Woman delivers sextuplets • First in Nigeria.

Above are the Harris sextuplets who are the first Afro-American sextuplets in the U.S

NIGERIA recorded the birth of its first set of sextuplets on Saturday at the Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital (OOTH), Sagamu, when a woman, Mrs Amuda Ajoke Bello, aged 32, gave birth to the babies around 4.00am. Speaking with Sunday Tribune, the Chairman, Board of Directors of the Teaching Hospital, Professor Femi Ajayi, said the woman was delivered of the babies through caesarean section around 4.00am on Saturday by two doctors.

Professor Ajayi disclosed that the woman had two kids before the recent delivery. The babies, three boys and three girls, who are under intensive care unit at the hospital, weighed between 650, 600, 850, while the three others weigh 900 grams respectively. The woman, who hails from Ijebu Igbo, in Ogun State, is said to be in stable condition. Professor Ajayi attri-buted the feat and the success of the birth to “pure professionalism.”

This was the first time the nation would be recording this highest birth as four were delivered at one hospital in Minna, Niger State, last year. The father, a battery charger, was said to have fled when he received the news. The Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr.Mrs Abiodun Oduwole was on ground to see the mother and the children. The management of the Hospital has decided to take care of the medical bill in a bid to lessen the burden of the parents of the sextuplets.

That is my country. OMG, the father fled probably due to the poverty issue.

Source: Nigerian Tribune

OCTUPLETS GRANDFATHER TO APPEAR ON OPRAH THIS TUESDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2009.

Photo via Harpo Productions

Ed Doud, the father of California octuplet mom Nadya Suleman, has done his first nationally televised interview – with Oprah Winfrey.

During the exclusive chat, Doud reveals how he found out about his daughter’s pregnancy, how the family is coping – and also sheds a few tears about the situation.

"You know, she needs help," he tells Winfrey, defending the Web site that was recently launched to support her 14 children. "I say to everybody now, people, we do need help. Do not punish my daughter for what she had done and do not punish the babies, because they were given by God."

Doud doesn't mince words when addressing his daughter's decision to carry eight babies to term, calling Suleman, 33, and the fertility specialist who implanted six embryos in her womb "absolutely irresponsible."

Suleman has faced even more scrutiny since it was revealed that she supports her large family, in part, with the help of food stamps.

The babies' grandfather maintains caring for Suleman's 14 children will be a family affair. His greatest hope? "To stay healthy … and to have my grandchildren – all of them – to be healthy, and the mother to finish her schooling and start working," he says. "We all could support this family."

Dr. Mehmet Oz, a frequent contributor on Winfrey’s show, also joins Doud and the talk show host in the episode to discuss the ethics behind the actions of the fertility specialist and Suleman.

Source: PEOPLE

QUOTE OF THE DAY.......CNN TALK SHOW HOST ANDERSON COOPER.

"Oh, Don't fight! Easier said than done...." Anderson Cooper on AC360 commenting on what one of the Chukwu Octuplets told Randi Kaye about their advice to the new Suleman Octuplets. (3:43 on YouTube Video)

LOL! Yeah, I hear you Anderson.....

OUR ANDERSON COOPER 360 APPEARANCE LAST NIGHT 2/18/09

STAY TUNED TONIGHT: WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 18TH 2009 FOR OUR APPEARANCE ON ANDERSON COOPER'S AC360 ON CNN AT 10PM/EASTERN/9PM CENTRAL.

Our Publicist Kemi has booked us for a CNN shoot for a special segment on Anderson Cooper 360. Cooper is an American journalist, author and television personality. He currently works as the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories. Our segment airs Wednesday night 2/18/09 at 10/9pm Eastern/Central.
That was a nice mini "reality show." LOL!
Special thanks to CNN Correspondent/Anchor Randi Kaye and CNN Producer Susan Chun.

Photo Source: CNN.com Bios

To begin reading a preview of Randi's story, click here to the AC360 blog. Below is an excerpt of Randi's exciting trip. Randi's photo: CNN.com bios.

The first thing you notice when you walk into their six-bedroom home, which was donated to them all those years ago, is how much it’s run like a business. The childrens’ grandmother earned the nickname “Commander in Chief” because she lives with them and she keeps the household running smoothly. I watched as she ordered them all to clean their plates after dinner. She also developed a color-coded system to make getting ready for school easier. They all wear the same color every day of the week. They wear red on Monday, maroon on Tuesday, yellow on Wednesday and it goes on from there."

HERE IS THE STORY OUR HOMETOWN TV STATION KHOU-TV DID ABOUT US ON SUNDAY FEB 15TH 2009.

Ever since she gave birth to octuplets last month, a California mother and her babies have been blinded by the media glare. Not all of the news has been good. Many people feel the unemployed mother, who already has six kids, should not have used fertility treatments to have more babies.

Ten years ago, the country’s first set of octuplets were born in Houston. 11 News asked the Chukwu family to weigh in on the California case. The Chukwu kids, who live in League City, are now in fourth grade.

“We pray for her every day. We love her. We love them. We love the kids. We pray for her,” Nkem Louis said of the California multiples’ mom.

“The kids are here, they need help. Their mother can be talked about, but those kids need help like ours. We had an army of volunteers,” Iyke Louis said.

The Chukwu octuplets, who pray at least three times a day, have included the West Coast multiples in their prayer points.

“We’ve been praying for their health and praying for them to survive,” Echerem Chukwu said.

They’ve also offered some advice to the babies: Share with your siblings and don’t fight. Read the rest....

Watch video #1

Video #2

Source: KHOU-TV Houston

Special thanks to Courtney Zubowski of KHOU-TV

Search Intensifies for Missing 3-Year-Old Arkansas Boy.

Officials intensified their search Saturday for a 3-year-old boy who vanished from his home in Arkansas, but turned up no leads.

An Amber Alert was issued for the child, Dominick Wesley Arceneaux, when his mother reported him missing from the backyard of their Ouachita County, Ark., mobile home on Tuesday evening.

Local, state and federal agents, along with members of the National Guard and volunteers, have joined the hunt for the boy — but without success.

Sheriff David Norwood said Friday afternoon there was still no hint of what may have happened to the toddler.

"We're following anything we can," Norwood said. "It would be different if we knew he'd been kidnapped, where you can take your efforts away from searching the lake, searching the woods. You could focus on finding a car or whatever other clues were available." Read more......

Source: Fox News

This family remains in our prayers.....

HEALTHY FAMILY TIP: WHAT IS AN AMBER ALERT?

An AMBER Alert is a child abduction alert bulletin in the United States and Canada, as well as other countries, issued upon the suspected abduction of a child. AMBER is officially a backronym for "America's Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response" but was originally named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old child who was abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas in 1996. Exceptions are in Georgia, where it is called "Levi's Call", Hawaii, where it is called a "Maile Amber Alert", and Arkansas, where it is called a "Morgan Nick Amber Alert" Those plans were named after children who went missing in those states.

AMBER Alerts are distributed via commercial radio stations, satellite radio, television stations, and cable TV by the Emergency Alert System (where they are termed "Child Abduction Emergency"), as well as via e-mail, electronic traffic-condition signs, the LED billboards which are located outside of newer Walgreens locations, along with the LED/LCD signs of billboard companies such as Clear Channel Outdoor, CBS Outdoor and Lamar, and wireless device SMS text messages. Those interested in subscribing to receive AMBER Alerts in their area via SMS messages can visit Wireless Amber Alerts, which are offered by law as free messages. In some states, the display scrollboards in front of lottery terminals are also used. The decision to declare an AMBER Alert is made by the police organization investigating the abduction. Public information in an AMBER Alert usually consists of the name and description of the abductee, a description of the suspected abductor, and a description and license plate number of the abductor's vehicle, if available.

The U.S. Department of Justice issues the following "guidance", which most states are said to "adhere closely to":

1. Law enforcement must confirm that an abduction has taken place.
2. The child must be at risk of serious injury or death.
3. There must be sufficient descriptive information of child, captor, or captor's vehicle to issue an alert.
4. The child must be 17 years old or younger.

Source: Wikipedia

Publicists for octuplets' mother quit over death threats.

Two Brentwood publicists said they dropped octuplets mom Nadya Suleman as a client Saturday because they have received a slew of death threats.

Suleman, a 33-year-old Whittier resident, was unmarried, unemployed and already had six children using a sperm donor when she gave birth to eight children from the same donor Jan. 26 at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower.

Joann Killeen, president of Killeen Furtney Group, said she and husband Mike Furtney decided to drop Suleman early Saturday. Soon after the births, the couple began representing Suleman for free, and almost immediately started receiving threatening e-mails and phone calls from people enraged over the octuplets saga, she said.

"They hope I die, they hope my business goes under, they want to rip her uterus out," Killeen said. "They say I should be anesthetized and put down like a dog."

Killeen said she and Suleman felt so threatened that last week they stayed at an undisclosed "secure location" for a few days before returning home. The babies are still being treated at the hospital, Killeen said.

After creating a website for Suleman on Tuesday, Killeen said, she received 55,000 e-mails, most of them negative, and she has stacks of angry mail.

Killeen said she and her husband became afraid enough to send their dogs to a kennel. On Friday, they contacted the Los Angeles Police Department, and officers told them that the threats were the worst they had seen since the O.J. Simpson case, Killeen said.

"The American public have just lashed out," she said. "I think it has to do with the economy, healthcare -- there's not a lot of jobs, people are unemployed and are trying to take care of their families."

Suleman has hired the Franklin, Tenn.-based Ambassador Agency Inc. to arrange a book deal and manage her appearances, Killeen said.

Ambassador represented an Iowa couple who had sextuplets in 1995 and the Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church in Lake Forest, who spoke at President Obama's inauguration. The agency's president, Wes Yoder, did not return phone calls Saturday.

Source: LA Times

Octuplets doctor has another patient expecting quadruplets.

Photo: (Gazette photo by David Lee Hartlage) The Grady Quadruplets (now 11 years old)

Three reporters at the L.A Times are reporting that the patient, who is in her late 40s, wanted one baby. Dr. Michael Kamrava transferred at least seven embryos to her. She is now hospitalized without insurance. A few months after Dr. Michael Kamrava helped Nadya Suleman become pregnant with octuplets, he transferred at least seven embryos to another patient.

She was in her late 40s and wanted just one baby.

Now she's five months pregnant with quadruplets and hospitalized at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, according to several sources familiar with the situation.

The new case could add to concerns about Kamrava's practice and about whether the fertility industry needs more regulation.

In fertility medicine, any pregnancy greater than twins is considered a poor outcome because of the danger it poses to the mother and the babies. Quadruplet births are rare, with an average of 14 sets born in California each year, according to state records.

"Historically, we have been very hesitant to regulate anything close to procreation from parents making judgments about how many children they will have and when," said Kirk O. Hanson, ethics professor and executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

"However, that worked under a natural process of fertilization and incubation. There are serious questions about whether it works in an era of scientifically enhanced procreation."

The woman in the latest case arrived recently at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles for unspecified treatment but was transferred last week to County-USC Medical Center because she lacks insurance. Doctors placed her on bed rest until the birth of the babies, which could be two or three months from now.

The California Medical Board has said it is looking into the octuplets' case to determine whether a doctor may have violated any standards of care. Read more...

Source: The Los Angeles Times By Kimi Yoshino, Jessica Garrison and Alan Zarembo
February 13, 2009

NEWS BULLETIN..........

• Teenage mom expecting triplets at 17. (The Sun U.K)
  
• 13 year old boy becomes father. (The Sun U.K)
• Gov Sarah Palin unamused by Planned Parenthood spot. (CNN Videos)
• 100,000 parents of U.S citizen children deported. (Houston Chronicle)
  
• Mothers of multiple offer reality check advice to Nadya Suleman. (FOX News)
  

Police to Investigate Threats to Octuplet Mom.

NADYA SULEMAN --THE FINAL MONTH...................

Photo courtesy of TMZ.com

TMZ has just released this picture of Nadya Suleman a week before she gave birth on January 26th 2009. WOW! Brings back some memories.....

Octuplet case sparks calls for fertility-industry curbs.

At first, the world celebrated Nadya Suleman's octuplets as a medical miracle. But reaction to the Jan. 26 births quickly devolved from ballyhoo to backlash after the public learned that she had six other children through in vitro fertilization and was living on welfare.

Ethicists, medical providers and average citizens are asking why any physician would help Suleman, a single mother in Whittier, have that many children. Some said the case is evidence that the nation's $3 billion, self-regulated fertility industry needs government oversight.

“This case is an example of fertility services run amok,” said Lori Andrews, director of the Institute for Science, Law and Technology at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

But others, including many fertility doctors who readily concede the octuplets case defies medical guidelines and common sense, insist it is an aberration.

The first octuplets in the United States were born in 1998, also through in vitro fertilization.

“This doesn't happen very often. It shouldn't ever happen. But one has to be careful not to be reactionary to something that happens once a decade,” said Dr. Sanjay Agarwal of the Suleman octuplets. He is a clinical professor of reproductive medicine and director of fertility services at the University of California San Diego. Read the rest.......

Source: San Diego Union Tribune

MEMORIES AND HISTORY TRIVIA.

The Mandy Allwood Octuplets and the $2 million media deal promised to her. A good read. Double click article to enlarge.