Truth is Stranger than Fiction

Turns out the 33-year-old California mother of octuplets already has six children under 8 at home. Home, by the way, is her parents' house. She doesn't have a husband--or even a father for her enormous brood, all of whom were reportedly conceived via a sperm donor.

Just when I think the news can't get any weirder, it does. Rich people from New York to Miami lose their fortunes in a Ponzi scheme. Illinois finally punishes a corrupt politician, impeaching Rod Blagojevich. Chicago's cold winter weather is really, really cold.

But seriously, where does a unmarried, unpartnered mother of six (including 2-year-old twins) get off signing up for fertility treatments? If she loves being pregnant so much, perhaps she should have signed up to be a surrogate. At least she'd net 20 grand and plenty of warm fuzzies for loaning out her womb.

Fourteen young kids. One mom. A grandmother on hand and grandpa in Iraq. How soon will we see this family paraded across our TV screen? Perhaps they'll get a TV show along the lines of Jon and Kate Plus Eight. And some other misguided mother out there will feel the multiple-birth bar's been raised. Can she be the first to give birth to nine?

Medical science is responsible for amazing advances in managing high-risk pregnancies and saving preterm babies, but it's getting a little ridiculous. You don't win by getting your birth story on the national news. You win when you give birth to a healthy, wanted child that your family can provide for. Financially and emotionally. Because even if this news-making family were millionaires instead of people just emerging from bankruptcy, there's no way any of those 14 young kids will get enough one-on-one time with mom.

Original Chicago Moms Blog post.
Alma works full time as a creative at a large ad agency. She writes about life with her two young girls at Marketing Mommy.