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Jon & Kate Plus 8

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2007 TV series or program
Jon & Kate Plus 8
Created byFigure 8 Films
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes(])
Production
Running timeapprox. 23 minutes; occasionally approximately 46 minutes.
Original release
NetworkDiscovery Health Channel
ReleaseApril 16 2007 – Present

Jon & Kate Plus 8 is a reality television show produced in the United States by Figure 8 Films about the Gosselin family, consisting of parents Jon and Kate and their eight children—a set of twin girls and a set of sextuplets (three girls and three boys). The show follows the family through their daily lives, focusing on the challenges of raising multiple children. The show originally aired on Discovery Health but starting with Season 3, airs on TLC. The family originally appeared in a one-hour special titled Surviving Sextuplets and Twins. It's also been reported that the show draws in an average of 2.5 million viewers per episode, making it one of the most-watched reality series on TV. The family lives in Central Pennsylvania.

Story

Kate Gosselin is one of five children. She has three sisters and a brother. The latter, Kevin, is often seen on the television series with his wife, Jodi, and their four children.

Jonathan Gosselin is the middle child of three boys born to Thomas Gosselin and his Korean wife. His brothers are Thomas and Mark. His father was a pediatric dentist who died in 2005. Jon and Kate have often referred to Dr. Gosselin as the only involved grandparent, stating the remaining grandparents are not a part of their everyday lives.

Jon and Kate met on October 5 1997 at a picnic. According to the "How It All Began" episode, Jon was working at a hotel and Kate had recently graduated from her nursing program. According to Kate, "I never believed in 'love at first sight', but this came really close." They were married on June 12 1999 in "a perfect garden wedding with equally perfect weather". In the "How It All Began" episode of season 3, they also said they paid for the wedding themselves.

Kate's desire to start a family was met with a feeling that she would not be able to conceive. She underwent testing and was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome. The couple decided to turn to fertility treatments and immediately began intrauterine insemination or IUI, a procedure where no embryos are left over from the procedure. By February, Kate was pregnant with twins. The couple was thrilled, admitting to having prayed for twins because they were both baby crazy and feared they would fight over one baby. On October 8 2000, Cara Nicole and Madelyn Kate were born, after a "rough" pregnancy.

When the girls turned one, Kate began to think about the possibility of having another child, while Jon was not so sure. On the couple's appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show that aired on February 22 2008, Kate admitted that she wanted to have another child because she wanted to know what it felt like to not have to split her time between two babies, while Jon was hesitant because he felt like the world is built for a family of four. According to Kate, a Korean infant became available while Kate was an obstetrics nurse. They decided not to adopt the baby boy, but instead return to fertility treatment. After a lot of prayer, Jon and Kate agreed to try again. By October, Kate was pregnant. Five weeks later (after being hospitalized for over-stimulated ovaries), at the initial ultrasound, the doctor announced that there were seven sacs and began to count how many of these sacs had yolks, or babies, inside of them. According to Kate, "By 'four' I was pretty crazy, by 'five' I was sobbing. Then they found 'six' and 'seven'." One baby did not develop on its own. The doctor suggested selective reduction, but the couple was absolutely against doing so.

"Your whole life flashes in front of your eyes... we had a house that was too small, we didn’t have a vehicle big enough, we didn’t have the income that would be required... there were just all these things flying at us. All those thoughts flooding through my mind equaled completely impossible."

— Kate Gosselin

After experiencing the "worst weekend of entire life", Jon took the girls to the family's church. He asked if he should tell anyone about their situation, and Kate agreed that he should so that the church could start praying for their family. As soon as church was over, Jon and Kate received many calls of encouragement. According to Kate, "I began to feel like we could do this! With God's help, of course!"

In an article written for orato.com, Kate admitted that the video of her when she was pregnant with the sextuplets was actually three weeks before she gave birth. She added: "I remember lying in the hospital bed thinking, 'No matter how far I get these babies, it's never going to be far enough.' Getting to 32 weeks was my goal, but that would still be eight weeks premature, times six. Every day starting at about 23 weeks I had an ultrasound to make sure that all of them were still alive, and each and everyday was just as nerve wracking as the one before. There wasn't an ounce of relief until they were all home. Not long after we had them home, Jon whirled around one day with complete frustration and exhaustion in his voice and said, 'Do you realize we have been walking on eggshells now for an entire year?' That was the honest truth."

On May 10 2004, Kate gave birth to three girls and three boys: Alexis Faith, Hannah Joy, Aaden Jonathan, Collin Thomas, Leah Hope and Joel Kevin.

Family

Parents

  • Jonathan "Jon" Gosselin (born (1977-04-01) April 1, 1977 (age 47)) is half Korean (Korean mother, French/Welsh father), and is a former I.T. analyst. He now engages in public speaking.
  • Kate "Katie" Gosselin (born (1975-03-28) March 28, 1975 (age 49)), is a former registered nurse. She quit her job to take care of the children full-time. She also engages in public speaking events with her husband.

Twins

The twins were born on (2000-10-08) October 8, 2000 (age 24). They will enter second grade in the fall of 2008 in a private school. They were born just six minutes apart. In birth order, they are Cara Nicole Gosselin and Madelyn "Mady" Kate Gosselin.

Sextuplets

The sextuplets were born on (2004-05-10) May 10, 2004 (age 20) at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. All six children were delivered within a span of three minutes with more than fifty doctors, nurses and other specialists involved. Since the sextuplets were born in Hershey, they are called "Hershey Kisses" by the nurses and doctors who delivered them.

In birth order they are:

  • Alexis Faith Gosselin – 2 lb 11.5 oz, 15 inches long. Nicknamed "Lexi" or "Sassy".
  • Hannah Joy Gosselin – 2 lb 11 oz, 13.8 inches long. Nicknamed "Hannie".
  • Aaden Jonathan Gosselin – 2 lb 7.5 oz, 13 inches long. Nicknamed "Ay-day" and "the professor". He is the only child that wears glasses.
  • Collin Thomas Gosselin – 3 lb 0.5 oz, 15 inches long. Nicknamed "Coggy" or "Collie". He is the biggest of the six.
  • Leah Hope Gosselin – 2 lb 14.8 oz, 15.4 inches long. Nicknamed "Princess" or occasionally "Le-le". She is the smallest of the six.
  • Joel Kevin Gosselin – 2 lb 9.7 oz, 15.4 inches long. Nicknamed "Joelie".

When picking the kids' names, Jon and Kate selected names they liked for first names, but the middle names were more meaningful: Aaden after Jon, Collin after Jon's late father, and Joel after Kate's brother. The girls are all named for fruits of the spirit, taken from Galatians 5:22-23 in the Bible, according to Jon. However, "hope" is not referenced in that bible passage.

Videos and books

  • Jon, Kate, and family friend Beth Carson have written a book called Multiple Blessings to be released November 1 2008. Originally, the book was listed with Kate Gosselin and Beth Carson as the authors; Jon was added as an author after the initial press release, but before publication.
  • Seasons 1 and 2 of Jon and Kate Plus 8 will be available on DVD as of July 16 2008, which will only be distributed online by Discovery.
  • Jon and Kate are managed by Media Motion International in Los Angeles.

Episodes

Further information: List of Jon & Kate Plus 8 episodes

Special guest appearances

References

  1. http://www.orato.com/arts-entertainment/2008/02/05/naptime-musings-jon-amp-kate-plus-8
  2. http://www.readingeaglearchives.com
  3. ^ "FAQ". Sixgosselins.com. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  4. Mosteller, Rachel. "Celebrity Dish: Jon and Kate Gosselin". ParentDish. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
  5. "Naptime Musings From Jon & Kate Plus 8". Orato.com. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
  6. http://www.clanbroadus.com/mog_jonkate.html
  7. http://www.elkcreekonline.com/jk8.htm
  8. http://mtzionboulder.org/main_pages/jonkate.htm
  9. "Meet the Gosselins". Health.Discovery.com. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  10. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+5:22-23
  11. http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product/815071198?item_no=289020&netp_id=524244&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details
  12. http://shop.campusi.com/book_title_Multiple_Blessings_by_author_Gosselin.htm
  13. "Jon & Kate Plus 8: Seasons 1 & 2 DVD Set". Shopping.Discovery.com. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  14. http://mediamotionintl.com/

External links

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