Nadya Suleman: The Octuplet Mom

Nadya Suleman, a single mother gave birth to octuplets in January 2009 in California by in vitro fertilization. Nadya was already a mother of 6 children, taking the grand total to 14. With no disposable income and no proper plan on how to provide for these 14, the birth of these eight newborn babies has become a highly controversial one.

33 year old, Nadya Suleman from California gave birth to octuplets (8 babies) on January 26th 2009, which happen to be the second set of living octuplets in the United States. The first set of octuplets was born to Nkem Chukwu of Texas in 1998, however, their tiniest baby died a week later. This makes Nadya Suleman to be the first octuplet mom. Nadya's six boys and two girls of the healthy octuplet troop were born nine weeks premature at the Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center, California. The birth of the octuplets spearheaded a controversy in the United States, when people came to know these eight babies were the result of the implantation of 6 embryos, which was in violation to the professional guidelines.

Moreover, what added fuel to the controversy was that Nadya Suleman was already a mother of 6 children, age 2-7, before she gave birth to the octuplets, thereby taking the total number to 14. The other 6 children were also born through in vitro fertilization. Nadya, a single mother with no disposable income was surviving on student loans to sustain her family of six children before she decided to go in for another pregnancy. She survives on $490 food stamps a month and disability funds to run the house. 3 of her 6 children are disabled, one with ADHD, one with a speech impediment and the other with autism.