So I was reading some more stuff about this chick from CA who had the octuplets.  When I first heard about the 8 kids at once I thought ‘dang, good luck with that!  I can hardly handle one…’.  Then I hear she already has 6 kids, and I’m like ‘whaaaat???’.  Then I hear not only does she already have 6 kids, she doesn’t have a job, there isn’t a father around because all of the kids were from a sperm donor, and she’s living with her mom off of disability.  But she won’t do welfare!  That’s beneath her!  But I doubt she’ll have to worry about welfare, since she’s already got book and TV deals in the works.

All I can say is bull-freakin-shiznat.   Here is some nutjob that has a complex because she was an only child so she decides to have a boatload of kids, kids that are likely to have all sorts of developmental issues.  Not only because they were so premature, but because there are 14 freakin’ kids!   And it’s not like she said ‘whoops, guess I’m just really fertile’, she WORKED to have that many kids.  She’s only 33.  Can you imagine her Match.com ad?  “33 year-old single mother of 14 looking for…well…anyone!”.  She said when she finishes school she knows she’ll able to support her family.  So, in all her spare time raising 14 kids she’ll also be finishing her degree in…wait for it…counseling psychology!  Now, I have a husband and many friends who are therapists, and none of them make enough money to raise 14 kids.  Unless you’re Dr. Phil.  And perhaps I’m picky, but some wacko who is so jacked she thinks having 14 kids is somehow going to resolve her childhood issues is not going to be my first choice to help me in my road to self-discovery.

I’m soap-boxing.  But as someone who tried so hard to have just 1 child, and who struggles daily hoping that I’m providing everything she needs, it is infuriating to see someone do this on purpose.  And it sickens me that our society will reward her for this – book deals, TV deals.  I know, let’s reward those people who act irresponsibly and unconsciously.  The rest of us are just boring!  Who wants to hear about the struggles of everyday people???  Sheesh.

But perhaps I’m a hypocrite.  I have watched “John and Kate Plus 8″.  I’ve also watched the show about the family who has 18 kids (and counting…ugh).  I guess the difference for me with the ‘John and Kate’ show is they didn’t PLAN on having 8 kids.  It just sort of happened.    And the family with the 18 kids…yeah, it’s nuts, but they have a seemingly stable family and somehow they’ve made it work.  The problem with those shows is they have now upped the ante for what is ‘worthy’ of television.  Jason and I have 2 embryos left – when we implant those, theoretically we could have 4 kids if they both turned into twins.  But that would only be quadruplets and only leave us with 5 kids – hardly newsworthy.  Forget the fact that it would send us into a tailspin of trying to figure out how to pay for diapers, childcare, college, how to give enough attention, etc.  That my body would get pretty wrecked birthing 4 kids.  That the hospital bills would be huge.  We wouldn’t get those lifetime supplies of diapers, formula, bottles, donations, TV shows, book offers, etc. 

Well, now my one child has woke from her nap and I must tend to her.  How boring!!!