Believe it or not, but 11 years have passed since Natalie Suleman, aka “Octomom,” gave birth to her historic octuplets.
The event was monumental for a number of reasons, including the fact that it was the time in United States history that a woman gave birth to octuplets that survived.
The birth created a gigantic media storm, and much was written about the family.
Overnight, single mom Natalie, who was called “Nadya” at the time, became a celebrity. She even ended up in the debate about ethical pitfalls associated with in vitro fertilization.
Also note that she was already the mother of six, so her family grew to contain an incredible 14 children!
The financial burden of having 14 kids was immense and Natalie had to live on government assistance to survive. But that money wasn’t enough.
Natalie had to take drastic measures to survive, and she turned to stripping and the pornography industry.
Then one day, Natalie saw one of her daughters playing with her stage clothes — and she decided to turn her life around.
The family today
After spending some time in the adult entertainment industry, Natalie returned to her previous career in family therapy and counseling.
As for her youngest children — Noah, Maliyah, Isaiah, Nariyah, Jonah, Makai, Josiah and Jeremiah — Natalie reports that all the octuplets are well and healthy. They’re vegetarians and lead an active lifestyle.
Every morning, Natalie drives her kids to four separate schools, due to their varying ages and needs. And I thought I was busy in the morning!
The truth behind the pregnancy
As mentioned above, Natalie became pregnant through in vitro fertilization.
Her fertility specialist, the now infamous Dr. Michael Kamrava, started treating Natalie in 1997 and had supervised her previous pregnancies.
During her IVF process, Natalie had 43 embryos frozen at Dr. Kamrava’s facility. In 2007, she was ready to get pregnant again, but instead of implanting her with the recommended 2 or 3 eggs, Dr. Kamrava used 12.
Later, the doctor claimed it was Natalie’s choice.
Perhaps not quite unexpectedly, the California Medical Board decided that Dr. Kamrava committed “gross negligence” with “repeated negligent acts, for an excessive number of embryo.” As a result, the authorities revoked his medical license in 2011.
Even Natalie has been questioned and criticized over the years. Many people thought she was crazy to have so many children.
But despite the controversies, friends and acquaintances state that she is a good person. Natalie was determined to prove all haters wrong – not only has she kept these kids safe and healthy, she raised them to be kind and respectful.
“Her whole life, she couldn’t wait to be a mom. That was her number one goal,” Natalie’s friend Allison Frickert told the New York Post back in 2009.
Today, it seems that Natalie’s beautiful children are happy.
Despite the fact that people have criticized her and called her terrible things, Natalie shows that she cares for her children and they seem to be doing well — and that’s the most important thing!
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Natalie said that it costs $5,000 per month to run her household – even though she only gets $1,500 worth of food stamps from the government.
We wish Natalie the best of luck in the future!
This woman. This is THE definition of what is is to be a mother. Flawed. Raw. Honest. Smart. Hard working. She never complained once. Wow. Just wow Natalie.
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