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Mother Of Octuplets Talks On ‘Today’

Posted Feb 9, 2009 by Beth Gaddis

Updated Apr 16, 2009 at 11:35 AM

The single mother of octuplets, twins and four other children sat down with the “Today” show’s Ann Curry to talk about what possessed her to have so many kids.

Nadya Suleman said she was married for seven years and had several miscarriages before she was divorced.  She said she had several reproductive problems, including fibroids, severe endometriosis and lesions in her Fallopian tubes, which is why she decided to have her babies through in vitro fertilization.  She told Curry the same man is the father of all 14 children – and that he has not met any of them. (Watch the interview.)

“Is she crazy?” two of my co-workers asked when they saw me watching the interview.

That’s tough to tell.  She has her college degree in counseling and she talks like a therapist.  She says as an only child she always wished she had siblings and that she “projected” those emotions onto her older children, ages 7, 6, 5, 3 and twin 2-year-olds.  She says she was “fixated on having so many kids” and that she “knew that’s what I wanted.”

Suleman, 33, said she didn’t expect to ever have octuplets.

“I anticipated twins,” she told Curry.  She said she went to the West Coast IVF clinic in Beverly Hills, Calif., to have her final six frozen embryos implanted.  At her first prenatal care visit, when she was about a month along, the doctors saw five babies, she told Curry.

“I embraced it fully.  What else was I to do?” she said.

Suleman said she wouldn’t let herself feel overwhelmed, even when doctors discovered there were seven babies growing inside of her.  She said she didn’t feel overwhelmed even when a surprise eighth baby was delivered. 

“Every day I become more ready,” she says when asked whether she was prepared to care for all 14 children.  Speaking about the first time she saw the octuplets, she said, “They were amazing.  They were so tiny.  They are so beautiful.  And healthy. And thriving. And active!”

Suleman said she worked double shifts and skipped big purchases like a car in order to save money so she could afford the in vitro fertilization and support her children.  She said she could not have raised even the first six kids without her mother’s financial and emotional support. 

Now she’s hoping for volunteers, family members and friends to help her.  “Money is paper.  It’s superfluous.” 

She said she didn’t do this to make money.

“Anything that has to do with just the children – swings – that I will accept.

“I will feed them.  I will do the best I possibly can.  I believe God will help,” Suleman told Curry.  “All I can do is my very best and be present in their lives.”