lorianne,

remember my little girl? I found her young, pretty pregnant and dying on a chirstmas eve. she has a damaged stomach, and never will have a clean bill for rest of her life.

when I first took her to office where I used to work, the vet thought she felt 3 or 4 until we had xray to confirm the count; 4 heads and five backbones! then she gave a life to five, one girl was a runt and died ten days later. we think that's because her (5th) head was hiding waay back in intestines and wasn't getting much of food as her four (survived, piggy) brothers. so you might would like to see how they're doing "inside" too, an extra for your decision-making?

a year and half later after birth, two brothers (gus and echo) are still very healthy today, except for two of their other brothers (avalanche and chance) who died a couple of months ago...we still don't know why. FKS, probably? (fading kitten sydrome - undeveloped organs and died suddenly - you may expect that for sweetpea's babies). at least they have ended their life with our love and blessings!

I agree with kim, this happens for a reason. well, opposition of "adding to the problem," I hope. but I trust you trust your heart!

hope this helped a bit, good luck.