i have no words

ok, that's so not true.

i have MANY words. most of them heated/angry/incredulous, in fact.

i read a story this morning about the "octuplet mom" in california. you know the one. the one who already had SIX (count them, SIX) children UNDER THE AGE OF SEVEN when she got pregnant. the one who is an unmarried, "full time student" that expects (at least from what i've read) her parents to shoulder the burden. the one who DESPITE the 6 kids, unmarried status, non job working PROCEEDED to not only use fertility drugs (yes, i'm assuming that fertility drugs were used because 8 babies does not happen naturally unless you're a cat!), but chose not to selectively reduce when it was discovered that there were SEVEN fetuses. (the 8th wasn't found until she was in the delivery room.) and the one who EXPECTS someone to PAY her TWO MILLION dollars to share her "story" and "parenting expertise".

these are the first words i had when reading that little tidbit:

WHAT

THE

FUCK??

now, i'm all for people having babies. i completely understand the draw & desire to have children. and i understand that for some, fertility drugs are the ONLY way that the dream of children can become a reality.

BUT.

for a woman who ALREADY has six kids? fertility drugs/egg stimulation/etc should NOT have been an option. AT ALL. i could ALMOST understand it if she had ONE prior child, maybe two and had turned to fertility treatments to conceive THOSE kids due to problems in previous pregnancies. (a la John & Kate Gosselin who'd had twins, wanted one more & ended up with 6 more.) not only do i believe that the doctors who assisted her in this folly should come up before some type of review board, i think that the state/federal governments should REFUSE to assist this woman with any type of money. (i know that sounds harsh, as the babies themselves did NOTHING wrong and shouldn't be punished for the stupidity of their mother. but still.)

i'm just floored at the things that continue to come out about this story. such as the woman's parents have hinted that their daughter may have some sort of mental illness. um, HELLO?!?!?!? did NO ONE think that after 6 kids MAYBE she should have been "fixed"??

nothing about this "spectacle" is easy or in black & white. there are 14 fatherless kids to think about. 8 of whom are still in the hospital fighting to get off of machines. the children are not at fault. i have MANY ideas as to what should happen to the mother in all of this. none of those ideas have a good outcome for the children however. it just makes me immensely sad that in today's world where there are so many people who struggle to have one baby, there are women like this that feel no compunction at all to have children that they are ill prepared to care for.

and the worse part? it's sounding more & more like this woman PURPOSEFULLY got pregnant with these babies to capitalize on the publics fascination with multiples. unless i'm TOTALLY misreading the stories, she PLANNED to sell her story and wanted to try to get a reality show/sponsors/etc.

i understand wanting the american dream. but at the expense of your own children? shame on you lady.