# Seven, NO...8 babies born in CA yesterday!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 27, 2009, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212 "2009-01-27T12:01:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CAT\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@CAT\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CAT_1)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/1 "2009-01-27T12:01:25Z")
Talk about being terrified to be a parent(another post on here). I just came across this story in my local paper. A CA woman expecting 7 babies underwent a c-section on Monday. Surprisingly the Dr. found an 8th baby hiding out in there. It is the second live Octuplet birth in US history. Oh, and she plans to breast feed all of them. [CRAZY!!](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MOTHER_OCTUPLETS?SITE=WIFON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/2 "2009-01-27T12:11:00Z")
How the fuck does she plan on nursing 8, many women have issues nursing twins fer ghu’s sake … Now i could see pumping, and mixing it in with formula so that the biological boost of breast milk is there [the antibodies and hormones/biochemicals] but nursing? Talk about your sore nipples :eek: And that is one case where I can see telling the doc to just yank that womb right the frell out … or to give hubby the big snip because I sure as hell would NOT be wanting any more popping out in the future. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/3 "2009-01-27T12:11:45Z")
From that article: _The United States’ first live octuplets were born in Houston in 1998, three months premature. The tiniest died a week after the birth. The surviving siblings turned 10 in December._ 7/8 survival is spectacular. Maybe they can make it 8/8 this time. I\_can’t\_even\_imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/4 "2009-01-27T12:13:39Z")
Breastfeeding them all is going to be a huge task! Even if she has the supply for it… well, one feed can take up to half an hour, and babies need to be fed roughly every four hours, around the clock. She was never going to be a woman with a lot of free time, but that’s an enormous undertaking. I wish them all the very best with it though - what an amazing family. ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/5 "2009-01-27T12:40:22Z")
Wow! This just boggles the mind! At any rate, I’d just like to say that I was lucky enough to meet Jon Gosselin of _[Jon and Kate Plus 8](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_%26_Kate_Plus_8)_ at a bar last night. I was there with two of my girl friends, and he was totally hitting on them - even inviting them to the “VIP lounge” this coming Friday at some dive bar in the middle of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/6 "2009-01-27T12:41:38Z")
There’s literally no way\* for her to \*exclusively \*breastfeed all of them, but she can breastfeed all of them some of the time and bottle feed (or rather, other people can help bottle feed) the rest of the time. \*And by this I mean time wise: IF she can tandem feed two at a time, which is quite the trick, and IF they’re all speedy 20 minute strong nursers, feeding every two hours (newborns are generally 90 minute to 2 hour feeders, counting the clock from when you start: nurse from noon until 12:25, then again at 1:45 or 2:00, really leaving you only an hour or so not-nursing) means she’d have only ~20 minutes an hour left for burping, changing diapers, cooking, eating, sleeping, going to the bathroom and doing laundry…oh, and making more milk. Not logistically sustainable. Not to mention the nightmare of boob rotation - making sure that the same babies weren’t always getting the watery foremilk or the heavy hindmilk. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/7 "2009-01-27T14:03:22Z")
I like how the mom is wishing to remain anonymous. It is killing me to know what the names are, though, of the litter. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/8 "2009-01-27T14:22:35Z")
Just think - another batch like that and she’ll almost have caught up with the Duggars! StG ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/9 "2009-01-27T20:52:51Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > It is killing me to know what the names are, though, of the litter. Right now it’s just A through H. I think I’d be tempted to stick a pin through a baby names book and have done with it. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/10 "2009-01-27T20:56:39Z")
> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > Wow! This just boggles the mind! At any rate, I’d just like to say that I was lucky enough to meet Jon Gosselin of _[Jon and Kate Plus 8](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_%26_Kate_Plus_8)_ at a bar last night. I was there with two of my girl friends, and he was totally hitting on them - even inviting them to the “VIP lounge” this coming Friday at some dive bar in the middle of nowhere. C’mon, seriously? The guy has eight kids at home and his wife is a control freak. When does he have time to go hang out at bars? ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/11 "2009-01-28T00:08:18Z")
on the breastfeeding thing, this morning the doctor said the babies are going to be on feeding tubes. so she will be pumping and they will tube feed what she gives them. after that i’m fairly sure she will keep pumping and go with bottles. or go with one kid a day with mum, 2 on sunday! i hope all works out with everyone. that was a huge load of kidlets about 24 pounds all tallied up. they had the mum and dad of the surviving 7 on gma this morning. the mum’s advise was sleep when ever you can and get help! ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/12 "2009-01-30T07:19:55Z")
She has 6 other young kids at home. She lives with her parents. And now she has 14 kids, a good chunk of which are very likely to have life long problems due to their premature births. Perhaps this is going into GD territory, but what kind of doctor would do fertility treatments on a woman with 6 kids already? How on earth is that. . . ethical? Good gravy. [Article.](http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=6764771&page=1) ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/13 "2009-01-30T14:23:02Z")
Single mother, lives with her parents in a 3 bedroom house, already has 6 kids, yet gets fertility treatments and is implanted with embryos? The mind boggles. ---
**Author:** ![Tabula\_Rasa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@Tabula\_Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabula_Rasa)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/14 "2009-01-30T15:15:18Z")
She’s married. Her husband is a contractor due to return to Iraq shortly. Not that that resolves the boggle factor. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/15 "2009-01-30T15:22:55Z")
> [@Tabula\_Rasa](#): > > She’s married. Her husband is a contractor due to return to Iraq shortly. Not that that resolves the boggle factor. I believe it’s her father who is going back to Iraq. > **[Latest news & breaking headlines](https://www.thetimes.com/)** > > The latest breaking UK, US, world, business and sport news from The Times and The Sunday Times. Go beyond today's headlines with in-depth analysis and comment. The [new mother’s] mother, who described the newborn babies as “so tiny and beautiful”, admitted that being able to bring up 14 children – the others are aged seven, six, five, three and two – would be difficult. She added that **her daughter’s father** was going back to Iraq, where he is believed to work as a contractor, to help support the extended family. There’s no mention of the children’s father yet. And about the milk: Seven of the infants were being tube-fed **donated** breast milk. One of the boys was expected to begin feeding today. All babies continued to receive an intravenous nutritional combination. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/16 "2009-01-30T15:30:57Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > C’mon, seriously? The guy has eight kids at home and his wife is a control freak. When does he have time to go hang out at bars? I’m curious about this story too. As much as Jon Gosselin probably needs to get laid, I don’t picture him as the type to hit on random women at bars. Especially with his family on national television every week. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/17 "2009-01-30T19:04:27Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Perhaps this is going into GD territory, but what kind of doctor would do fertility treatments on a woman with 6 kids already? How on earth is that. . . ethical? Good gravy. Yes, I would love to know more about that aspect of things. I cannot imagine any ethical doctor thinking that such aggressive fertility treatments were called for. Even if tehre was a reason to think that someone with six prior kids needed in vitro fertilization, the octuplets could have so easily been avoided by only transferring 2 or 3 embryos instead of 8, without the moral qualms about aborting the extra ones. I think it is completely reckless to transfer so many embryos at once when we’ve all heard about these high profile cases. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/18 "2009-01-30T19:38:05Z")
Pure, pure rumor from someone in the entertainment industry– the woman had it done outside the US and is now waiting for the highest bidder for her tell-all/access to her life for a TLC-style reality show. Grain of salt and all that. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/19 "2009-01-30T21:00:53Z")
Well, that would certainly clear up some of the “how could an ethical doctor do this” question. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212/20 "2009-01-30T21:07:42Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > Pure, pure rumor from someone in the entertainment industry– the woman had it done outside the US and is now waiting for the highest bidder for her tell-all/access to her life for a TLC-style reality show. Grain of salt and all that. The story is already pretty awful – someone with six kids gets pregnant with eight more, without any apparent means of supporting them. Utterly irresponsible (or just plain mental), both the woman and her doctors. But to do it all in hopes of making money off them? I hope that’s merely a rumor. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seven-no-8-babies-born-in-ca-yesterday/483212.md?page=2)