The Litter

A couple in Humble, Texas, was having fertility problems. She is a type one diabetic and had had thyroid cancer. They weren't conceiving.

They underwent fertility treatments and she became pregnant with sextuplets. Doctors said, with her medical history, it would be very unsafe to try to carry the pregnancies to term. She consulted her church (Mormon) and they said "Don't reduce the number of children you're carrying."

A choice like that is very personal, and I do feel should be left to the couple. Jon and Kate Gosselin chose not to reduce. From what I understand, Kate was in excellent health (other than fertility issues). Kate's story had a delightful ending, six beautiful, healthy, children running around the house, in addition to her firstborn, twins. When it comes to "outcome" - Kate beat the odds. She made the right choice, anyone watching the children on television would agree. Yes, I know she's getting divorced, I'm only focusing on the health of the children here.

Kate wasn't a type one diabetic thyroid cancer survivor, though. Big difference.

As soon as the Humble couple decided to keep their children, they set up a blog and website so "people could have the opportunity to help us" with their children. Um. I don't like that. It smacks of... I don't know, selling the kids? The word "pimping" was used.

The Houston Chronicle has had ongoing articles on the couple. Many "posters"/commentators (the Chronicle has the ability, on most articles, to make personal comments about said article), voiced extreme objections to what they saw as the drive for money and "pimping out the kids". I'm inclined to agree.

Yesterday, the Chronicle ran an article. It seems Mrs. Humble did not beat the odds. She delivered at 23 weeks. One child is already dead. The others face a grim outcome. Children born weeks later ( at 25 weeks, another well known family in the Houston area, the "Conroe Triplets") are deaf, blind, and have severe developmental delays. At 5 years old, they barely know their own parents.

The Humble family tried to beat the odds, and lost. Now we taxpayers will face millions in medical bills. It is doubtful the children will ever be self-supporting. Each child (assuming they survive) will spend months in ICU, specialized home care, disability checks, special ed, eventual group home placement.

Last night, the Chronicle ran a story, strong emphasis on grieving parents struggle. The responses were so hateful the Chronicle deleted everyone's comments, dropped the story, and hasn't run any updates today.

The most common comment referred to the children as the "litter". While I agree with the term, I would never say it!

You know I have chosen not to have kids, they wouldn't be healthy. Primary reason. Also, I'd be a lousy parent... I have a serious medical condition. It would not be fair for the child to have 2 severely disabled parents. Who knows, maybe, if I didn't have "whack" DNA, and I did have a non-disabled healthy husband, I might have considered it.

Every adult who's sexually active has to make these choices. Do I want kids? Some who say yes, decide "How many kids do I want?" If you're a member of certain religious groups, procreation is a duty.

Which leads me to the fingerpointing. It would be easy to blame the "Humbles" for choosing to keep their children. But imagine the excitement, they wanted one, maybe two children; and now they'll have six! It must have felt like winning the lottery. I can't blame them for wanting children to love. They knew their lives would be filled with sacrifice the instant they signed up for parenthood. Unlike many couples, they underwent painful, expensive, and degrading procedures in order to get their children.

I don't blame the Humbles. I blame the Mormon church for "counseling" them not to reduce, knowing the mother had medical problems in addition to an extremely high risk pregnancy. Sadly, I doubt the "Church" will pick up the tab for the cost of caring for the children, or the funeral for the child(ren) that didn't make it.

Way to go, "Church". I'm sure Jesus is very proud of you for dispensing such "good" advice.

Edited to add, another child has died. The three girls seem to be OK, but the mother is worried about the surviving boy. Here's a link to their blog: http://stanseljourney.blogspot.com..