The Fairness of it All

It's a coupla days later and I'm still shaking my head over the whole octuplets thing.

Eight babies? At once? There are days when I'm overwhelmed by two. And they're not babies anymore.

What really irked me is the unfairness of Mother Nature -- this woman in California popped out eight babies in 5 minutes. It took me more than 36 hours to push out my first, and she was lucky she was 6 pounds, 6 oz. with a small head or she wouldn't have her brother. (I'm not sure she sees that as "lucky" at this point ...)

The other thing that struck me was that No. 8 (Baby H), was a surprise. They were really only expecting 7. Almost like when you buy a dozen bagels and they throw that extra one in for good measure. You get home and think "Hey, lucky day. Extra bagel."

The anesthesiologist (and ladies, if you're having a baby in any denomination you want an anesthesiologist) Dr. Jalil Riazi, said the mother responded calmly to the news of the extra. “Her question was, ‘Really, an eighth baby? How did we miss that baby?' " he related.

From the latest reports though, it may not be the last time one of the kids is overlooked. There are apparently six siblings at home. Fourteen kids under one roof. God love 'em and good luck. If it was me, they'd all get those ankle-bracelet monitoring devices. Or maybe those ID chips many puppies get these days. I need all the help I can get.

Seriously though, it's almost too bad they didn't find a ninth baby. The family ended up one shy of its own Little League baseball team.