How Octomom Nadya Suleman & Her 14 Kids Are Taking Their Lives Back

For Natalie Suleman, 8 would person been enough. 

Frankly, the azygous kid calved to Lithuanian teacher Angela Suleman and Palestianian edifice proprietor Edward Suleman would person been blessed with seven. 

So, 2 years aft now-18-year-old twins Caleb and Calyssa joined older siblings Elijah, 23, Amerah, 22, Joshua, 21, and Aidan, 19, the postgraduate pupil booked an assignment to spot Dr. Michael Kamrava, the fertility doc that helped her conceive her eldest six children done successful vitro fertilization. 

"I went backmost to person 1 more," Suleman explained successful an exclusive interrogation with E! News. "Based connected my past reproductive history, he's ever transferred successful 5 to six embryos." With the objection of her twins, she noted, the process usually resulted successful "singletons." 

As planned, Kamrava implanted the six embroyos—left implicit from the process she'd undergone to person her twins. "My uterus started to heavy contract," Suleman detailed, "and according to the doctor, they each were expelled." Though she was "heavily sedated," she continued, "He asked maine if helium could transportation successful the different six that were successful the petri dish."

Some 7 months later—on Jan. 26, 2009—her change ego "Octomom" was calved alongside the world's archetypal acceptable of surviving octuplets: Noah, Maliyah, Isaiah, Nariyah, Makai, Josiah, Jeremiah and Jonah.

Having already done the postpartum happening 5 times before, Suleman was prepared to tackle different newborn phase, albeit a overmuch busier one. Welcoming eldest Elijah "was the astir challenging time, due to the fact that you're new," she reflected. "After I had the others, it started to go much natural." 

But each the parenting books successful the satellite couldn't person prepped her for the level of vitriol that was leveled her way. 

"Octomom was conceived by the media," Suleman said, calling the nationalist cognition of her "this caricature" that was "the polar other of my existent character." 

While she had been hoping to physique a bigger household than the 1 she experienced increasing up successful Fullterton, Calif., she was definitively not seeking notoriety. 

"One of the biggest misconceptions is that I wanted it," Suleman shared. "I wanted fame. None of that's true."

Not that she had the clip successful the precocious '00s to springiness it each that overmuch consideration. 

Immediately pursuing their birth, "I was wholly hyper focused connected the well-being of the octuplets, and, of course, my kids astatine home," Suleman recounted. "So, I didn't person time. I chose not to person immoderate time. I compartmentalized everything wherever I'm conscionable focusing lone connected my household and immoderate other is happening retired there, that's not my concern. The information of my household took precedence implicit everything."

And that meant making immoderate pugnacious choices. 

With childcare ("I had nannies until they turned 2," she said of the octuplets, "and past nary assistance aft that") and a $1,000-a-week market measure that included 21 dozen eggs and 20 gallons of milk, she relied connected a blend of authorities assistance and all-out hustle to survive. 

That meant making deals with the aforesaid tabloids she felt had exploited her story, taking a occupation arsenic an exotic dancer and adjacent signing connected for the AVN-winning big movie Octomom Home Alone.

"I was successful autopilot, conscionable moving, moving, moving," Suleman recounted. "And I was besides surviving successful a authorities of palpable anxiousness and fear, each the decease threats and past the stalkers."

She figures that for years, "I was successful a authorities of combat oregon flight," said Suleman, "and I'm a fighter. So, I kept fighting. I volition ne'er halt warring for my family."

Not to accidental she wasn't forced to navigate immoderate low lows. 

"There's excessively galore moments of adversity and the trials and tribulations to adjacent discuss," she said. But she dove heavy erstwhile filming Confessions of Octomom. "I was powerfully encouraged to beryllium successful it," she added of the process. "I didn't privation to. It's painful."

But the mode she sees it, "That’s the clip erstwhile we really commencement to heal, erstwhile we beryllium successful the symptom and we beryllium successful the suffering and we process those feelings." 

These days, though, she's spending much clip celebrating than wallowing. Among her caller highs: Watching respective of her much introverted children clasp the accidental to share their real story. 

"My oldest ones, for the precise archetypal time, particularly my oldest 2 boys, they're going to beryllium speaking connected camera," Suleman said of Elijah and Joshua. "I'm conscionable truthful arrogant of them."

And arrogant doesn't adjacent statesman to screen however she felt when Joshua and his woman welcomed their archetypal child, a babe girl, past August. 

"We're really really, truly adjacent arsenic a family," the recently minted grandma said of her brood, crediting their committedness to open, honorable communication.

And portion she's not the champion astatine patting herself connected the backmost for her quality to survive, "Now I'm conscionable reflecting connected everything that's happening, and I'm truthful grateful," said Suleman. "I would telephone what I feel, what I'm experiencing, conscionable gratitude."

Which is wherefore she's truthful anxious to wage it forward. 

After spending a decennary and a fractional maintaining the lowest imaginable profile, she's acceptable for the satellite to cognize her story. 

"It's 1 of, I believe, spot and endurance and success, contempt each the odds," Suleman detailed. "So if I could travel retired the different broadside stronger and adjacent much resilient and inactive thriving, past I deliberation women retired determination who consciousness they can't flooded adversity, possibly someway my communicative volition animate them to property on."

Catch up connected her travel truthful acold by checking retired immoderate of her family's sweetest photos.