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What are Octomom & Her 14 Kids up to?

Looking Back

Nadya’s major life overhaul began in 2013, and she readily admitted that having so many children without thinking hard about it was “foolish, immature and selfish” of her.

She confessed that while she did not consider the possible consequences of her choices back then, yet had no regrets. With this confession, Nadya keeps her focus on raising her kids because they are her priority, and she has put her love life on the back burner, saying her celibate life is good enough for her now. Her pages on social media show her life now and what her family is up to, plus some great lessons and values that she teaches her fourteen kids.

I Want A Big Family

Having a sibling was never fulfilled as Nadya Suleman is the only child of her parents. Her dream was to have a more prominent family, but her parents had thought contrary to it. Her sheer determination compelled her to take such a massive decision in the future that would change her life.

Having eight babies in one go was extremely dangerous for her health. Yet,  she wanted to make her dream come true by any means and chose to put her life at risk. Nadya started her IVF treatments in 1997  when she was just 21 years old.

To Be The Best Mother

Unlike other students who have dreams and ambitions to change the world, Nadya had other plans; she wanted to brace her womb with the most extraordinary feeling. She wanted to have a family of her own. Her college mates also revealed that she was very eager to become a mother.

How hard had her childhood been as having no siblings made her feel so lonely that she only desired a big family? This ambition distracted her from other mainstream goals that rational people have, or maybe she was too out of the box. Nevertheless, she was very audacious.

Nadya’s First Infatuation

Everything appears to be fast forward in Nadya’s life, be it her decision to become a mother or bumping into her future husband. Nadya was just twenty-one when she first met producer manager Marcos Gutierrez. The connection was instant, and they started loving each other madly. After knowing Nadya’s plans, Marcos was extraordinarily supportive and wanted the children to be his own.

They got married to each other but soon after, there were a lot of marital problems as Suleman was too inexperienced, and his immaturity started becoming the barrier of their relationship, and they called it off.

A Treacherous Occupation

It surprised everyone who knew Nadya Suleman when she started working for The Metropolitan State Hospital as a psychiatric therapist. She earned her licence from Mt. San Antonio College after her marriage in 1996.

Even though her job provided her with a handsome salary but was not easy and highly demanding, Nadya felt that the job distracted her from her primary goal of having a big family. Her mind was juggling so much that it led to an unfortunate incident in her workplace that turned her happening life upside down, and she finally had to quit the job.

A Fatal Injury

An unfortunate incident changed the life of Nadya Suleman after she was severely injured at her workplace. Nadya was working as a psychiatric therapist, and one day some of the patients engaged in a verbal spat. She tried to intervene, but one of the patients turned over a desk that landed on her back, causing a severe back injury.

The workers’ compensation provided some funds to help her, but money was not the worry for Nadya; she only thought about the upcoming complications this injury might have on her conceiving. Such damages can turn fatal if not treated, and Nadya had planned to carry eight fetuses inside her womb.

Pregnancy Postponed

Nadya’s injury became the biggest roadblock in her ambitions. The wounds were hurtful both emotionally and physically. She was broken as the doctors had declared that being pregnant should be the last thing to consider, but she has lived with this dream. Nadya and her husband’s efforts had gone in vain as they planned to start a family for a long time.

The couple tried hard to have a baby, but they failed miserably. Her injury worsened with time to further deteriorate the problems; however, she somehow managed to collect herself and started focusing on all possible techniques to conceive.

Let Us Face It

What are dreams without obstacles? Nothing right! You get a kick from barriers. They give you a reason to follow and love your ambition even more. Nadya’s pathbreaking journey also consisted of numerous obstacles, but she accepted them all gracefully.

Initially, Nadya and her husband thought that her injury stopped the couple from conceiving, but the truth was something else. After several attempts at having a baby, they found out that Marcos Gutierrez was infertile. A natural way can never work for them, and they have to find an alternative. Nadya lost hope after learning this and got depressed.

No Alternatives Needed

The best thing about science and technology is that it keeps advancing with time, and many methods have been invented to bless couples with babies who are finding it difficult to conceive. Procedures like IVF and surrogacy are always open for aspiring parents like Nadya and Marcos.

However, Marcos was never up for an alternative. When Nadya pushed him to consider IVF, he threatened to leave her and became adamant about going natural. He was not ready to accept his flaw, and from here on, the tension between the two started arising, which further deteriorated and caused a lot of unrest in their marital life.

A Demanding Choice

After several attempts and verbal spats with her husband, Nadya finally decided to break free. It must have been a tough choice for her, but she somehow managed to make it. Nadya gave preference to her childhood dream of becoming a mother and left Marcos in 2000. The incompatibility led her to take this decision.

Nadya was now all set to opt for IVF and have a family of her own. Well, her decision was supported by many, especially women who felt it was an act of courage. But the complications await Nadya as things didn’t turn out the way she wanted them to.

Nothing’s For Free

Though In Vitro Fertilisation is not that complex, it is also not 100% sure. Hence, the doctors recommend fertilising multiple eggs to achieve a higher success rate during the fertilisation process. Nadya was in no mood to face defeat again and took this challenging process ahead.

Despite IVF being a super expensive treatment, Nadya decided to manage her expenses by working at multiple places. She started working at clubs and took up various sorts of part-time jobs to fulfil her desire of becoming a mother. Her loneliness had brought her this far, and now there was no looking back.

Worth The Risk

IVF is a process where multiple eggs are implanted so that even if most of them turn out to be non-fertile, the remaining ones do the magic.

But if all implanted eggs become fertile, then the pregnancy becomes a bit more complex and dangerous at the same time. Nadya was geared up to take this challenge as she wanted to have a big family anyway. So more than one baby won’t harm her. That is what she felt, but the doctors had a completely different tale. They knew that she was young, and the rate of fertile eggs could be more than expected.

She Became A Mother

It is very common to have more than one child through recommended fertilizing IVF, so most aspiring parents are already set to welcome twins or triplets. That is what Nadya might have expected from her first IVF trial. Still, luckily she became the mother of one infant and held her baby boy, Elijah.

She was incredibly pleased to become a mother; her IVF was successful and gave her hope of having more children. It was only a blissful start, and she was all set to surprise the world shortly with her quirky choices of having a big family of her own.

Six Not Enough

When Elijah turned one, Nadya decided to have another baby. This time she gave birth to a baby girl and named her Amerah.  After two successful rounds of IVF, she got more charged up, and her trust in this method increased. Now Nadya was not satisfied with just two babies and wanted more.

She went for more treatments and later gave birth to fraternal twins and two more kids. IVF made her a mom of six kids. In most countries, it is not very common these days to have six children as the people nowadays are aware and plan their family accordingly. But even after having six, Nadya wanted more babies.

Another Big Decision

The world was left shocked after Nadya announced having more babies. In 2008, she decided to implant all her remaining six eggs and would not like to waste them. With the supervision of her doctor, Michael Kamrava, Nadya took one step closer towards her dream of having a big family.

The result of her action was likely to grab attention, but the step itself was enough to turn all heads and media attention towards her. However, this decision was highly criticized by one section of the audience as they felt it was not okay to have so many children.

I Love IVF

Nadya’s doctor was initially hesitant to implant six eggs at once as it was equivalent to putting her life at risk. Still, Nadya was so adamant about it and highly impressed with IVF that she wanted to do it. Despite knowing that she might be pregnant with multiple babies, she took it as a challenge and was all set for this.

This decision raised all eyebrows and was not appreciated by the people as they felt medical negligence. Her decision might have created history, but this can be considered a complete medical disaster.  An interesting fact is that twelve eggs were to be implanted.

Eight More

Nadya and her doctor took a bold step even after facing backlash from the public. The medical practice deviated after Dr Kamrava gave it a green signal. Both of them knew that it was hazardous, and the thought of being pregnant with eight babies was terrifying, but Nadya was excited about this and did not fear anything.

The only question that bothered people and medical professionals was will she be able to carry eight babies at once? Well, they were all waiting and hoping for this to happen successfully. Nadya was super confident about her decision and was set to welcome her eight babies.

Octomom

Nadya forgot all her pain and her back problems after she experienced the bliss of being pregnant, as the joy was overwhelming and quite literally. As soon as Nadia’s story came into the media, she became an overnight sensation, and it seemed like the world waited for her octuplets to come into existence.

Another reason behind the hype for this human story in the media was that Nadya was a single mom, and she was brave enough to take care of so many children.  Feeding fourteen children is a big deal. Later, the media attention and publicity helped Nadya financially, but publicity like this is short-lived.

Healthy Octuplets

From time to time, sonographies revealed that all her eight babies were healthy, and once the time came, they all came out healthy. Her case was first in its kind, and the world noticed it as they had already been following up her story.

Instances in history have happened where more than eight children are born, but the catch with all those cases is that some infants are not alive right after their birth, and some do not make it until seven days. But Nadya’s babies were healthy, alive, and survived for more than seven days making history.

The World Wants To Know

Indeed Nadya’s confidence in science and technology is what has brought her this far. The world was unconvinced when she decided to get pregnant with eight babies; the world was terrified but strong Nadya was excited and thrilled. When the update on her pregnancy was out, and she was about to deliver her octuplets, people thought that some infants wouldn’t make it.

But after successfully giving birth to eight babies, the medical fraternity was stunned and wanted to get every possible detail of her story. Doctors wanted to speak to Nadya and know all the intricate details of her IVF treatment.

Ask My PR

At one point, Nadya’s story became so popular that she had to hire people for public relations to present her story to the world. She had become an overnight sensation for her unusual pregnancy. People recognized her even if they didn’t know her name. They knew her nickname, Octomom, which was already out with her story.

After the birth of her babies, it became challenging for her PR team to manage things. The buzz around her story was so much that people wanted to know every inch of information about this. Also, her successful pregnancy helped raise awareness about IVF.

A Great Word Of Mouth

Nadya’s pregnancy is a prime example of failure and success in the same story and has two sides. On the one hand, her story raised awareness about the IVF technique, while her case was the prime example of how not to go about IVF and how it can be dangerous for you?

Her stubborn nature resulted in the cancellation of her doctor’s medical license. Her critics pointed out that she had put her life at risk just to gain publicity. However, her fame had a completely different story. Americans were going gaga to know more about her, and she had become an instant celebrity and an icon for single moms.

Can’t Handle More

Her media persona became problematic at one point as she was dealing with too much of it. Her sleep was being compromised. Every news channel wanted to talk to her and take her interview, but she was swamped and wanted to take care of her babies, and once she chose not to appear on a news channel, people called her rude and called her out for showing starry tantrums.

Her simple goal of having a vast family seemed too unique to the people; hence they wanted to know everything about it, but they forgot that she is also a mother and requires quality time with her babies.

A Grim Situation

Even though years had passed since she had given birth, people still speculated about Nadya Suleman. Despite many in America adoring the Suleman family, Nadya’s critics kept sharing their sceptical remarks and did not back down. Unfortunately, this started to affect her ability to raise the children, and there were even reports of her grim situation. Nadya might have been at a shallow point in her life as she still felt alone despite having 14 children.

Since she struggled to raise her kids, she accepted welfare but didn’t know she would have to face another obstacle that even government assistance would not handle.

Problems At Home

Nadya’s time in the spotlight was at some point widespread, with rumours of her mistreating her children. It’s not hard to see why such stories came to be since it is already challenging being a single mother; what more if you have fourteen kids. Fully addressing the needs of the children must take a lot.

Child Protective Services looked into the matter and investigated whether the rumours were true. Still, when they formally visited Nadya’s house to conduct the investigation, they didn’t discover any signs of negligence. They found the rumours baseless, even declaring her home rather suitable for kids.

Forced to Move Out

Child Protective Services may have declared Nadya Suleman’s home suitable for children, but unfortunately, someone who could very much affect Nadya’s life completely disagreed with the statement. And this person was her landlord.

He had reported that Nadya had violated the lease terms and even told the media about Nadya’s situation before evicting her and her entire family. This shattered her alot and made her situation very desperate. Nadya simply wanted to be the kind of mother suitable to her kids, but they were now about to lose their home, which made her resort to desperate measures.

Dire Situation

To Nadya’s dismay, there wasn’t anything that could make her landlord change his mind and be empathetic towards her and her kids. Now in these circumstances, Nadya and her 14 children needed to move out from that place!

She has always maintained her profound love for her kids as a mom, but the pressing problem was that her money wasn’t enough to put a roof over their heads. Because she needed some money, she tried all sorts of things to get it, like joining the film industry, going into some business, and even trying out a music career.

Starting Anew

It is very stressful for Nadya to be in the spotlight as it was distracting her a lot from taking care of her kids. All this stress disturbed Nadya Suleman to a great extent, and when she realised this, she decided to change and start anew.

Nadya knew that this change would allow her to become a better mom and let her lead a much happier life. Hence, she successfully turned her life around. The first thing she did was a name change and then got a degree. After equipping herself with proper skills, she began working as a part-time family therapist.

The Solomon Family

Now 10 years old, Nadya’s octuplets are all doing pretty well and have a vegan diet. They all enjoy their lifestyle and eating habits a lot.

Their mother, Nadya (now named Natalie), has openly stated that her children are aware of her journey since she is open about it with them. She believes straightforward parenting is good for her children. Nadya thinks everything, even her odd relationship with the media, has turned out well when she looks back. What’s more, she believes that their current lifestyle helps have a healthy household, and her followers on Instagram know about this.

Her Guardian Angel

Nadya’s life is now back on track, and she is in her 40s. She is asked what pushed her to change her life, and she explained her “guardian angel,” whom she met back in February 2013, gave her the strength to stop living a “seedy” life and move on.

She said that one day while she was working in the movie industry, a very tall guy talked to him, and she added, “He walked straight to me and looked straight into my eyes. He took my hand and grabbed my arm, and said in a very gentle but firm way: ‘You don’t have to do this.’ He repeated it several times.”

Looking Back

Nadya’s major life overhaul began in 2013, and she readily admitted that having so many children without thinking hard about it was “foolish, immature and selfish” of her.

She confessed that while she did not consider the possible consequences of her choices back then, yet had no regrets. With this confession, Nadya keeps her focus on raising her kids because they are her priority, and she has put her love life on the back burner, saying her celibate life is good enough for her now. Her pages on social media show her life now and what her family is up to, plus some great lessons and values that she teaches her fourteen kids.

A Humble Life

It isn’t easy raising fourteen kids, but Nadya appears to be doing it quite well. She and her kids currently live in a two-bedroom apartment that she rents, and their family get by on food stamps and from paycheck to paycheck.

Nadya explained that after the hardships she endured in single-handedly raising so many kids, she’s now “at peace,” partly because her story continues to inspire women to decide for themselves and what’s best for them. Nadya doesn’t even like the name “Octomom” anymore, and she explained, “I didn’t want to live. I felt less than human as that character I was pretending to be, to survive and provide for my family.”

No Social Life

As a mother of 14, Nadya feels much happier now as she enjoys life. She loves spending time with her youngest children, the octuplets Nariya, Makai, Noah, Maliyah, Josiah, Isaiah, Jonah, and Jeremiah, and she enjoys her moments with her other children: 17-year-old Elijah, 16-year-old Amerah, 14-year-old Joshua, 12-year old Aiden, and 11-year-old twins Calyssa and Caleb. For her children to live a more stable life, Nadya decided to move her family to Laguna, Orange County, her hometown.

She explained to Daily Mail, “I was forced into doing things I didn’t want to do because I was so terrified I couldn’t support them and give them the life they deserved.”

A Normal Family

Nadya is a hands-on mother who has opted to forego her social life, and it has allowed her to form quite a close relationship with each of her kids. She said to the Daily Mail, “They fight, play, fight and play again like any normal family.” She also faces an additional challenge since her son Aiden has autism, but her children aren’t deterred and take care of their special brother all the time.

The Suleman kids know their home life is quite different from what others in America typically have, but Nadya has made sure to teach her children that there isn’t anything wrong with being different.

Fun During Holidays

Things may not always be easy for the Suleman family, but they are happy, and Nadya makes sure her children learn good values, like being content with getting only one present during Christmas. She said to US Weekly, “I’m focusing on raising the kids to focus on serving other people, to get out of their head.” She believes that doing this teaches her children to value all the things they receive, big or small, and not expect things to be free, meaning they should put in the work to get what they want.

Besides these reasons, Nadya’s finances cannot support an extravagant lifestyle, so she chooses to keep things simple at Christmas.

School

We can only imagine what the first few days of the class must be like for Nadya, a mom of fourteen! The stress levels must be high and multidimensional.  The 43-year-old mom shared her anxiety on social media by posting a photo of her youngest children smiling before they went to school. Her caption was: “Any other parents exceptionally stressed and overwhelmed by the first week back to school?”

Nadya joked that her older kids refused to take their pictures even though their mom begged them as they were totally baffled how to manage the younger ones that day.

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