Heat Wave Temporarily Over But Power Problems Resume

We had some power problems the last couple of days, though it seems to be all better now.

I think there's plenty of couples who "decide to try" for a baby at a particular time. Not planned to the month, but at least to the year or two!

I honestly think that "planning" for a baby - a couple deciding to try for one, anyway - is the best way to do things. That way you end up with two loving and financially sound parents who wanted the child. And I also think that it is often necessary to plan for a baby; often even married women stay on birth control until they are ready for kids.

@NeverSleeps I think most modern couples do plan to some degree, and yeah, it does make for a certain amount of stability to do so.

Yeeeeeesss, everybody. I can definitely warn you against the dangers of the lights going out! And no, my kid wasn't planned, tho she did come into the world within the context of a stable relationship. Pretty special kid, that one.

@uptowngirl That's sad... How old are these women, if you don't mind my asking? It's sad that some women can't conceive - on the flip side of that, I know women in their forties who have had perfectly healthy children.

I am not up to 30 yet, no, but everyone is always telling me that the best time - for your body, anyway - to have children is before 30. Obviously it's not ideal to live in New York and start popping out kids before 30, but you know. There's that ticking again.

@BroadwayBk Thought so...it just seems like it's a good idea to have settled a few life issues and maybe also found someone to do half the baby-raising before you hurry to pop them out. But everyone's different. I've known women for whom having children was such an important issue that they went ahead and had them before they even found the kind of father who would want to stick around...

@Ajadedidealist: You sure you're okay? :)

I really think that if couples plan financially to have children, they will fair better when the little one or ones arrive. don't you think. I know this cannot often be done, but it makes sense to me that couples should consider it, if possible.

@BroadwayBK Weeeell, yes, them too. I was thinking of a couple of women who are actually sane.

@Everyone more crazy than the Octomum is that Duggar Family- 19 kids and counting .. oh my lord!!!!

@NeverSleeps, BroadwayBK I agree that there's something especially crazy and off-putting about Octomom's deliberate plan to pump herself full of kids. Whatever else you think of the Duggars, at least they do it out of religious reasons. You don't have to agree with their principles to respect them for simply living according to some firm set of principles, and for that reason they are even likeable. Same goes for Jon & Kate Plus 8 (not that I watched the show) but they wanted themselves another kid and wound up with a bunch of them, and then had to make a heart-wrenching decision not to abort the "extras." Which is totally human and sympathetic. Even if you would have chosen differently, no one would blame them for the choice they made. But Octomon? She's just....a freak.

Octomon was on Oprah once. And she told Oprah that she had those kids simply because of the closeness she lacked growing up with her mother. So she circumvents it by having children. The problem is that when she had the children, she told Oprah that she still did not accomplish the goal she was after and that was to feel connected to someone. She said she will continue to have babies until she feels that connection. Oprah couldn't believe it.

@ajadedidealist Ah, no. I think you're wrong. She DID choose to have herself implanted with all those babies at once, rather than only a couple at a time, which was the recommended way women get implanted. It took her a while to find a doctor unscrupulous enough to do that. That's what makes her so freakish and, in my mind, totally unsympathetic.

@JenMac Unfortunately its becoming a way of life for couples who cannot conceive naturally for they feel that they should take advantage of technology that is available but the amount of stress it causes is not funny. In my opinion you need a rock solid marriage to deal with all of that..

@uptowngirl Oh, man. I hear parents go into survival mode when they have that many babies at once - like, you are basically just living moment to moment. I hope she has someone to help her!

@hhusted Yeah, she said that because there was a huge backlash when she WAS on government assistance. People were angry that their tax dollars were going to the benefit of someone who purposely had so many children knowing that she couldn't take care of them financially.

@everyone I actually think in vitro - creepy as it may be - is a great thing. People these days are living longer and waiting longer to have children, so it helps people who want to focus on other things earlier in life to actually settle down and have a family later in life. Not to be abused, of course.

@Uraniumfish come to think of it that certainly is an oddity. I remember when I was a kid I used to fantasize that I would love to have twins so the baby making would be over in one shot but now seeing the effort not to mention the horrendous costs involved I have definitely had a re-think one child is probably all I can handle in a city where I have no support system whatsoever.

@BroadwayBK Hah! The "My Mom is a Lunatic" Endowment! I'd give something to help those poor kids survive not just the craziness of their mother, but the awful loneliness of being one of SO MANY freakin' children, and never having a chance to actually bond with your mother because she's too busy running around taking care of the other 13 kids.

I feel sorry for Octomom. I imagine raising one child is ahuge challenge - but thirteen! THIRTEEN! It would certainly give me mental health issues...

@Uraniumfish She truly is deranged and I too feel so sorry for those kids. You know all these Hollywood actresses and celebrities have made it fashionable to have children as they are splashed all over the media with their chic tots in tow. All this seems to influence young girls who seem to think it is fashionable to have a kid on your hip. A child is not a fashion accessory but a serious responsibility and to suddenly decide that you want 13 is absolute madness.

Oh, it's a disaster either way. How this woman is ever going to provide for her children, now that her get-rich-quick reality TV career isn't going anywhere? It's not like she can leave all those babies at home and go be a 9-5 secretary somewhere.

@uptowngirl Knock on wood! No matter how insane their mother is, I doubt the poor woman is abusive, and wouldn't wish for her children to be taken away from her. I just don't see how she is going to pull herself off of welfare for a good, long time. Somehow I'm guessing no good, sweet husband is going to step in and help raise this family.

@Uraniumfish: Do you think a man would be willing to marry a woman with so many kids. Talking about a big family at one shot.

Everyone currently the US doesnt have any limits on the number of embryos transferred per cycle but the UK has limited this to two while many other European countries have limited it to one.
http://pregnancy.families.com/blog/limits-on-embryo-transfer

Someone definitely needs to get on this - it's just not ethical to have eight children in one shot. And you'd obviously have to have some screws loose to even try.

@NeverSleeps I agree with you. She already had six children before she went in for the procedure and I think she and her unethical doctor knew exactly what they were doing. I have mentioned before that the US unlike the UK and Europe doesn't have limits on the number of embryos which can be inseminated but eight is excessive by any standards,

@uptowngirl Isn't that what she wanted? She is nuts.

@BroadwayBK This seems like one of those things that should be nipped in the bud before it happens. That way you don't have to worry about how to punish an unworthy parent without punishing innocent children.

Then again, can a government really legislate that a woman cannot have children? The idea of a government determining the number of children that is "right" for me is terrifying!

@ajadeidealist But you CAN place restrictions on the number of embryos you implant on the grounds of health concerns for both mother and children! Totally agree the govt shouldn't legislate anyone's number of children, however, carrying that many at once - probably everyone can agree - borders on the 'unnatural.'

@Uraniumfish "Borders" on unnatural? I wonder if anyone ever conceived eight children at once without the help of drugs or in vitro.

@ajadedidealist Maybe you can't legislate how many children a woman has in her lifetime, but I am not opposed to legislating the number of embryos a woman is injected with. I don't think there are many women wandering about who can't wait to have eight babies at once, so it's not like such laws would effect many sane people.

I don't know what the record is for the number of biologically conceived babies at once - maybe five? six? not sure - but anyway eight is definitely the result of drugs. I can't imagine that can occur naturally.