Octomom Nadya Suleman has brought the eighth and smallest birthweight Octuplet, Jonah Angel Suleman, home with her. The single mother now has has 14 children under the age of 7 at home. Jonah has a cleft lip but is successfully bottle feeding and now weighs 4 lbs, 10 oz. after a birth weight of just 1 lb, 8 oz.

The tiniest – and last – of Nadya Suleman’s octuplets finally got his walking papers from the hospital Monday night and joined his mother and 13 siblings at the family’s home in La Habra, Calif.

A plucky Jonah Angel Suleman, who weighed just 1 lb., 8 oz. at birth, proved to doctors at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower, Calif., that he’s healthy enough to be released.

“Jonah had to travel a longer road than his brothers and sisters,” said Kaiser spokeswoman Socorro Serrano. “He had to basically triple his birth weight.”

Besides the weight gain, Jonah also had to demonstrate that he could maintain his body temperature and bottle-feed. Earlier this month, doctors thought the tiny infant, who now tips the scales at 4 lbs., 10 oz., would need to stay at the hospital for at least another week. But Jonah’s progress was so steady that he was released early.

“This is an historic and a joyous moment for all of us,” says Kaiser neonatologist Dr. Mandhir Gupta. “The birth of the octuplets on Jan. 26 was a special moment for each of the 52 doctors, nurses and other caregivers who brought them into the world. [Jonah’s release] is the culmination of that dream – eight healthy babies who are strong and ready to thrive.”

Jonah, who at birth had pinkie-sized arms and could fit in the palm of a hand, quickly garnered a reputation with Kaiser neonatal nurses for his outgoing disposition. “He’s an alert little guy, very responsive to voices and being touched,” says Serrano, who adds that the infant’s cleft lip hasn’t interfered with his ability to latch onto a baby bottle.

Neonatal nurses from Kaiser will visit Suleman’s home in five days to make sure Jonah is gaining weight and his digestive system is continuing to develop.

[From People]

In Touch has an inset cover story this week that claims that little Jonah was “fighting for his life,” but the accompanying story didn’t have details of any medical conditions the baby suffered other than a cleft lip. It was mostly medical speculation that he would face trouble due to his low birthweight. In Touch noted:

Babies born so prematurely need to be watched carefully for signs of life-threatening conditions such as respiratory trouble, pulmonary hypertension – where the baby turns blue because not enough blood is getting to the lungs – and cerebral hemorrhages. Common illnesses, like a cold, can also prove fatal.

[From In Touch, print edition, April 20, 2009]

Dr. Oz on Oprah expressed similar concerns about the octuplets, saying “There is a relatively small chance that all eight of those kids will grow up to be normal adults. There’s going to be a chance of cerebral palsy, developmental delays, emotionally, mentally, vision problems, hearing problems. These kids would fit into my palm. To think that they would be able to grow normally despite being in the hospital and getting all this care they’ve got is unlikely.”

Suleman has characteristically minimized her infants’ medical problems, saying of Jonah’s condition “He has a little cleft on his lip. But it’s not a big deal. It’s cosmetic.”

In that same interview with Life & Style she also denied that she has plans for a reality show. Her lawyer recently confirmed that they were in talks for a reality show deal however. I guess we can look forward to a lot more preening, posing, rationalizing and outright lying from this woman only this time it will all be captured on video and edited down for our maximum enjoyment.

Suleman is shown out on 3/17/09. Credit: Fame Pictures