Grandma: Octuplets mom obsessed with having kids

[TruthBrigade]

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

Grandma: Octuplets mom obsessed with having kids

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, Associated Press Writer Raquel Maria Dillon, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jan 31, 4:32 pm 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 were progressing daily, with all eight breathing unassisted and being tube-fed.

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."

Little psychological research has been conducted on the reasons some mothers seem hooked on repeated pregnancies. David Diamond, a co-director for the Center for Reproductive Psychology in San Diego, said mothers can be drawn to repeat pregnancies for a number of reasons, with some finding the experience so satisfying they choose to become surrogates.

Diane G. Sanford, a psychologist and author specializing in women's reproductive mental health, said while she doesn't know much about Nadya Suleman's background, women that have obsessive-compulsive disorder can become fixated on different obsessions.

"Her obsession centers around children, having children and being a mother," she said. "To what degree are her esteem and identity based on being a mom and why has this from a young age been such a preoccupation of hers?"

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.

Angela Suleman told reporters Friday that doctors implanted far fewer than eight embryos but they multiplied. Experts said this could be possible since Nadya Suleman's system has likely been hyperstimulated for years with fertilization treatments and drugs.

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.

"You should always shoot for one," said Dr. Marcelle Cedars, a professor and director of reproductive health at the University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center, who worried about the increased risk of potential health complications for the babies.

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

"This woman could not comprehend the ramifications of having eight children of the same age at the same time," said Judith Horowitz, a Parkland, Fla.-based psychologist and author who works with couples on fertility issues. "After Pampers stops delivering the free diapers, then what?"

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.

___

Associated Press writers Thomas Watkins and Noaki Schwartz contributed to this report.

[TruthBrigade]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OCTUPLETS?SITE=OKPON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Octuplet mom was treated at Beverly Hills clinic run by controversial fertility specialist

By SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER
Associated Press Writer
Feb 9, 11:27 PM EST


video:
http://video.ap.org/?t=By%20Section/U.S.&p=&f=OKPON&g=0209dv_octuplets_latest

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The mother of octuplets was implanted with those embryos at a Beverly Hills fertility clinic run by a well-known - and controversial - specialist who pioneered a method of implantation. Dr. Michael Kamrava's name emerged Monday as a result of an interview aired Monday on NBC with Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to eight babies Jan. 26.

Over the past two weeks, the identity of Suleman's fertility doctor has been a source of great mystery because of questions over the ethics of implanting numerous embryos in a woman who already had six children.

Kamrava, 57, would not comment on the issue, but told reporters outside his clinic on Rodeo Drive that he had granted an interview to one of the television networks. When asked to provide more detail, he said, "Watch the news."

Without identifying the doctor, the Medical Board of California said last week it was looking into the Suleman case to see if there was a "violation of the standard of care." The medical board said Monday it has not taken any disciplinary action against Kamrava in the past.

In the NBC interview, Suleman did not identify her doctor by name, but said that she went to the West Coast IVF Clinic in Beverly Hills - of which Kamrava is director - and that all 14 of her children were conceived with help from the same doctor. In 2006, Los Angeles TV station KTLA ran a story on infertility that showed Kamrava treating Suleman and discussing embryo implantation.

Kamrava graduated from the University of Illinois and went to medical school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, according to state records and his Web site.

Some fertility specialists said Kamrava is a controversial figure in the field.

"He's tried some novel techniques and some of those methods have been controversial," said Dr. John Jain, founder of Santa Monica Fertility Specialists.

Jain criticized the decision to implant so many embryos, saying: "I do think that this doctor really stepped outside the guidelines in a very extreme manner, and as such, put both the mother and children at extra high risk of disability and even death."

Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, a professional acquaintance of Kamrava's, said Kamrava worked to develop an embryo transfer device that allows doctors to implant an embryo - or sometimes sperm with an unfertilized egg - directly into the uterine lining.

"Usually we inject the embryos into the uterus and they float around and attach themselves," Steinberg said. However, Steinberg said there was no evidence the method improved success rates for pregnancy.

It was not immediately known if the technique was used on Suleman.

Suleman said she had six embryos implanted for each of her pregnancies. The octuplets were a surprise result of her last set of six embryos, she said, explaining she had expected twins at most. Two of the embryos evidently divided in the womb.

Medical ethicists have criticized the implanting of so many embryos. National guidelines put the norm at two to three embryos for a woman of Suleman's age, except in extraordinary circumstances.

Kamrava's clinic performed 20 in vitro procedures on women under 35 in 2006, according to the most recent national report compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those 20 procedures, four resulted in pregnancies and two in births. One woman delivered twins.

The average number of embryos he transferred per procedure for women under 35 was 3.5, the report said. Fertility doctors often implant more than one embryo to increase the chances that one will take hold.

An in-vitro procedure typically costs between $8,000 and $15,000. Asked on NBC how she was able to afford the treatments, Suleman said she had saved money and used some of the more than $165,000 in disability payments she received after being injured in a 1999 riot at a state mental hospital where she worked.

She also told NBC that she does not intend to go on welfare, though her publicist confirmed Monday that Suleman already receives food stamps and child disability payments to help feed and care for her six other children.

Suleman's publicist Mike Furtney said she receives $490 a month in food stamps. Furtney said Suleman did not want to disclose the nature of her children's disabilities or the nature of those payments.

"In her view these are just payments made for people with legitimate needs and are not, in her view, welfare," Furtney said. "She just believes that there are programs for people with needs and she and her children qualify for some of them."

Dr. Richard Paulson, who heads the fertility program at the University of Southern California, cautioned against rushing to judgment about the fertility treatment in this case because questions remain about the quality of Suleman's eggs and whether there were any extraordinary circumstances that would lead Kamrava to transfer so many embryos.

As for the technique Kamrava pioneered, "those of us who are the scientists in the field do not feel this is a significant improvement," Paulson said. He said some doctors advertise that technique as "a way of making patients feel that they are trying something new."

Suleman, who is 33 and single, told NBC's "Today" show she was "fixated" on having children. Suleman said her doctor "did nothing wrong" and had warned her of possible complications to the pregnancy and risks to the development of the babies.

The octuplets were born nine weeks prematurely but appear relatively healthy. Their names have a Biblical theme: Noah, Jonah, Jeremiah, Josiah, Isaiah, Maliyah, Makai and Nariyah. All share the middle name Angel and the last name Solomon.

On Sunday, Suleman's mother, Angela Suleman, seemed to contradict her daughter's account, telling a Web site the fertility specialist who helped her daughter give birth to the octuplets was not the one who aided in the birth of her first six children.

In an interview with celebrity news Web site RadarOnline.com, Angela Suleman said she and Nadya's father pleaded with her first fertility doctor not to treat their daughter again. She said her daughter went to another doctor.

"I'm really angry about that," Angela Suleman said of the doctor's decision to perform the procedure. "She already has six beautiful children. Why would she do this? I'm struggling to look after her six. We had to put in bunk beds, feed them in shifts and there's children's clothing piled all over the house."

Angela Suleman said Nadya's boyfriend was the biological father of all 14 children, but that she refused to marry him.

"He was in love with her and wanted to marry her," she said. "But Nadya wanted to have children on her own."

---

Associated Press Television News videographer John Mone and Associated Press Writer Alicia Chang contributed to this report.

[TruthBrigade]

LA police to investigate threats to octuplet mom

By SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER, Associated Press Writer Shaya Tayefe Mohajer, Associated Press Writer – 59 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090212/ap_on_re_us/octuplets


LOS ANGELES – Police said Thursday they will investigate death threats against octuplet mom Nadya Suleman and advise her publicist on how to handle a torrent of other nasty messages that have flooded his office.

Word that the 33-year-old single, unemployed mother is receiving public assistance to care for the 14 children she conceived through in vitro fertilization has stoked furor among many people.

Police Lt. John Romero said officers were meeting with Suleman's publicist Mike Furtney about the flood of angry phone calls and e-mail messages against Suleman, her children and Furtney.

"We are aware of the media accounts of the threats, and that they are being sent to the West Los Angeles detectives for appropriate action," Romero said.

Furtney said 500 new e-mails were received early Thursday.

"We're talking to the Los Angeles Police Department to get their best advice as to how to regard these messages," Furtney said as the phone in his office rang constantly.

He is also consulting with a security professional to get advice on any precautions that might need to be taken.

Suleman is living in an undisclosed location and spends time with all her kids every day, Furtney said. The octuplets are expected to remain in the hospital for several more weeks.

Not all the calls have been angry. One family from the Midwest has invited Suleman and her brood to live on their farm, Furtney said.

"One thing that keeps me from jumping out the window is that we've heard from many people offering some kind of support: clothing, food, financial or other help," Furtney said.

Suleman has been supporting her six other children with $490 a month in food stamps and receives Social Security disability payments for three of the youngsters that could total $2,379 a month.

She has estimated her in vitro fertilization procedures have cost $100,000.

Suleman has said she saved for the treatments by working double shifts and also used money from a disability award exceeding $165,000 that she received after an on-the-job back injury.

The benefits were discontinued last year.

The Suleman octuplets' medical costs have not been disclosed, but in 2006, the average cost for a premature baby's hospital stay in California was $164,273, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Eight times that equals $1.3 million.

For a single mother, the cost of raising 14 children through age 17 ranges from $1.3 million to $2.7 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

[Android]

Not a great time for a story like this to be reported the the largest of all "nanny states" in the nation. She had the nerve to tell Ann Curry on the Today show that she received NO monetary help from the government. Wrong... she is working the system to the ultimate extreme.

[Android]

Hey TB,
Have you imagined yourself having 14 kids? HOLY SMOKES!

[TruthBrigade]

I suppose I could afford 14 kids if I was a multi millionaire or had 14 husbands...maybe more since the ones I had couldn't even take care of one.

[Android]

LOL....... really... Imagine when they all get to their teen years...OMG

[TruthBrigade]

Octomom -- From Death Threats to 'Doing Fine'

Posted by ExtraTV Staff on February 13, 2009
http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2009/02/octomom_--_from_death_threats.php
MSNBC

EXCLUSIVE: Only "Extra" spoke to Octuplet Mom Nadya Suleman after reports surfaced that she received death threats against her and her 14 children. While leaving her home in Whittier, California, she told "Extra," "I'm doing fine."

It is also reported Suleman's mother, Angela Suleman, made bank for an exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com. Nadya's publicist Joann Killeen told the L.A. Weekly, "I had to put a gag on Nadya's mother, who sold her out to RadarOnline. They paid her $40,000 to sell [Nadya] out, and she can't talk about her daughter for three months." Reports that claim RadarOnline paid Nadya's mother for her story remain unconfirmed, and sources dish that the said reports are not true.

TV judge Jeanine Pirro gives "Extra" her prediction for the Suleman family, "I don't think there's any question child welfare will get involved in this case."

[TruthBrigade]

Octuplets' Family Facing Foreclosure Threat

Thursday, February 19, 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,496169,00.html

LOS ANGELES —  Octoplets mom Nadya Suleman and her 6 other children may soon be homeless.

Los Angeles County property records indicate the home they live in went into mortgage default on Feb. 9 after non-payment for 10 months. The home in Whittier is owned by Angela Suleman, the grandmother of the octuplets.

The default notice shows Angela Suleman is $23,225 behind in her mortgage payments and that the house could be sold at auction beginning May 5.

However, the mother of 14 may have more time to help with the repayments after the bank official said the sale could still be delayed by the discretion of her lender, IndyMac Federal Bank of Pasadena.

"We take these things one case at a time — there's no shortage of people struggling to make their mortgage payments right now," an Indymac representative said.

"Roughly more than 10 percent of our customers are 60 or more days behind."

Angela Suleman's phone has been disconnected and she could not be immediately reached for comment.

Her daughter, Nadya, 33, jobless and receiving food stamps, drew international headlines and a torrent of public ridicule after giving birth January 26 to octuplets conceived through in vitro fertilization.

That criticism intensified when it was learned she already had six children, ages 2 to 7, that she was collecting disability checks for three of them, and that they all were living with the grandmother.

Click here to read Dr. Keith’s blog “Inside the Mind of the Octuplets’ Father.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.