One of the most unbelievable pregnancy claims has been confirmed as a hoax. Karla Vanessa Perez told a major Mexican news station she was pregnant with nine kids.
Mexico's main broadcaster Televisa broke the story of the 32-year-old mother's record-breaking multiple pregnancy Thursday, and major news outlets around the world picked it up overnight. Gawker already has a tabloid-ready nickname for her: "
But by end of day Friday, the local newspaper in Perez's Mexican town
challenged her claims. According to a reporter from El Diario de
Coahuila who spoke with Perez's mother, she is not pregnant at all. A
Telemundo reporter also claimed to have evidence that Perez is lying, according to MSNBC.
By Friday evening, Reuters, one of the first major U.S. news outlets to
pick up the original story, confirmed what we were already beginning to
think. We'd been had.
Televisa says she provided them with very convincing evidence of her
condition, including an ultrasound. Health officials and local
politicians were rallying behind her and she was willing to speak on
camera about the whole thing. In the video of a news broadcast, Karla
appeared remarkably calm considering what she said lay ahead. That
should have been a tip off.
But maybe the world just wanted to believe. The idea of the
'mega-multiple mom' has become a modern day Icarus story. A symbol of
how medical advancements can lead to amazing physical feats and
unexpected problems. See Kate Gosselin's rise and fall, and Octomom's
perpetual tragedy. The less well-known moms of septuplets (an average
of one per year in the U.S.) grapple with the very serious health risks
of carrying so many children, and later the financial burdens of
raising them. For those who know them it's a personal challenge, but
for the public at large, it's a curiosity, and one that an entire
network once rested its laurels on (yes you, TLC). In popular culture,
mothers of 6 or more multiples are considered acrobats, superheros,
biological anomalies and reflections of our complicated relationship
toward motherhood. The thought that a woman, namely Perez, had taken it
all one step further was just curious enough to stifle our cynicism.
It's not clear how many people were involved in Karla's hoax, but her
story roped a lot of people in. After claiming financial hardship, her
town mayor Ernesto Cepeda Valdes, promised to be "like godparents to
those babies and give all the support we can." He'll probably be taking
that promise back now.
Just over the border in Houston, an undisputed mother of mega-multiples
is recovering after her emergency delivery. Laura Perkins gave birth at
30 weeks to three boys and three girls ranging in size from 1 pound 10
ounces to 2 pounds 15 ounces. Five of the babies are doing well, though
Perkins reports on her blog that one is in more critical state. "One
baby is sick, but making progress," reads a blog update on the Perkins'
site. "In the NICU, things change hourly so we're constantly getting
updates."
In contrast to the great Nonomom fiasco, Perkins is a sobering
reminder. Multiple pregnancy is very real, very serious and something
nobody can pretend to understand unless they've been there.