walton sextuplets

[DuelingFanjo]

really interesting but...

I am confused. If they had ivf (the parents) did they have 6 or more embryos put in? None of the six girls are identical so does that mean 6 diferent fertilised eggs?

[MaureenMLove]

Dunno! But they are gorgeous looking girls. Their parents must be very proud of them all!

I'll Google...

[Dumbledoresgirl]

Yes, I think so. There weren't the rules and regulations then that there are now.

[LeChatRouge]

If I remember this was in the early days of IVF and they had all 6 fertilised embryos implanted as the success rates were much lower back then.

My nan used to save newspaper clippings about multiple births, sad she didn't live to see my twins.

[atswimtwolengths]

Yes, six different fertilised eggs. I suppose nobody expected them all to take!

[freshprincess]

They seem like really lovely girls.

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

They are such a lovely family.

[DuelingFanjo]

maybe it was just fertility drugs like Clomid.

[LifeOfKate]

Just watched it this morning and it said the mum was on 2 types of fertility drugs (so I assume like Clomid)...

[BalloonSlayer]

I remember this at the time and I don't think it was IVF. I think it was just fertility drugs. There were quite a few multiple births over the years in the late 70s/early 80s, due to fertility drugs. Few survived. I seem to remember there being a set of Quins born who were in all the papers and news etc a year or so earlier but all died one by one. It was heartbreaking. Then the Waltons were born and all survived - it seemed miraculous. Well, it was!

[BiggestPiggyOnTheFarm]

They all seemed lovely except one of them was saying how she didn't like the media attention and when she has children she'll do it differently, which I thought was a bit mean and ungrateful to the parents tbh.

I doubt the parents wanted to do media and filming, they were probably busy enough as it was with 6 girls but I bet all those films helped them feed, clothe and house a family of 8, which can't have been cheap. Having sextuplets must be far more expensive than having a series of 6 children, you hand things down to the younger children as the older one grows, you need 6 of everything for each new stage. I wonder if the daughter (I think it was Ruth?) had really thought about it and whether she thought about how her comments might affect her parents.

I thought it was particularly odd because when asked why she was doing this film she said she wouldn't lie, it was for the money. So presumably, its ok to do media when its going to buy her a new car, or be a deposit for a house or something but its not ok when it pays the feeds/clothes/buys school shoes for your 6 daughters.

I felt sad for the parents, it seemed unfair to them.

[BalloonSlayer]

I thought that too, Piggy, 8-bedroom houses sure don't come cheap, and I dare say they all appreciated having their own rooms!

Mind you, I don't think any children appreciate how their parents struggle, do they?