The woman who gave birth to octuplets in Whitter, California this week already had six children, according to a new report. But despite still living at home with her parents, the unidentified mama reportedly refused to stop taking fertility treatments or to reduce the number of embryos she was carrying last year, her mother said this week.

The six boys and two girls, born nine weeks premature at the Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center on Monday, are only the second octuplets born alive in the United States.

Angela Suleman said the good news is that all the babies, ranging between 1 pound, 8 ounces and 3 pounds, 4 ounces at birth, appear healthy.

“I looked at those babies. They are so tiny and so beautiful,” Suleman told The Los Angeles Times on Thursday.

“What do you suggest she should have done? She refused to have them killed,” Suleman told the Times. “That is a very painful thing.”

Doctors had been expecting only seven babies, but an eighth was born in the Caesarean delivery.

The mother’s other children are 7, 6, 5, 3, and 2-year-old twins, neighbors say.