Huh?

"Woman Gives Birth to Octuplets"

In this day and age of fertility treatments and improved medical care, and shows like John & Kate Plus Eight . . . well, its easy to say "Octuplets . . . whatever."

Which is normally what I do. Except today's headline said "Octuplets' Mother has 6 Other Kids."

Huh?

Curious, I read.

Headline nailed it. She's got six other kids - ages 7, 6, 5, 3, and 2-year old twins. She makes Poker Peaker's parenting job look like a party. She's "young." She lives with her parents. No mention of the childrens' (previous, or the eight little guys who just arrived) father(s). She's not giving out her name. Family says her fertility treatment ended up with multiple fetuses, and she chose to keep them all. Thought she was having seven. Eighth guy showed up in the C-section. Surprise. Grandfather says "we have a big house, you don't know where it is, and you'll never find us."

Huh?

I admit I am biased. Growing up with that Judeo-Christian ethic (non-Catholic), there was this imperative to procreate (part of God's plan, you know), but to do so responsibly. Have children, but remember our limited world resources and never have more than you can take care of.

I also do not want to judge people who take fertility treatments. I was one of those fortunate women who, although I have only chosen to have two children, could probably pop them out like a Pez dispenser if I decided to do so. It only took a few tries in one 12 hour window to make the first one . . . how hard can it be? I say that tongue in cheek because I have many friends for whom conceiving is a long, trying ordeal, and each time I see it happen, I wish I had a way to strip out my fertility and gift it to someone who wants just one baby. So I can never know the reasons people do fertility treatments, and I know its not an easy or inexpensive process.

So here are my questions:

• Why was she taking fertility treatments? She has six other children, the youngest of which were likely not even 2 when she was implanted with this round. What part of successfully birthing 6 children in a 5 year span gave her the idea that she NEEDED fertility treatments? Did I miss something? If she wasn't conceiving right away and wanted to, maybe her body was just saying "let me catch my breath, here . . ."
• Why would a young woman, living with her parents, with no obvious presence of a father, decide that trying even for a 7th (which has now turned into 14th, in one fell swoop) was a particularly good idea, especially in our current economic circumstances?
• Where is a young, possibly unmarried/uncommitted woman with six other children getting the finances for fertility treatments ($25,000 a pop or so?)
• Huh?

Sadly, I am personally speculating that there are parts of this story we don't know, and may never know. Or never want to know. Judgments have been made by people who must be operating under some other guiding principles than most people I know.

I can't judge her morally, or ethically, or spiritually. But lord, girl, have you done the math on this one?

Clearly in need of some remedial personal finances and family economics training.

Is anyone else out there saying "huh?" too?

Respectfully submitted,

The Wife