Media Publicity Revealed as Likely Motive Behind Octuplet Births

Octuplets' mother wants Oprah to turn her into a $2m TV star

John Harlow, Los Angeles

From The Sunday Times

February 1, 2009

THE single mother of octuplets born in California last week is seeking $2m (£1.37m) from media interviews and commercial sponsorship to help pay the cost of raising the children.

Nadya Suleman, 33, plans a career as a television childcare expert after it emerged last week that she already had six children before giving birth on Monday. She now has 14 below the age of eight.

Although still confined to an LA hospital bed, she intends to talk to two influential television hosts this week — media mogul Oprah Winfrey, and Diane Sawyer, who presents Good Morning America.

Her family has told agents she needs cash from deals such as nappy sponsorship — she will get through 250 a week in the next few months — and the agents will gauge public reaction to her story.

Related Links

• Octuplets' mother may have had multiple IVF

Her earning power, though, could be diminished by a growing ethical and medical controversy. Experts believe that the unnamed fertility specialists who gave her in vitro fertilisation (IVF) should not have implanted so many embryos, and in choosing to carry all eight to term, Suleman ignored guidelines, risking both their health and her own.

US public reaction has been mixed: many have asked how an unemployed single mother can raise 14 children, as her first six have already strained the family budget. Angela and Ed Suleman, Nadya’s parents,bought her a two-bedroom bungalow in the suburb of Whittier in March 2007, but soon after got into debt and had to leave their own home.

They filed for bankruptcy and moved in with their daughter and grandchildren. Last week her father said he would return to his native Iraq to work as a translator and driver.

Angela Suleman, who is caring for the first six children — one of whom is autistic — while her daughter is in hospital, said yesterday that she had consulted a psychologist over Nadya’s “obsession with children”.

Nadya Suleman, who describes herself as a “professional student” living off education grants and parental money, broke up with her boyfriend before the birth of her first child seven years ago.

The identity of the octuplets’ father remains unknown, but local reports suggest they were conceived with frozen sperm donated by a friend she met while working at a fertility clinic. He is the father of her twins, born two years ago.

Michael Tucker of the Georgia Reproductive Clinic, Atlanta, said Suleman’s story stunned him. “We are policed by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, which frowns upon implanting more than two or three embryos at a time. It is remarkable that any practitioner would undertake such a practice.”

The babies, born nine weeks prematurely by C-section, were attended to by 46 medical staff, who expected seven babies. When the eighth — a boy — appeared, doctors were “confounded”.

Angela Suleman said her daughter was advised to terminate some of the embryos in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy for the sake of her health, but she refused because she did not know how to make such a life-or-death decision.

“She doesn’t have any more, so it’s over now. It has to be,” said the grandmother.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5627531.ece

"Nadya is not evil.. just obsessed with children" mom says

Octuplets' mom was hoping for 'just one more girl,' grandmother says

Nadya Suleman, a 33-year-old mother of twins, octuplets and 4 other young children, loves being around kids and was not seeking fame or financial gain, her friends and family say.

By Jessica Garrison and Kimi Yoshino
January 31, 2009

Nadya Suleman's goal in life was to be a mother, her friends and family said. That is why, even with a brood of six, including 2-year-old twins, she decided to have more embryos transferred in hopes, her mother said Friday, of getting "just one more girl."

"And look what happened. Octuplets. Dear God," Angela Suleman said four days after her 33-year-old daughter became the second person in the U.S. ever to give birth to eight babies at once.

Suleman stressed that her daughter "is not evil, but she is obsessed with children. She loves children, she is very good with children, but obviously she overdid herself."

Angela Suleman said all the children are from the same sperm donor, but she did not identify him. Her daughter is divorced, but Suleman said the ex-husband was not the father.

Suleman said she is caring for her six grandchildren while their mother is in the hospital recovering. She said she had few details about how the octuplets were conceived and did not know the identity of the doctor or the clinic that transferred the frozen embryos into her daughter's uterus. Suleman said it was not Kaiser Permanente, where the babies were born.

Fertility experts have raised concerns about the number of embryos implanted and whether the procedure was within medical guidelines.

"I cannot see circumstances where any reasonable physician would transfer [so many] embryos into a woman under the age of 35 under any circumstance," said Arthur Wisot, a fertility doctor in Redondo Beach and the author of "Conceptions and Misconceptions."

Doctors probably could not deny treatment to a woman simply because she already has children, he said. However, he added, they should have taken steps to make sure she did not have so many babies at once.

"I certainly think you can talk to her about it if you feel like she's making a decision that's not in her best interest or the interest of her children," Wisot said. "You can send her for psychological evaluation, but I honestly don't know if you can say, 'No, I won't take care of you because you have too many children.' "

Dr. Geeta Swamy, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University, told The Times this week that the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advise doctors "to curb these higher-order multiple gestations," she said. "But it really is still up to the individual physician. There aren't any laws or legal ramifications to it."

The California Medical Board, which investigates doctors, and the California Department of Public Health, which licenses clinics and hospitals, said no doctors or facilities are currently being investigated regarding the births. It is also unlikely that the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services would get involved unless it receives a complaint of child abuse or neglect.

Allison Frickert, a friend of Nadya Suleman, said the mother was not seeking potential fame or financial benefit. "There was no overriding situation, other than having more children to love," she said.

"Her whole life, she couldn't wait to be a mom," Frickert said. "That was her No. 1 goal."

Friends and family also reported that Nadya Suleman worked as a psychiatric technician until she was injured on the job. Then she began having children and enrolled in school.

She graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 2006 with a bachelor of science degree in child and adolescent development, school officials said. She returned to pursue a master's in counseling, but last attended in the spring of 2008.

By juggling school and six children, Frickert said, Nadya Suleman proved to be "a lot more capable than the average person in handling stress."

She and her children live with her mother in a 1,550-square-foot home in Whittier, and her father has been working in Iraq as a translator to help support the family.

In 2008, Angela Suleman filed for bankruptcy, claiming nearly $1 million in liabilities mostly due to a bad housing investment, her bankruptcy attorney said. Suleman said Friday that she had withdrawn the filing and paid her debts.

As the media camped outside the house, Angela Suleman said in a telephone interview that she could not explain her daughter's decision.

Nadya Suleman has always loved children, her mother said. Then she sighed. "I wish she would have become a kindergarten teacher."

jessica.garrison@latimes.com

kimi.yoshino@latimes.com

Times staff writers Alan Zarembo, Tony Barboza, Corina Knoll, Richard Winton, Garrett Therolf, Janet Lundblad and Scott Wilson contributed to this article.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-octuplets31-2009jan31,0,6246659.story

Indiana Woman Waits for Infant Son Stranded in Iraq

By TOM COYNE, Associated Press Writer

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Baby Amir's crib is lined with blankets crocheted by his mother and stuffed animals from his 8-year-old sister. Framed photos of him hang on the walls and sit atop shelves and tables throughout his family's three-bedroom home.

He has yet to see any of it.

Eight-month-old Amir Alshemmari remains in his aunt's concrete house in the holy city of Najaf in central Iraq, where his relatives' home has electricity two hours a day. His mother, Grace, is more than 6,000 miles away in Fort Wayne, writing letters to everyone from politicians to Dr. Phil looking for help to get her son home.

She's willing to do all but the one thing the U.S. government says she must: take her son to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad to obtain the paperwork proving he is a U.S. citizen so he can get the passport needed to leave the country.

"Just watch the news. You can see Baghdad isn't a safe place," Alshemmari said. "That's where most of the conflict is, and I think that's where most of the anti-American groups have centered their organizations."

Alshemmari, a lifelong Indiana resident, didn't plan to give birth in the war-torn country when she and husband Raad, an Iraqi refugee who came to the United States in 1993, learned she was pregnant with their second child.

The couple met in 1998, had a daughter in 2000 and married in 2007. She had never been out of the country. Her husband convinced her to go to Iraq because his 86-year-old mother was in failing health.

Alshemmari left for the trip almost a year ago, when she was nearly six months pregnant. She planned to return in time for her mother's birthday on April 22 — about a month before her due date.

But the couple and their daughter stayed too long, Iraqi Airways officials said. The airline refused to issue her a ticket to fly home because it does not allow expecting women to fly beyond the pregnancy's 35th week.

Alshemmari, who was 35 weeks pregnant at the time, was devastated, but her husband said they had no choice.

"Let's just have the baby here, and we'll all come home together," he said.

Alshemmari agreed, but told him: "As soon as this baby's born, we're out of here."

She gave birth by cesarean section at a hospital in Najaf, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, on May 25.

The couple thought they could get the necessary paperwork to bring home the baby by going to Iraqi offices in Diwaniyah, about 30 minutes away. After a half dozen trips and a call to the U.S. embassy, they learned they needed to go to Baghdad.

But her husband's family told her the trip was too dangerous, especially for an American.

"They said, 'We're Iraqi and we don't go there. Don't go there,'" Alshemmari said.

The couple flew to Jordan without Amir in hopes of finding a solution, even though they knew the United States required the baby be present at an embassy to receive the paper proving American citizenship. They were given a seven-day visa, which Alshemmari said wouldn't be enough time to get an appointment at the U.S. embassy there.

"It seems to me she's stuck between a rock and a hard place," State Department spokesman Noel Clay said.

Clay said the Alshemmaris' predicament is rare but that the State Department can't make an exception in their case because its policies for verifying U.S. citizenship guard against baby smuggling.

"We can't change the procedures," he said.

After their unsuccessful trip to Jordan, the Alshemmaris returned to Fort Wayne without Amir in hopes of getting help at home. But so far, little has changed.

"It just doesn't seem to be going anywhere. We're just mired down," Alshemmari said.

The offices of Sens. Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh have been involved in the case since late October, trying to determine whether the family can give power of attorney to Raad Alshemmari's sister, Sadiea, so she can take Amir to the embassy.

Lugar's office also provided access to a computer at his Fort Wayne office that would allow her to see Amir via the Web camera on Sadiea's family computer. Alshemmari, however, chooses to look at pictures and video taken while she was with him.

"I'm torn. I want to see his face. I want to see how he's doing. But then I know it's going to kill me because I don't know how much longer until I get him home," she said. "I want him so bad."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090131/ap_on_re_us/stranded_son;_ylt=Arltyg5p0vseJvHbCcTgmTBvzwcF

Single Mom Filed Bankruptcy Prior to Fertility Treatment

Reports Cast Octuplets' Mother in Less-Flattering Light

Reports are circulating that cast an unflattering light on the miracle mom who gave birth to octuplets in California Monday.

CBS News reported Friday that the mother of eight newborns, who already had six children, filed for bankruptcy and abandoned her home less than two years ago. She hasn't been identified publicly yet, though CBS News described her as a woman in her 30s who lives with her parents.

The woman's mother revealed to the Los Angeles Times that her daughter already had six children before seeking fertility treatment, though she had no idea she would become pregnant with so many babies.

Britain's Sun newspaper reported that the mother works in a fertility clinic. The grandmother said she had multiple embryos implanted last year and declined to abort any of them.

The hospital, Kaiser Permanente in Bellflower, Calif., did not release the mother's name, but the Sun, without citing sources, identified her as 33-year-old Nadya Suleman. She does not appear to have a husband.

CBS News reported that the woman's father is Iraqi and is heading back to his native country to earn money for the growing family.

The babies were born nine weeks premature, adding to their health risks, the Associated Press reported. Because of the risks, doctors generally advise against births with so many multiples — though the decision is left up to the mother.

Stress comes along with any pregnancy, but giving birth to octuplets could be overwhelming, according to Dr. Charles Sophy, medical director of Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services,

"Any new parent is going to be under stress and multiple that by 8, it's a lot of stress," Sophy told FOXNews.com. "Hopefully the upfront work and due diligence was done."

Sophy said the most pressing concern for Suleman should be getting the youngsters on a schedule.

"Eating, sleeping and bathing are the key areas to get scheduled," he said. "The same goes for mom and dad. Parents need to make sure they're whole or else they won't be valuable to their children."

Sophy said the expense of raising 14 children will likely be prohibitive, citing studies that estimate it costs roughly $2.5 million to raise a child to adulthood. Using that math, raising 14 children would cost roughly $35 million.

"And that's basic stuff," he said. "That doesn't include swimming lessons and things like that. It's very costly and hopefully the planning that needs to be done was done upfront."

Sophy continued, "14 is a large number of children, so yes, it'll be 14 times the stress."

Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing editor of foxnewshealth.com, wrote that the pregnancy could have easily resulted in serious complications, including prematurity, the most common complication for multiple pregnancies.

"There are also a number of maternal complications that can arise from multiple pregnancies like high blood pressure, diabetes and significant post-partum bleeding," Alvarez wrote.

FOXNews.com's Joshua Rhett Miller contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,485924,00.html

"Single Mom, Frozen Embryos At Root of Octuplet Drama"

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, Associated Press Writer Raquel Maria Dillon, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jan 31, 10:30 am ET

LOS ANGELES – The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week conceived all 14 of her children through in vitro fertilization, is not married and has been obsessed with having children since she was a teenager, her mother said.

Angela Suleman told The Associated Press she was not supportive when her daughter, Nadya Suleman, decided to have more embryos implanted last year.

"It can't go on any longer," she said in a phone interview Friday. "She's got six children and no husband. I was brought up the traditional way. I firmly believe in marriage. But she didn't want to get married."

Nadya Suleman, 33, gave birth Monday in nearby Bellflower. She was expected to remain in the hospital for at least a few more days, and her newborns for at least a month.

A spokeswoman at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center said the babies were doing well and seven were breathing unassisted.

While her daughter recovers, Angela Suleman is taking care of the other six children, ages 2 through 7, at the family home in Whittier, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

She said she warned her daughter that when she gets home from the hospital, "I'm going to be gone."

Angela Suleman said her daughter always had trouble conceiving and underwent in vitro fertilization treatments because her fallopian tubes are "plugged up."

There were frozen embryos left over after her previous pregnancies and her daughter didn't want them destroyed, so she decided to have more children.

Her mother and doctors have said the woman was told she had the option to abort some of the embryos and, later, the fetuses. She refused.

Her mother said she does not believe her daughter will have any more children.

"She doesn't have any more (frozen embryos), so it's over now," she said. "It has to be."

Nadya Suleman wanted to have children since she was a teenager, "but luckily she couldn't," her mother said.

"Instead of becoming a kindergarten teacher or something, she started having them, but not the normal way," he mother said.

Her daughter's obsession with children caused Angela Suleman considerable stress, so she sought help from a psychologist, who told her to order her daughter out of the house.

"Maybe she wouldn't have had so many kids then, but she is a grown woman," Angela Suleman said. "I feel responsible and I didn't want to throw her out."

Yolanda Garcia, 49, of Whittier, said she helped care for Nadya Suleman's autistic son three years ago.

"From what I could tell back then, she was pretty happy with herself, saying she liked having kids and she wanted 12 kids in all," Garcia told the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

"She told me that all of her kids were through in vitro, and I said 'Gosh, how can you afford that and go to school at the same time?"' she added. "And she said it's because she got paid for it."

Garcia said she did not ask for details.

Nadya Suleman holds a 2006 degree in child and adolescent development from California State University, Fullerton, and as late as last spring she was studying for a master's degree in counseling, college spokeswoman Paula Selleck told the Press-Telegram.

Her fertility doctor has not been identified. Her mother told the Los Angeles Times all the children came from the same sperm donor but she declined to identify him.

Birth certificates reviewed by The Associated Press identify a David Solomon as the father for the four oldest children. Certificates for the other children were not immediately available.

The news that the octuplets' mother already had six children sparked an ethical debate. Some medical experts were disturbed to hear that she was offered fertility treatment, and troubled by the possibility that she was implanted with so many embryos.

Others worried that she would be overwhelmed trying to raise so many children and would end up relying on public support.

The eight babies — six boys and two girls — were delivered by Cesarean section weighing between 1 pound, 8 ounces and 3 pounds, 4 ounces. Forty-six physicians and staff assisted in the deliveries.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090131/ap_on_re_us/octuplets