These Chinese octuplets, born with the help of in vitro fertilization and three different mothers, have raised ethical questions in a country known for its strict One Child policy for population control.
So you already know the challenges of hiring a nanny for your busy family. Imagine all the background checks and job interviews you’d need to hire 11 perfect candidates!
In Guangzhou, China, an unidentified wealthy couple has just sent shockwaves throughout the country for engineering the birth of octuplets in a blatant defiance of the Chinese “One Child” policy. According to the Associated Press, the couple was discovered by the media after bringing their children to a local photo studio for a series of cutesy costumed poses.
From the AP report:
“… many Chinese were amazed to learn that a couple had spent nearly 1 million yuan ($160,000) and illegally enlisted two surrogate mothers to help have the four boys and four girls.
The incident has highlighted both the use of birth surrogates, a violation of Chinese law, and how wealthy Chinese do as they please, with scant regard for the rules that constrain others. The most-common reaction, though, has been simple disbelief.
… Chinese media are calling the mother babaotai muqin, or Octomom, a reference to the American woman who gave birth to octuplets using in vitro fertilization.”
The biological mother is believed to have given birth to two of her children, while two surrogate mothers gave birth to three children each.
The babies were born last October. The Guangzhou Daily, a government-run newspaper, reported that the mystery couple hired 11 nannies to handle the stress of being first-time parents with 8 newborns. The paper also said that the couple and the babies are now “in hiding” to shield themselves from public resentment.
Hopefully, these babies won't be negatively impacted by the legal circumstances they obviously had nothing to do with.
The Chinese media’s “Octomom” reference, of course, is to tabloid darling Nadya Suleman, the single mom who notoriously had herself implanted with 12 embryos despite already having six children. It’s estimated that raising 14 kids at once costs $78,336, a figure that’s easy to understand once you’ve purchased your first case of diapers and baby formula.
Perhaps fueled by anger that her personal costs need to be subsidized by government assistance, Ms. Suleman recently had the dubious distinction of being voted near the top of America’s Most Hated List. She recently told the TODAY Show that she feels like she is being scapegoated because she is an unemployed single mother.
“If I had a mate, that would have defused a lot of the animosity,” she told the NBC show.
Meanwhile, a recent survey of 1,200 mothers for TheBump.com and Forbes Woman concluded that 92 percent of working moms and 89 percent of stay-at-home moms feel overwhelmed by the stresses of everyday child care.
Sound like someone needs to search for a nanny ASAP.
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