Octuplet Mom Was Crazy About Having Kids

Nadya Suleman, the woman who gave birth to the octuplets in California last month, conceived all 14 of her children through in vitro fertilization. Nadya is not married and has been obsessed with having kids since she was a teenager.

Nadya's grandmother, Angela says she was not supportive of her daughter in deciding to have more kids last year. Nadya's had six children previously, all between the ages of 2 and 7.

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."

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 but some suspect it is some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Her obsession seems to centers around children, having children and being a mother.

Nadya Suleman holds a 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.

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.

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

Many now believe that a bidding war will erupt for the rights to publish the story of this extraordinary occurrence. And the family needs the money desperately. Not only will they have to feed the 14 kids but according to court records in San Bernardino, Nadya's mother filed for bankruptcy last year, claiming $1 million in liabilities as a result of a bad housing investment. They show that Suleman - who changed her name from Nadya Doub in 2001 - divorced her husband, Marcos Gutierrez, a year ago. But he may not be the father of the first six children, because the divorce filing indicates no children were produced from the marriage.

And the soap opera continues, with the case of the Suleman octuplets sending shockwaves through the medical fertility community. Few reputable doctors can understand how Nadya was allowed to have fertility treatment without raising serious questions about her mental stability, her ability to raise such a large family and the huge medical dangers involved in giving birth to so many children at once.

Her fertility doctor has remained nameless.

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.