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Level 2 – Pre-intermediate
And now octuplets
In September 1997 an American couple were in the newspapers because the woman gave birth to septuplets; and in December 1998 another American did even better. She had octuplets: six girls and two boys.
Women would never have so many babies naturally, but there was nothing natural about those births. They were the results of medical technology. In both cases the women couldn't have babies naturally, so doctors gave them special fertility drugs, which caused the large number of babies to develop.
The woman who gave birth to the octuplets spent three months in hospital. For the last few weeks of her pregnancy she was lying down with her feet in the air. She couldn't eat solid food and she wasn't allowed to move. The babies were born very early and they were all very small. They couldn't breathe on their own; in fact even today some of them still can't breathe without a ventilator. After a week, one of the babies died. The other seven are growing slowly and will probably stay another two months in hospital.
Today multiple births are becoming common in America, but they are nearly always the result of fertility drugs. Many people believe that doctors should be more careful with these drugs. They shouldn't allow women to have so many babies at once. It is dangerous for both the mother and the babies. It costs society a lot of money and there is a big risk that the baby will not develop normally. But having the babies is only the start of a couple's worries. They then have to bring them up – and that can cost a fortune. The birth of the octuplets was reported by the media, so their parents got help from baby-food companies. But all the other couples, with 'only' triplets and quadruplets, get no help from anyone.
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C2 Mastery
