Got Quads?

As a mom of quadruplets, I’m somewhat of a novelty among friends and co-workers. Let’s face it… you may know people with twins, but it’s less common to know someone with triplets or more. So I’ve been asked a lot lately about the woman in California who gave birth to octuplets this week.

I haven’t had much to say until now. News came to light in recent days that I find a tad disturbing. I’m not going to judge this woman for reportedly going through fertility treatments (in vitro fertilization) when she’s already the mother of six children, including a set of twins. How a person decides to add to her family is up to her. We could have a long debate over whether the woman should have been allowed to pursue assisted reproductive technology (ART), but I’m simply not going to be drawn into that discussion.

My issue is this: according to CBS News and various other media outlets, the woman’s mother says eight embryos were transferred during the IVF procedure. Eight? Eight?! This is pure irresponsibility on the part of whatever clinic did this procedure. Sure, there’s a chance not all of the embryos would have implanted, but there’s also a chance that the embryos can implant and split! Eight? When I went through IVF we transferred three embryos, and even that is pushing it. All the embryos implanted and one split, resulting in quadruplets. The reproductive endocrinologist we worked with said anything more than twins is not considered a success. No one wants to intentionally put a mother and her babies at risk… at least that’s what I thought until this controversy came to light.

I’m having a hard time controlling my emotions and still making sense in this post. I don’t blame the woman in question. When you’re on an exam table about to undergo the embryo transfer it’s a scary time. You hope and pray that one embryo will implant and nine months later you’ll have a baby. I can tell you though if the option to transfer eight embryos had been available to us, we would have said no… I think. I’m not saying I want octuplets, but it’s hard to say what decision I would have made in the heart of the moment. But why that option was there in this case is beyond me.

One fertility specialist interviewed on CBS called it a “medical disaster.” So much is coming to light in this story that it’s making my head spin. The people I know who have pursued ART have not made the decision lightly. We have all looked deep in to our hearts, trying to figure out the best way to start a family. We don’t go through IVF, intrauterine insemination or other procedures because we want multiples. We choose these options because it seems like the best fit for our circumstances in our quest to have one  baby. I’m concerned how others will view our choices based solely on this case.

I am blessed to have four wonderful daughters and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I just hope others realize what a blessing my family is and don’t judge us based on one case.