Mother gives birth to sextuplets

CNN ^ | 1-18-04

[Indy Pendance]

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (AP) -- A woman pregnant with sextuplets has given birth to the five remaining babies more than a week after delivering the first, a hospital official said Saturday.

The four boys and two girls were three months premature.

[cupcakes]

Gotta agree with that. Of course if everything else was structurally normal, we can't say whether the parents went against the advice of their RE and had sex anyway.

[cyborg]

Awwwwww... you have a little cupcake in the oven. Is it a boy or a girl?

[tgslTakoma]

You can be a charming 6 year old and then find out she has severe learning disability by 12.

And that could be true about any child. So, why don't we all just go hide in a padded room and not ever reproduce? So much can go wrong...

[cupcakes]

Another thing I was wondering. From the sounds of it, things were structurally normal, they just weren't conceiving in the time frame they thought they should.
I wish them well, children are a blessing from God and these children will be lucky to be raised in a Christian family, but I wish RE's(reproductive endocrinologists) would give people this young realistic expectations.
It took me 17 months to conceive my first. ONly 2 months if you only count from when I stopped obsessing about having a baby. I am pregnant now with my 3rd in 6 yrs. I thought we would have to go this route, but as it turned out, there was much we could improve naturally that got us where we are.
Again, I wish them the best though and I applaud their decision to keep all the babies, even if how they got there in the first place was questionable.

[34512a]

Except that these children are the result of fertility treatment, which results in multiple conceptions, and tourinely leads to prematurity.

This is one more choice that women should not be able to make. And if people can't see that, no wonder the prolife movement is in such dire straits.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Congratulations on the little cupcake! (Would that be a mini-muffin?)

It is amazing. I remember when a kilogram was considered the line. Any child smaller then that didn't have a chance.

BTW from other articles I have learned that they were told that she had four, not six egg ripening and that there was less then a one percent chance that all four would "take".

[cupcakes]

Aha, this explains it. In addition it looks like they weren't aware that there were 6 mature eggs either, only 4 and were told that their chances of all 4 conceiving were less than 1%.
_______________


Amy had X-rays to determine if there was a blockage in her reproductive system, but doctors found that her eggs weren't maturing correctly. She received treatment in the form of injections designed to improve the quality of her eggs.

The couple eventually was told Amy had four eggs ready for fertilization and that if she conceived that month there was a chance of a multiple birth.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

From the sounds of it, things were structurally normal, they just weren't conceiving in the time frame they thought they should.

Not quite.

Amy had X-rays to determine if there was a blockage in her reproductive system, but doctors found that her eggs weren't maturing correctly. She received treatment in the form of injections designed to improve the quality of her eggs.

There was a definite physical problem.

[cupcakes]

You are right there. My son was a full term NICU baby(breathing problems the first week) and he has a number of developmental delays.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Ack! Never mind.

[cupcakes]

Don't you wish I knew already? ARGH! Unfortunately, my doctor doesn't have me scheduled for the ultrasound until Feb 4th. I knew already with both of my other 2 by about 19 weeks so this is driving me nuts waiting--LOL. I feel the baby moving a lot in the last few days too so the little one has gone through a growth spurt recently that I can feel some pretty strong movements in there. Always reassuring when you can finally feel their movements.
I'll keep you posted on the sex. If I forget, prod me sometime after the 4th;-)

[cupcakes]

To be fair, you should read their story. Their doctor told them there were 4 mature eggs(as opposed to the 6 that fertilized) and that their chances that all 4 would fertilize and be viable would be below 1%. I'd say based on that information, they made an informed decision. They ended up being part of the 1% and made a decision based on information from their doctor that was incomplete since he missed 2 of the mature eggs.
Now if you are talking about fertility treatments in general, that is a whole other debate.

[expatguy]

"...She was infertile but she's only 26? She was trying to get pregnant since 24? To each her own...[sic]"

Is two years really such a long time?

Me and my wife "practiced" for almost 3 and a half years before she got pregnant with our first. She got pregnant with our second only 8 months after our first was born.

Sometimes people should be patient. Practice makes perfect you know.

[cupcakes]

Thanks, something like that;-) I have had hypertension with this pregnancy, so the closer I get to viability, the happier I get and it is nice to know we are a short couple of weeks away from that point, although I hope, of course, we go much further(good chance, I had hypertension, although later, with my 1st and delivered her at 38 weeks and my son I did not have hypert and was induced at 37 weeks).
I know, I read the article and noticed that. Sounds like they made a decision based on incomplete information and then were probably encouraged that it was not likely that all 4 would fertilize. They made a responsible decision based on the information they had at the time.

[cupcakes]

When I say physical, I mean structural problem like blocked tubes, uterine deformities, or low sperm count. Had they had a STRUCTURAL problem, they would not have been able to conceive naturally with only fertility meds to aid them. Sounds like she had a hormonal problem instead of a structural problem and with that corrected via fertility meds, they could conceive the good old fashion natural way
Read up, I did read the article and corrected myself:-)

[cupcakes]

Never mind me either--note to self--read all the way to the end of the posts;-)

[cyborg]

good point... there's way more controversey in treatments... as much investigation into IVF clinics by pro-life groups should be done to be consistent. Some doctor is claiming to have implanted the first human clone. Sounds like crap to me but you never know.

[cupcakes]

LOL--we practiced for a bit too. You are right about the second time around. Things went much quicker and we had 23 months between our first and second. This time took a bit longer(there will be 4 yrs between my youngest and this baby), but again that nasty old stress level for me has been off the charts the last couple of years and I know that contributed to my "infertility".

[cupcakes]

Yeah, I'm watching that one carefully. Could you ever have more then one or would you end up with nearly identical "twins" if they are cloned? What is so neat about a unique sperm and a unique egg joining up is that the individual is one of a kind.

[cyborg]

call me crazy but I don't get warm and fuzzy thinking about cloning