Nadya Sulema
The Suleman octuplets are the world's longest-living; this was only the second time ever that a full set of octuplets was born alive in the United States. The birth of the octuplets has raised controversies regarding their mother's decision to have a large family and the physician's decision to help her by the use of assisted reproductive technology.
Pregnancy
In 2008, Nadya Suleman had the remaining six embryos left over from her previous in vitro fertilisation treatments transferred despite being informed that for a woman her age the recommended guideline limit was three. A part of her reasoning for attempting a sixth successful pregnancy was so that the frozen embryos wouldn't be destroyed.
Six embryos were transferred and two embryos split into twins, resulting in eight babies. Five fetuses were evident after just one month and when offered the option of selective reduction, Suleman declined.
Birth
The delivery, via a scheduled Caesarean section, involved 46 medical personnel, and was practiced twice beforehand at the Kaiser Permanente hospital in Bellflower, California.
Doctors anticipated only seven babies, so the eighth came as a surprise. The infants (six boys and two girls) were born at 30½ weeks of gestation, approximately nine weeks premature.
The hospital where the octuplets are expected to spend seven to twelve weeks has requested reimbursement from Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, for care of the premature babies.
In her February 5, 2009 interview, Suleman stated that she holds each of the octuplets for 45 minutes a day, holding the smallest (born at 1 lb., 8 oz. (680 g)) the longest.
Immediate family
Mother Nadya Suleman (born October 12, 1975) (also known as Natalie Denise Suleman; Nadya or Natalie Suleman-Gutierrez while married; and Nadya or Natalie Denise Doud) was born in Fullerton, California. She was raised in La Puente, Hacienda Heights and Rowland Heights, all cities in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County.
She is the only child of Edward and Angela Suleman, who married in Las Vegas in 1974, and divorced in 1999. Beginning in high school, Suleman was desperate to become pregnant. She graduated from Nogales High School in La Puente, California in 1993, and studied to be a psychiatric technician at Mt.
San Antonio College. She held a psychiatric technician license, and worked as a psychiatric technician at Metropolitan State Hospital, where her back was injured while at work. She filed a worker's compensation claim in 1999 against the hospital, later filing another claim in 2001 against the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. She received a total of $167,908 in disability payments. She attended Cal State Fullerton and received a Bachelor of Science degree in child and adolescent development in 2006. Suleman returned to Cal State to pursue a master's degree in counseling, leaving the program in 2008.
Suleman married Marcos Gutierrez, a produce manager, in 1996. After separating from her husband, Suleman moved back in with her mother.
Suleman resorted to IVF procedures, using a single sperm donor supposedly named "David Solomon" (a male friend of Suleman) to father all of her children using the services of Dr. There is doubt as to whether "David Solomon" is the biological father's true name.
On one of the documents of the four oldest children's birth certificates, Solomon lists Israel as his "State of birth."
In 2001, Suleman started procedures to change her legal name to Nadya Solomon, but her name remained unchanged and there is no name-change decree on file. The IVFs resulted in four single births and one fraternal twin birth, with four boys and two girls born between 2001 and 2006:
7-year-old Elijah Makai Suleman (boy)
6-year-old Amerah Yasmeen Solomon (girl)
5-year-old Joshua Jacob Solomon (boy)
3-year-old Aiden Solomon (boy)
2-year-old Calyssa Arielle Solomon (girl, twin)
2-year-old Caleb Kai Solomon (boy, twin)
It has been reported that during 2008 Suleman made several attempts to contact Angelina Jolie.
Suleman denied any obsession with Jolie.
As of February 2009, Suleman is receiving $490 per month in food stamps along with disability payments for three of her six previous children. She told NBC one of her sons is autistic, another has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and a third experienced a mild speech delay with very mild autism.
Public career of Nadya Suleman
Suleman hired the firm of Killeen Furtney Group as her public-relations company and Wes Yoder providing a small amount of pro bono advice.
Suleman rejected suggestions that her decisions have been selfish or that she may not be able to care for her children. Suleman said she will get by with the help of family, friends, and her church, and she plans to return to school in the fall.
A US$1 million offer was made to Suleman by Vivid Entertainment to star in a pornographic movie.
The company went on to offer her family health and dental insurance if Suleman would agree to star in a series of films. Suleman has yet to reply to the request.
Extended family
Before knowledge of the octuplets became public, Suleman had been living with her children and mother in a small three-bedroom house in Whittier, California.
Property records show the Suleman house in mortgage default; it could be sold at auction in May 2009. Suleman's parents filed for bankruptcy in 2008, claiming nearly $1 million in liabilities, and abandoned another home in late 2007.
The octuplets' maternal grandfather, 67-year-old Edward Doud Suleman, and identifying himself as a former Iraqi military man, says he is returning to his native Iraq as a translator and driver, in order to financially support his daughter and her children. The grandmother, 69-year-old Angela Victoria Suleman, a retired teacher, has helped to look after the first six children. For example, she has stated that her daughter has not contributed toward housing or food costs.
Controversy
News of the octuplets caused an international media frenzy. Most public reply has been negative, and some even included death threats, which police are investigating. There has been much public discussion about Nadya Suleman's decision to have the octuplets, including a minor protest outside the Suleman home.