Have you all heard about that
woman who recently gave birth to octuplets? I guess she's been all over the news lately, and I didn't know anything about it until I turned on the TV last night and a preview of her first interview was on. It was interesting so I googled her (yes, I googled) and what I read just about floored me.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I gathered she is 33 years old...she doesn't work as far as I can tell, but is in school to get her Master's degree...she still lives at home with her mother...doesn't have a husband or significant other (not that I think you need a guy around to raise kids...but octuplets!?!?)...already has
6 other children. That's right, you heard me. SIX OTHER KIDS! And get this, her oldest child is 7! For a grand total of 14 children all under the age of 8, including 8 children who are newborns.
...have you caught up to my shock yet? Go ahead, I'll wait!
Don't get me wrong...I'm as open minded as anyone and I fully understand the appeal of a large family. My dad is the third youngest in a family of 12! But to have that many children with no viable means to support yourself much less the entire brood, is just crazy! Not to mention the fact that she admitted to having the children as a means to combat depression and to fulfill feelings of dysfunction and predictability she had while growing up. Now, I ask you, are those any reasons to have babies? I don't think so.
My concern is wholly for the children as I feel that their mother's "desire for a large family" will negatively affect their futures. It's one thing to have many kids (spaced out) as long as you have the means to adequately care and provide for them. But it's a completely different story when you can't even afford to keep your existing children on your own and then decide to go into a fertility clinic with an intent to have more. I, of course do not necessarily condone "reducing" the amount of viable embryos. If it was me and they told me I had 8 healthy embryos and then asked if I wanted to get rid of some, I probably would not. But neither do I condone going in for more when you already have 6 at home to begin with. I don't think it's right to abuse the system for your own psychiatric needs when there are so many out there struggling to have children or struggling to provide for their existing ones.
I don't know what else to say. This was one of those conversations/discussions I was having with myself, before I decided to blog about it and open up a topic with you all. I know I'm probably going to get some flak from some of you about my views but I welcome a healthy debate if it comes down to it.
What do you guys think? Is it a matter of to each his own and should she have been allowed to keep having babies and to live life as she wants? Or should she have been stopped before her recent brood of 8 were conceived?
