The U.S. woman who gave birth to octuplets on Monday already had six children, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.
The woman, whose name has not been disclosed, became the world`s second woman to give birth to octuplets after undergoing in-vitro fertilization.
"She and her six children - ages 7, 6, 5, 3 and 2-year-old twins - live ... with her mother," the newspaper said, adding that the woman`s marital status is unknown.
The octuplets` grandmother, Angela Suleman, said that raising 14 children is going to be difficult. She explained that doctors advised her daughter to have a selective abortion, but she declined.
"What do you suggest she should have done? She refused to have them killed," the woman told Los Angeles Times.
The six boys and two girls were born nine weeks premature and will remain in hospital for around two months before being allowed home.
They were delivered by cesarean section in a hospital in Los Angeles. Seven babies were expected, and doctors were reported to be stunned when an eighth appeared. The newborns weighed between 820g (1 lb 8 ounces) and 1.47 kg (3 lb 4 oz).
The world`s first live-born set of octuplets were delivered in Houston, Texas, in 1998. Although one of the babies died a week later, the others recently celebrated their 10th birthday.
