Mom says raising eight grows easier over time

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Some time in the next few weeks, the Udobi family outside Houston., might start expecting a call for advice that only they can give: How exactly do you raise octuplets?
Until the Monday birth of octuplets near Los Angeles, the Udobis were the only family in North America to have given birth to eight living, breathing babies at once. Although one of those babies died after only a week, the Udobis branded their family "the first octuplets" and have, since their birth in 1998, slipped in and out of the spotlight.
In an interview, the kids' mother, Nkem Chukwu, a Nigerian-born American, said reports of the newest octuplets brought back memories of her brood's birth.
"It was crazy," she laughed. "We had a team -- I can't remember how many doctors. I think, like, 50 people were just running up and down. I was the one in pain, so it was hard to keep track."
Chukwu said her octuplets were conceived with the help of fertility treatments after doctors told her she was unlikely to become pregnant -- the result of a failed multiple pregnancy the year before. All eight babies were born alive 15 weeks prematurely. Then, after losing one of the octuplets, she and her husband, Iyke Luis Udobi, decided to try for one more child, which they were able to conceive. There is a four-year age gap between their youngest and the other seven.
Chukwu said raising the octuplets has become a smoother operation as they have aged. While she once color-coded their outfits for each day of the week in an effort to organize the chaos, their being in the fourth grade has brought her more independence. The family still relies on a 16-passenger van donated by Ford to get around, and "an army of volunteers" helping, but the workload is getting lighter, she said.
"The more they grow, the easier it becomes."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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