Couple hits a 'jackpot' with 8 test-tube babies
By Wang Qingchu |
December 20, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WHILE doctors are developing new methods to optimize successful test-tube pregnancy rates, the process can become too successful - as with a couple in Guangzhou who ended up with eight babies.
The infertile couple in the southern Chinese city who had desperately longed to have babies transferred eight embryos into the uterus of the wife and two surrogate mothers they hired to ensure a higher success rate.
But all eight embryos survived and the "octuplets" were born in October 2010 - three of them carried by the wife while the two surrogate mothers carried three and two babies, the Guangzhuo Daily reported yesterday.
Although China bans surrogate motherhood, a black market thrives across China under weak supervision.
The wealthy family hired 11 nannies and a driver to take care of the octuplets, four girls and four boys.
They reportedly spent 1 million yuan (US$157,522) on the in vitro fertilization procedure and are spending more than 100,000 yuan each month on raising the eight babies, the newspaper said.
The rare octuplets were hired by a children's photography studio in Guangzhou as "spokespersons."
A manager of the studio told the newspaper that parents and all nannies were involved to get them to model for the photo shoot when they were three months old.
The photo shoot was chaotic because it was hard to get eight babies to smile and pose at the same time. It took the whole afternoon to take only several pictures, the manager surnamed Li told the newspaper.
The group pictures of the babies were handed out to customers by the studio that touted them as China's first octuplets.
This October, the parents enrolled the babies in an early learning program, and the teaching center designed classes especially for them. The mother takes the babies to the center along with eight nannies, the report said.
Despite the seemingly happy story, such practices should not be encouraged because multiple births often lead to risky preterm births and other complications, said Dong Yuzheng, secretary of the Guangdong Family Planning Association.
The infertile couple in the southern Chinese city who had desperately longed to have babies transferred eight embryos into the uterus of the wife and two surrogate mothers they hired to ensure a higher success rate.
But all eight embryos survived and the "octuplets" were born in October 2010 - three of them carried by the wife while the two surrogate mothers carried three and two babies, the Guangzhuo Daily reported yesterday.
Although China bans surrogate motherhood, a black market thrives across China under weak supervision.
The wealthy family hired 11 nannies and a driver to take care of the octuplets, four girls and four boys.
They reportedly spent 1 million yuan (US$157,522) on the in vitro fertilization procedure and are spending more than 100,000 yuan each month on raising the eight babies, the newspaper said.
The rare octuplets were hired by a children's photography studio in Guangzhou as "spokespersons."
A manager of the studio told the newspaper that parents and all nannies were involved to get them to model for the photo shoot when they were three months old.
The photo shoot was chaotic because it was hard to get eight babies to smile and pose at the same time. It took the whole afternoon to take only several pictures, the manager surnamed Li told the newspaper.
The group pictures of the babies were handed out to customers by the studio that touted them as China's first octuplets.
This October, the parents enrolled the babies in an early learning program, and the teaching center designed classes especially for them. The mother takes the babies to the center along with eight nannies, the report said.
Despite the seemingly happy story, such practices should not be encouraged because multiple births often lead to risky preterm births and other complications, said Dong Yuzheng, secretary of the Guangdong Family Planning Association.
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