New Facts About Mother Of Octuplets Raise Ethical Questions

Being an invetro Mom, this woman's story intrigued me to say the least. (if you haven't read it, click here). But not for the reasons you might think. I don't understand why a single mother of 6 children living with her parents, would decided to seek infertility treatment...again, nor do I understand her choice to implant 8 fertilized eggs back into her uterus, but that's just it, it was HER choice.

"All week long, the media has reported on the health risks of having higher-order multiples, but few have directly addressed what the debate really comes down to: who gets to decide what a woman does with her own body. Limiting the number of embryos a woman can carry at a time brings up the same ethical issues as abortion, but it's easier and more comfortable to use the term "selective reduction" and make jokes about breastfeeding eight babies than get into a debate on choice."

When Rob and I went through this process, we were given options. We both believe that life begins at conception. If more eggs fertilized than we were ready to implant at that time, we would have frozen them to implant at a later date. Luckily, we didn't have to make that choice, but we did implant more than 2 eggs. Madison turned out to be the best of 3 eggs, but Rob and I both made the decision when they were implanted that we would be ok with triplets (looking back now, I was completely CRAZY to think I could have handled three!!)

But the point is this, it was OUR choice what to do with our eggs...our babies. The doctors advised, but when it came down to the dotted line, we got to choose how many eggs to implant. We made the choice that was right for our life and what we wanted. No one else should have that right -- not the doctors or the government.

You have GOT to be kidding... only in Alabama!

Alabama’s 12 most influential people
With the list composed of all men, and just one black, New York Times Regional Group editors say it shows the state has a lot of progress to make

By Dana Beyerle, Montgomery Bureau Chief
Published Tuscaloosa News: Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 3:30 a.m. Last Modified: Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 12:06 a.m.

"At a time when the United States is led by the first black and fifth youngest president, the most influential Alabamians remain largely white, older and male.
When a panel of editors at New York Times Regional Newspapers in Florence, Gadsden and Tuscaloosa selected the 12 most influential people in Alabama, one black and no women made the list. The average age among the group of power brokers is 65, with only two on the list younger than 60"....(clink here to continue reading)

Basketball

This past weekend, the four of us spent Friday night up in Nashville so we could watch Jackson play basketball on Saturday morning. Sad to say his team didn't win, but Jackson played GREAT!! He also got his report card last week, and again he had all A's! We are so incredibly proud of him. He is doing wonderfully with his new sister- his official job is to be on "sock watch" but he is always such a big help!

The trip was also our first overnight outing with Madison and she actually did very well. The drive seemed to be the toughest part. Even though she slept in the car, the 4-hour ride threw her off schedule-- and like her Momma, she doesn't like to be off schedule!

Jackson's basketball team has white shirts with blue lettering, so I had a onsies made up for Madison to wear to the game in the same colors. It read :"#4 is my Big Brother." Jackson loved it!

CHICKEN RISOTTO

Ingredients:
2 lbs marinated and grilled chopped chicken
1 lb orzo pasta
2 cans chicken broth
2 cups slivered almonds, toasted
1 cup chopped celery
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
cherry tomatoes ( about 1 to 1 ½ containers), halved
feta cheese, crumbled (to taste)

Dressing:

½ cup chopped fresh basil (or 1 Tbsp dried)

1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

½ cup red wine vinegar

1 cup olive oil

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper


Marinate chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) in a vinegar-based marinade of choice. Grill chicken and chop. Set aside.

Combine ingredients to make dressing. Set aside.

Cook orzo according to package directions using chicken broth (the package directions will likely require more water than the 2 cans of chicken broth, so ADD water to the chicken broth to obtain the amount of liquid required on the package directions – boil orzo in this liquid). Drain cooked orzo and cool.

In 3 separate containers: 1) Add toasted almonds, peppers, and celery to orzo and toss with 1/3 of the dressing. 2) Toss the tomatoes with 1/3 of the dressing. 3) Toss the chicken with 1/3 of the dressing. Add the tomato mixture and chicken mixture to the orzo. Add feta just before serving.

The recipe says it serves 4-6 but actually serves more (8-10?). You may have to experiment with serving size.

Recipe taken from Bay Tables cookbook and shared with me by my friend and neighbor, Jennifer Gardner.

Our First Christmas