Sextuplet mom was wary about reality show

At first, a reality show centering on their sextuplets seemed like a great idea to Bryan and Jenny Masche. But then the gossip magazines exploded with controversy over “Octomom” Nadya Suleman and the marital troubles of Jon and Kate Gosselin, and suddenly Jenny Masche started to have second thoughts.

Did the Arizona parents of six soon-to-be 2-year-olds really want all of that scrutiny? Would they risk becoming tabloid fodder?

“It bothers me,” Jenny Masche admitted Friday to TODAY’s Meredith Vieira. “After all this stuff came out, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, we should really think about this and pray about it.’ ”

Different strokes
Jenny held a towheaded toddler on her lap as she spoke from her home in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. Her husband held another of their brood on his lap as their other four kids sucked on bottles and kept themselves busy around the parents and siblings.

Ultimately, Bryan told Vieira, he and Jenny decided that they would not be like the Gosselins or Suleman. And so the reality show, “Raising Sextuplets,” which started filming more than two years ago when Jenny was pregnant, will hit the air next Thursday, June 11, on WE-TV.

That day is special because it is also the sextuplets’ second birthday.

Bryan Masche said he was never concerned that his family of three boys and three girls would share magazine covers with space aliens and misbehaving heiresses.

“These are totally different situations,” he told Vieira. “Jenny and I both work full time while we’re taking care of the kids. We’re different families. It’s different situations.”

He said he accepts that someone will always question their decisions and their situation.

“No matter what we would have done in this situation, there’s going to be scrutiny,” Bryan said. “Just having sextuplets, there’s scrutiny; just deciding to keep all of these babies and not terminate any of them. You gather scrutiny just for making that decision alone. There’s definitely going to be scrutiny, there’s going to be controversy, but I don’t think it really bothers either of us.”

Jenny said the show was never really planned.

“They started filming it two years ago when I was pregnant. It was kind of just, ‘Hey, can these people document your pregnancy?’ And we’re like, ‘That will be awesome,’ ” she told Vieira.

“It kind of went from there, and we film about five days a month,” she added. “It’s been a lot of fun for us … so, hopefully, it will go well. Of course, there’s been a lot of things in the news recently and controversy over other reality shows. We would like to stay away from that.”

Marathon mom
Jenny nearly died during the Caesarean delivery of her children when her body systems shut down and she went into shock. She was hospitalized for nearly three months afterward, but since then has totally recovered.

She ran a marathon less than a year after giving birth and has recently done another, finishing under five hours.

Joe Toreno Bryan and Jenny Masche rely on grandparents and relatives to help them keep up with Savannah, Bailey, Grant, Cole, Molli and Blake, who turn 2 on June 11.

The Masches have a strong support system of grandparents and relatives who help them care for Grant, Bailey, Blake, Savanna, Molli and Cole. That allows Jenny to work as a physician’s assistant. Bryan, who just completed his master’s degree, works in pharmaceutical sales.

In a recent appearance on TODAY, Kate Gosselin, the mother of twins and sextuplets, had said that the marital difficulties she and Jon are going through are normal for parents of multiples, who, she claimed, have a much higher divorce rate than other couples.

Vieira asked the Masches how they’ve been able to keep their marriage strong amid the demands of raising so many children.

“It’s definitely a challenge, and we have to work really, really hard,” Jenny said. “We meet with our pastor and his wife on a regular basis, just to stay grounded and have some counseling because there are pressures that come up with any marriage, and especially when you have six newborns.”

Important dates
Getting out alone together is a priority, she added. “We do regular date nights just because we desperately need that time together alone for us to feel like a team and like we’re on the same page,” she said.

As the children get older, the challenges just increase, Bryan said.

Slideshow Images: Six kids, one birthday Oh baby! Meet the 2-year old Masche sextuplets.

“It’s become a lot more work,” he said. “Definitely a lot more fun and we’re having a great time. The kids are just amazing; totally loving, totally sweet. They love each other, but we’re also noticing, the older they get, it doesn’t necessarily get easier. It’s become a lot more work, too, because now they’re not stationary in one spot. We’re chasing after them all day long.”

After the challenges of just keeping up with the kids, Jenny admitted it can be an effort to make herself go out on her date nights with her husband.

“There’s nights that the last thing I want to do is leave my house ’cause it’s a wreck and there’s so many things that I need to get done,” she told Vieira. “But we say, ‘That’s OK. That can wait until later, because we’re gonna go out.’ ”

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