them not to add a show about this woman and her children to their programming lineup. The doctors who performed the IVF are laying low and keeping their name(s) out of the media--for now (I'm sure this will be revealed in upcoming weeks).

I'm not one to tell folks how to raise their children (except to support the use of discipline), but her parents should take some of the weight for all this mess. The woman is quoted by her mother as "loving children", even going so far as calling the woman's love for children an "obsession." An obsession is usually interpreted to mean "an unhealthy fixation", so knowing all this, how could you condone this behavior? Or were you trying to get a piece of the pie too?

(and before you say anything: the mother knew. She probably didn't want to know, but she knew her child and what she was capable of.)

Of course, the publicist and spokeswoman are trying to spin this and say that ol' girl wasn't out for financial gain, yadda yadda yadda...but then say that she's had offers from TV stations and publishers for her story and it's "too early to determine how much money she may receive."

Mmph.

Babymaking is a big business, judging from the amounts paid to surrogate mothers and adoption agencies (especially foreign ones). Still, it's a slap in the face to those who want to have kids but can't, or don't have the means to stage a media coup in an attempt to set themselves up for life. And given this chick's parental history, I'm hard pressed to feel any sympathy for her--only contempt. And if you want to get her side of the story, you'll have to wait until she signs it over to the highest bidder.

Thanks for stopping by.