Nadya Denise Doud-Suleman earned popularity when she gave birth to octuplets- eight babies that she nurtured in her womb simultaneously- in January 2009. But this incredible woman’s story is not confined only to her eight children. Nadya’s life is a roller-coaster road with its sudden turns and it is unbelievable when you realize that her life has many more fabulous incidents attached to it which have happened to her over a small span of time. Read and explore what are those incidents that have shaped her life and how are Nadya and the kids living their life in the present day.
Single Child
Nadya Suleman took birth as Natalie Denise Suleman in Fullerton, California, on July 11, 1975, and is the only daughter to her Iraqi father and Lithuanian mother. Denise grew up as a single child, but since her childhood years, she wanted to be a mother and have a big family and many children of her own. It was beyond anybody’s wildest imagination that she would grow up and nurture such a huge family and end up having 8 children, that too all at once.
Realizing Her Desire
Nadya’s dream of having a big family did not leave her even when she grew older. The moment she completed her graduation from high school, she felt she was ready to experience the joy of motherhood. Even though she had plans to go to college but that could not keep her away from her desire to start a family. It took her some time to realize her dream, but when she finally did, nobody including Nadya had imagined that it would turn out to be this huge.
A Love Connection
When Nadya entered her late twenties, Nadya met Marcos Gutierrez, a produce manager at a local supermarket. The two immediately felt a powerful connection from the beginning, and eventually fell in love. Nadya shared her desire for a big family from the starting and found out Gutierrez shared it as well. Unfortunately, Nadya’s destiny had not planned a big family with Marcos as soon a big argument would form between the two.
A Traumatic Experience
In 1966, besides getting married, Nadya also earned her psychiatric technician license at Mt. San Antonio College. After graduating, she started working at the Metropolitan State Hospital, a psychiatric facility located in Norwalk, California which was not far from her home. Even though working in mental health can be extremely rewarding but, in her case, her experience proved to be more traumatic than she could have ever imagined.
Disc Injury
In September 1999 while Nadya got off to work like any other day she had no clue that that day her life was going to change forever. At her workplace, twenty of the patients that were hospitalized started a riot and she responsibly intervened. But as a result of the chaos, one of the patients flipped a wooden desk over, striking Nadya’s back on it. The incident resulted in her suffering a severe herniated disc injury which forced her to leave her work for the rest of her life.
Emotional And Physical Distress
Her injury led her to suffer a little emotional and physical distress but it was nothing compared to the stress and anxiety she was going through in her marriage. She was trying to conceive ever since her marriage with Marcos. The problem became so serious that they decided to see a doctor and find out what was going wrong.
Trouble Never Comes Alone
Nadya and Marcos were pursuing their family planning seriously, they tried together all the knowledge that they could by reading up on the subject and seeking the advice of multiple doctors but they were not able to get pregnant. Nadya was so affected by this that she began to feel depressed and hopeless until they finally met a doctor who gave them the bitter truth. They were doing everything right but Marcos was sterile. After they ingested the news, they started to look for other alternatives.
A Difficult Choice
Even though Marcos was sterile, Nadya was not convinced to give up her dream of a family with many children. If it was not possible for her to do it in the traditional way, she went on with other options. Despite his love for Nadya, Marcos did not support her desire to have children using non-traditional means. When Nadya came up with the idea of conceiving using a sperm donor and in vitro fertilization (IVF), Marcos did not support it as he didn’t like the idea of “test-tube babies.” And Marcos said he would leave her if she didn’t give up on conceiving via IVF.
Deciding For Herself
Marcos’s warning put Nadya in a dilemma. She could either stay with the love of her life or have the kids she had always dreamed about. Even though the choice was hard for her but she still chose her future children over her love for her husband. In 2000, Nadya chose to divorce Marcos and start IVF treatments in order to conceive.
Taking A Chance
Even though IVF is not a complicated procedure but still it does not deliver a 100% success rate and is very expensive. However, Nadya had already been through many failures and disappointments and was not discouraged by these facts. For IVF procedure, eggs implanted in the womb don’t always take which is why doctors usually implant more than one egg at a time- a procedure in which twins are conceived more likely. But was Nadya ready to take a chance?
Willing To Risk
Having more than one baby didn’t scare Nadya because she always wanted to have a big family, so if twins were the beginning of it, she was willing to take the risk. Little did she know what the future held for her, as she was soon about to find that out. So, she decided to go through IVF and fulfill her desire of becoming a mother.
Setting Foot In Motherhood
In spite of having the risk of multiple babies, Nadya’s IVF pregnancy went off without any problems, and in 2001 she set foot in motherhood and gave birth to her first child, a handsome baby boy whom she named Elijah. Ultimately, Nadya’s dream of embracing the feeling of motherhood was coming true but she didn’t want just one baby. She desired to have a big family, so she did not feel it was enough.
Desire For More
A year after Elijah was born, Nadya gave birth to a daughter whom she named Amerah. But in spite of having two children in her family now, still she felt it was not enough and decided to continue with the treatments. After Amerah, Nadya’s family grew from two kids to six as she gave birth to two fraternal twins- and two more kids after that. But her desire of having a big family was still not complete.
She Didn’t Want To Stop
Six kids were a big number to have but still, she wanted another daughter as most of her kids were boys. So, she consulted her doctor and asked for another IVF treatment. Nadya had six fertilized eggs remaining from her previous treatment and she did not want them to go to waste- so, she asked the doctor to implant them all in her womb in one go.
Challenging Ethical Codes
The doctor was not confident about implanting all of the fertilized eggs at once as it went against all good practices and challenged some ethical codes as well. However, Nadya was stubborn about her wishes so the doctor finally gave in and decided to go along with her desires. But instead of injecting six fertilized eggs, the doctor implanted twelve which exceeded the limit of a maximum of 10 eggs. Nadya did not want to take any chance with her pregnancy so doctors went against all the judgments and respected her choice.
Octuplets
Even though the doctor went with Nadya’s desire but it is not commonly practiced in the medical community. This resulted in his medical license being revoked but it happened only after his IVF treatments had taken place and after Nadya ended up getting pregnant with eight babies. If it was for any other woman, she would have been worried but Nadya on the other hand was excited. But despite her excitement, a major concern was whether she would be physically capable of carrying so many babies to term, let alone care for them after their birth.
Octomom
The gestation period during which Nadya carried her eight children affected her body as the human body is not made to carry so many babies at once. This unique situation made her a viral sensation and people gave her the nickname of “Octomom.” She became infamous not only because she was carrying eight babies at once but also because she was already a single mother to six kids before she got pregnant for the fifth time.
Babies Were Born
Nine months went by in the blink of an eye and finally, it was time for Nadya to give birth. To everybody’s surprise, all her babies were born healthy and delivery went by without any problem. Nadya’s babies were the first-ever set of octuplets to ever be born alive and remain so one week after their birth- a fact which turned Nadya into a viral personality overnight. However, this also got people questioning her story and raising concerns about her and her children’s wellbeing.
All The Attention
After giving birth to octuplets, Nadya became popular, especially in the medical community. Doctors did not have any clue how Dr. Kamrava’s IVF treatments led Nadya to be pregnant with eight kids, therefore, they were anxious to examine her and to know how she was able to become pregnant with eight babies at the same time, let be able to carry them to term. Even after knowing that her pregnancy was the result of IVF treatments, the fact that astonished medical professionals were that her body could withstand the pregnancy.
All Over The Media
When Nadya’s kids were born, she was already all over the media. Whether it was newspapers, tabloids, news channels, or bloggers, everyone was talking about the unusual pregnancy, and every household in America recognized her face on screens. Nadya decided to monetize on the viral sensation of “Octomom.” Briefly after, she gave birth and hired a PR team because she desired to stay ahead of the story and manage it. An endeavor that was more difficult than it seemed to be.
Effects Of Fame
It is quite common for people to change when they become famous. Something of the same sort happened with Nadya, fame changed her a lot. Many people knocked her by saying that fame was the motive behind her massive pregnancy. Considering it to be true, she still had 14 children to take care of when she came back home. Her celebrity persona brought with itself harsh criticism, with many people blaming her for taking advantage of taxpayer money through her use of welfare checks.
Opening Up To The Media
Nadya’s public personality soon got out of control. She was not able to control the coverage, and it started turning toxic for her. In order to control the situation, she decided to open up about her struggles and started giving extensive interviews. She told PEOPLE Magazine, “I don’t get much sleep, about two or three hours a night, but I’m continuing to move forward with my life and trying to be the best mother I can be.”
Facing Difficulties
Despite the fact that Nadya had become a national celebrity, she was struggling to make things work. Even though she made several attempts to hold down a stable job and find productive means to earn more, she was not able to take the financial burden of 14 children, and finally had to accept welfare in order to survive. Even with the help of government, she would soon face difficulties she would have trouble resolving.
Intervention Of Child Protective Services
Because of the immense media coverage, Nadya was getting, rumors started to spread quickly. People started saying Nadya was not providing adequate care to her children and the reason for such concern is quite understandable. Being a single, unemployed mother how was it possible for Nadya to take proper care of 14 children? Consequently, Child Protective Services had to intervene and they decided to investigate her and her family. After a detailed investigation, Child Protective Services concluded that the rumors were baseless and that she was capable of providing adequate care to her family. But more troubles were on the way for her.
Out On Streets
Even Though Nadya was able to overcome the Child Protective Services investigation, she still was not safe. Another challenge was on her way, her landlord. Nadya’s landlord was not happy with her way of living and ultimately decided to evict her. The news broke Nadya as the only desire that she had was to be a good mother to her children, and unfortunately, she was about to find herself on the streets and without a roof over her children's heads. It was time for her to take measures.
Capitalizing On Her Celebrity Status
Nadya was not successful in convincing her landlord to let them stay in the house, so, she needed to find a job and a house now. She decided to make capital out of her celebrity status and turned to the film business. She also tried to get into other business ventures, including the music world. Now the question was whether she would be able to feed her family adequately or not?
Beginning From Scratch
Someday Nadya had to realize that the “Octomom” persona and the media attention was not going to help her and her children in any way. She felt as if she had become a parody of herself and she was far from her true self and she had to do something to take charge- for her own sake and that of her children. Eventually, she changed her name from Natalie Suleman to Nadya and continued to finish her master’s degree in college, which enabled her to go on to work as a family therapist. But what about her kids now?
What Happened Thereafter?
The media chaos around Nadya and her family faded away after she changed her name, and in the present day, her octuplets are all a little over 9 years old- and doing really well. Nadya still records their lives and puts it up on an active Instagram account, which she named “the Solomon Family,” and all eight of her youngest kids now live a very active and healthy lifestyle- follow a raw vegan diet.
Meeting A Guardian Angel
Taking about the change that she went through, Nadya credits it to a man whom she called a “guardian angel,” who helped her to find herself once more. One night when she was still under the torment of her “Octomom” persona, she was at a nightclub, when all of a sudden, a man entered the room. She revealed that he looked her into eyes, took her hand, and said in a gentle and firm way: “You don’t have to do this.” He repeated it five times and on hearing it Nadya started crying and realized that she had to be her healthy self again.
Reflecting On Her Past
Ever since Nadya has turned her life around in 2013, it feels like she has awoken from a dream. In the present day, she feels her decisions including implanting so many embryos at once in her womb, were insensible. She even said that it was “foolish, immature, and selfish” of her to have brought so many children into the world without the measures to support them financially. However, she does not regret her choice and loves her children very much. Presently, Nadya’s focus lies in raising her kids, and on inculcating strong values in them.
Living A Modest Life
Raising 14 kids all by oneself was not at all an easy job for anyone, even if one is living in a mansion- but Nadya is doing it in a two-bedroom apartment without any help which is incredible. Reflecting on her time as “Octomom,” Nadya remembers that she had no hope to live. She felt less than human as that character she was pretending to be, to survive and provide for her family. Now she feels that her modest life is more satisfactory.
Providing Them The Life They Deserve
Currently, Nadya is at peace with her decisions. Reflecting on her decision of capitalizing her “Octomom” title, she distressingly revealed that she was forced into doing things that she did not want to do because she was terrified that she could not support them and give them the life they deserved. Let’s have a look at what are the octuplets, Makai, Josiah, Isaiah, Jonah, Maliyah, Jeremiah, Nariyah, and Noah, and their older siblings, Elijah (17), Amerah (16), Joshua (14), Aiden (12), and 11-year-old twins Calyssa and Caleb up to today.
A Happy Family
Nadya has given up her social life but the silver lining is that she gets to spend a lot of time with her family, whom she loves immensely. Like any other normal family, the kids play, fight and play again. Talking about the nature of the kids, Nadya said that some of them are outgoing, while others are shy and keep to themselves, which is a trait Nadya finds in herself too. Aiden, one of the family’s older children, is autistic, and the rest of the kids help to take care of him- especially Makai, who loves him dearly.
Raising Kids To Serve Others
Nadya’s family had to experience many problems and difficulties over the years, but presently, they are living a happy life. Nadya said in an interview that she is instilling values in kids to focus on serving other people, to get out of their own head.” The kids are growing up with the belief that they will help others, and this applies to every aspect of their lives. On Christmas, every child gets just one gift, which not only makes them understand the financial aspect but also helps them understand gifts should be earned and not blindly expected.
Special Moments
Even though Nadya’s family life is extraordinary in many ways, still there are some experiences she shares with everyone. Lately, before the beginning of a new school year, Nadya uploaded a picture of her octuplets to Instagram with a caption: “Any other parents exceptionally stressed and overwhelmed by the first week back to school?” It doesn’t matter if you have one kid or fourteen kids, it is a feeling all parents can relate to!
Taking Out Time For Herself
Parenthood is not at all an easy job, but Nadya being a single mother to 14 kids was specifically stressed as she had to find alternatives to unwind, de-stress and take care of herself so that she could maintain happiness and health in her family. One of the ways in which Nadya clears her head for a few hours each week is by hitting the gym. Nadya took it to social media, and shared, “The stress literally drips off of me, as I’m drenched in the end, being physical has significantly helped me cope with so many challenges I’ve struggled with throughout my life."
Girls’ Night Off
Nadya has to behave strictly in order to keep her 14 kids disciplined and not stop them from creating havoc but that doesn’t stop her from taking time off and have fun with her kids. One of her favorite pastimes is to take her daughter on a night off during which they have a relaxing, spa-like experience at home, and take the time to laugh and leisure together. When it comes to spending time with the boys, Nadya likes to watch scary movies with them.
The Dr. Oz Show
In May 2018, Dr. Oz invited Nadya on The Dr. Oz Show. They both had a detailed conversation about her life events, the situation that motivated her to decide to be fertilized with 12 embryos, and where she is today. She revealed everything about her family, her transformation, and her YouTube channel which she runs with her children.
Various Genes
When you take a closer look at Nadya’s children, you will notice that their complexions range from dark to light, eyes are all shades from brown to blue and heights range from short to tall. The reason behind this might be that in spite of all of them coming from the same mother, different genes are expressed in different embryos, with a large 14-person wide sample, there have been sufficient opportunities for Nadya’s various genes to express themselves in different ways. For instance, you take this photo of two siblings, Nariyah and Noah who despite being from the same set of octuplets express their mother’s genetic in different ways.
Physically Fit Children
The diets and physical activities of Nadya’s children may vary, her octuplets are all raw vegan, and physically active. They have a knack for sports and even participate in marathon and long-distance runs. As shown in the picture below, in February 2018, her octuplets participated in the Russ Miller Memorial 5k race- but besides running kids are into other things as well.
Working On School Projects
When the octuplets are not indulged in any extracurricular activities, they work hard at school. As the picture below depicts, the kids created posters for their school projects about modern-day heroes- and each child was different in his or her expressions. Nadya doesn’t like to brag about her kids, but anyone can spot that she is really proud of them, and she takes time to shower praise, love, and support on them whenever she gets an opportunity.
Reciprocation Of Love
Nadya uses her hidden strengths in order to keep her family bonded and happy- and her kids are conscious of that. This is the reason why they take the time to show gratitude to her and reciprocate the love she gives them whenever they can- such as these handmade Mother’s Day cards they all wrote depicts. The only child who didn’t write a card for her was Aiden who is autistic. Nadya’s experience of upbringing Aiden has motivated her to write a book.
Family Time
Nadya has 14 children, out of four of them are girls: Amerah (16), Calyssa (11), and the twins Maliah and Nariyah (9). Being such a small group of girls in a house full of boys, Nadya shares a very close bond with her daughters. Nadya tries to have “girl time” and “boy time” every week, but she loves it when the entire family can hang out together- which now happens less frequently.
Family Traditions
When the household is large, it becomes important to provide structure to it, as for the Solomon family, Nadya inculcates it through family traditions. One such family tradition is “Family Fun Night”; every Saturday night, the family gathers together to spend quality time watching movies, talking, and playing board games. The family’s favorite activities include chess and watching Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. The older kids often go out to spend time with friends, but the ten youngest Solomon Family siblings still enjoy the Family Fun Night.
Unique Identities
Being a part of octuplets sometimes take a toll on a child’s unique personality as the group identity engulfs it, but in Nadya’s case, her kids have their strong and unique identities and express themselves in their own way. As the children were growing up, group photos of octuplets got more difficult to take, because each one of them is occupied in doing their own things- but still, sometimes they manage to do many things together like when they participated in a school play together.
Vegan Diet
Nadya and her octuplets follow a raw vegan diet that is enriched with fruits and vegetables. Turning into a vegan was not a difficult task for Nadya as she grew up to be a vegetarian, and she acclaims her diet and lifestyle to help her overcome the medical conditions she had to face after carrying the octuplets to term. Nadya and her kids are proud of their veganism like she depicts in this photo, which she captioned, “Could we be anymore vegan?"
One Big Family
Getting a picture together is a complicated task with a family size of 15 but that does not imply that Nadya and her kids don’t click pictures together. Nadya posted a picture on Instagram with a caption, “So THIS is what happened when we attempted to take a fun family photo with as many family members as possible. Per usual, Elijah, Amerah, and JJ are absent from the pic.”
The YouTube Channel
Recently Nadya decided to set up a family YouTube channel in which she along with her kids share their thoughts with the world and it serves as a creative outlet for the family. The first video she uploaded was of Amerah, in which she is reading a letter she wrote to her mother for Mother’s Day at a women’s event in Long Beach, California. Right now, the channel is handled by Nadya herself, but she has plans on letting her kids manage it, uploading vlogs, food challenges, and other creative ideas they come up with.
Thanksgiving Run
In the picture below, you can spot Nadya with 10 of her 4 kids after the Turkey Trot five-kilometer family run that happened on Thanksgiving. Nadya is extremely proud of her winner children Maliyah, Josiah, Noah, and Isaiah who won in their age group of the race. As a part of their prizes, they all got pumpkin pies which made Nadya’s task of making pies for 14 children simpler.
Dealing With Physical Ailments
Despite being a physically fit and active woman, Nadya still suffers from various physical ailments- some of them are the result of her many pregnancies while others like her spinal injuries are the outcome of life coming at her. Her ailments include four ruptured discs in her lumbar spine, irreparable sacral damage, bilateral sciatica, and peripheral neuropathy, which restricts her from running- but still she manages to climb 10 miles each day on the stairs master.
Natalie As A Child
Even though Nadya has a huge family now but she grew up as a single child. Recently, she uploaded a picture of her childhood and it is incredible to know that this adorable little girl would one day grow to be a single mother of 14, and face so many obstacles but would be brave enough to overcome them all. Nadya’s story is truly marvelous and inspiring to so many people out in the world.
Caring Person
Since childhood, Nadya has always loved taking care of others. As a child, she deeply wanted to be a mother, she expressed her desire to care for others by taking care of cats. In this photo from 1975, you can see Nadya with her favorite cat, Boots- who weighed more than 50 pounds! The cat was so close to Nadya that she still tells her kids about him.
Nadya’s Mother
Nadya loves to go down memory lane and shares old pictures with her children. In this picture, you can spot Nadya with her mother when she was two years old- back in 1977. It was not possible for Nadya to raise her kids without the help of her mother and father, the kids’ grandmother has especially played a vital role in their upbringing. The Suleman family is indeed exceptional and looking at Nadya’s journey with her children over the years is no doubt marvelous and inspirational.
