For the many women experiencing infertility issues but now are hesitant to seek help after this week's birth of octuplets in California, the message to them is that multiple births can be prevented with today's advanced technologies.

"Infertility affects 7.3 million Americans. The last thing we want women desiring to be pregnant to do is shy away from infertility treatments totally out of fear that they will have an instant house full of babies," said Dr. Mark Perloe, medical director of Georgia Reproductive Specialists in Atlanta. "In fact, women who do face fertility challenges will be counseled specifically at our clinic on the risks associated with multiple births and how such births can be avoided."

Moreover, recent technological breakthroughs have raised the chances of successful single births while significantly reducing those of having triplets and quadruplets, or more.

While the physician of the new mother of eight has not disclosed whether the mother was using fertility drugs, it is highly unlikely this would have happened without them, according to Dr. Perloe. But that does not mean fertility drugs are bad.

"Fertility drugs work to stimulate the ovaries, which then grow follicles (unfertilized eggs). When fertility drugs are used in this way, there is no way of knowing how many follicles will develop," Dr. Perloe said, "unless you perform regular blood tests and ultrasounds of the woman's ovaries."

If too many follicles have developed, doctors can skip the cycle and try again with a lower dose of the follicle-stimulating hormones or harvest and freeze the eggs for later in vitro fertilization, an innovative process used at GRS, he explained. In vitro fertilization allows the doctor to control how many embryos are transferred to a woman's uterus.

"It is all about testing and monitoring at critical stages," Dr. Perloe said. "The result can then be a happy, healthy start to a new family."