Octuplets: Nadya on Dr Phil (Part 5: *Angel’s in Waiting* care)
By mattie14March 11, 2009
Angels In Waiting discuss the care needed for the octuplets. Linda West-Conforti, founder and President of *Angels in Waiting* and Jackie Peebles is co-founder and a developmental interventionalist. They know what they are doing and it’s clear they are not at all confident in Nadya’s capabilities.
From the website:
WEST-CONFORTI: Angels In Waiting is dedicated to recruiting nurses for America’s medically-fragile foster children, primarily preemies and toddlers. In Nadya Suleman’s case, we’re looking at providing 12 providers in a 24-hour period. Caring for preemies is considerably more involved than caring for a newborn healthy baby.
PEEBLES: These babies should have been in the womb still, so we don’t know where they’re going developmentally yet. We don’t know how their brains are forming. I’m the one who comes in and works on the developmental milestones with all of these babies. I institute a game plan with the nurses.”
WEST-CONFORTI: These little babies don’t know if they’re going to be picked up to be fed or picked up to be poked with an IV, so they have a tendency to be apprehensive with touch. What we have to do is bring these kids home and create an environment that is conducive for them to want them to bond. We do that by more-or-less duplicating Nadya’s techniques of mothering. We will teach the providers how to rock the same, burp the same, feed the same, so these babies’ brains can start thinking, this is a mom.
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// –>PEEBLES: Each baby will be fed eight times a day, and the average premature infant takes 20-30 minutes to feed. We’re behind the eight ball with just the feedings, let alone changing their diapers, and burping and rocking. Nadya’s going to need some major help here. It’s going to take a team of skilled people to get this done.
WEST-CONFORTI: I think she’s truly, truly trying to do the best she possibly can but overwhelmed with the circumstances.
DR PHIL: What is your number one priority when you start providing this neonatal care to a child?
WEST-CONFORTI: To create a conducive environment for that child to actually calm down and want to bond.
Dr. Phil mentions that the caregivers will have to learn the details of how Nadya cares for her children.
WEST-CONFORTI explains that this cloning-style approach is best for consistency and infant-care development. You have to consider these babies are premature. They’re already kind of behind the eight ball developmental-wise.
She explains that when the babies put up their hands, that means they’re stressed.
WEST-CONFORTI: Preemies have their own language. We have 25 years experience as a neonatal intensive care nurses. I understand that language. When the baby talks, I listen.”
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// –>Dr. Phil also notes that the babies will be swaddled in a shirt that Nadya wore, to maintain consistency of smell.
Nadya giggles.
WEST-CONFORTI: One of the biggest sensory mechanisms of a preemie is olfactory, their scent. We will basically have Nadya wear T-shirts for a couple nights and have her scent on them, then wrap the babies.
DR PHIL: There’s been a lot said about who the sperm donor is here. You know who the sperm donor is, right?”
NADYA giggles, nods and notes that she used the same man’s sperm for all 14 babies.
DR PHIL: Was it the person who came out and said it might be him?
NADYA: No.
She actually looks like she is telling the truth.
Dr. Phil suggests Nadya share the information with the appropriate people so they can find out medical information.
DR PHIL (to Linda and Jackie): Everybody’s been saying, ‘Put these kids in foster care. If that happened, if these kids were taken away and put into the foster care system, what would be the chance they would get the level of care you’re talking about?
Linda explains that she is a foster parent to medically-fragile foster kids, and she currently has a 20-month-old in her care.
WEST-CONFORTI: I’m her fourth placement. You, as a psychologist, know the developmental trauma that is caused by being in four homes before you are 2 years of age.
They evaluate the new house.
Linda and Jackie are trained to understand the urgency and importance of getting a home ready and safe for the arrival of high-risk premature infants. They are working closely with Nadya to ensure every effort is made to get the house ready in time for the babies to be brought home. After seeing the new home firsthand, they express concerns.
PEEBLES: The first thing that we noticed was the staircase. We noticed that they’re open, so there’s a danger of kids, maybe, falling through there. The railings on the stairs are too wide. That’s unsafe. They all need to be taken care of immediately.
WEST-CONFORTI points out that the windows in the house are single-pane: It’s going to be very cold or very hot. It all depends what the weather’s doing outside. So the babies cannot be along this wall, at all.
She also notices spotting on the kitchen ceiling.
WEST-CONFORTI: I think the sense of urgency is actually understated. I am very, very panicked about trying to get this house set up, clean enough, before the first child comes home. There’s a lot of work that’s still left to be done to this house.
In the studio, Dr. Phil reiterates to Nadya, “You’ve got to be very careful.”
NADYA: Extremely careful. Because they’re premature, and the high risk of any kind of respiratory disease. That’s my biggest concern.
