Multiple pregnancy is a phenomenon that has been thoroughly studied and described by modern medicine. Doctors pay special attention to women who are carrying twins or triplets, but they do not experience any surprise. Meanwhile, science knows cases of the simultaneous birth of four, five babies and even more. What is the largest number of children born by one woman in one birth and in a lifetime?
Mothers who became large families on the same day
According to worldwide statistics, one in 700 pregnancies in the world is quadrilateral. Carrying and giving birth to four babies at the same time is a serious test for the female body. Expectant mothers, expecting such an impressive replenishment, are observed by doctors with special attention. But even today, not all quadruplets survive and reach adulthood. One of the most famous foursomes is the Durst sisters: Callie, Sarah, Kendra and Megan. These girls are not just quadruplets, but completely identical twins. In addition, today they are real stars thanks to their own reality show. In fact, quartets are born all over the world not so rarely, but the appearance of four identical twins is a real sensation. In 2000, there were only 15 such quadruplets around the world. Curiously, most often twins in quartets are girls. The Guinness Book of Records not only notes the largest number of children born to one woman, but there is also a record of the oldest mother of quadruplets. California resident Mary Fudel gave birth to four babies at the age of 55. Unfortunately, the history of this family sad enough: one baby died, two were given up for adoption, and only one of the four is raised by his own mother.
Is it possible to have five children at the same time?
Known to science and cases of the simultaneous birth of five children as a result of pregnancies that occurred naturally. In 1934, five girls were born in Canada. All the twins grew up and reached adulthood, invariably remaining a landmark for their hometown. True, the sisters often said that such fame did not bring them happiness. In 2013, in Salt Lake City, a young mother gave birth to three girls and two boys at the same time. This is not the largest number of children born at the same time, but the fact that the pregnancy also occurred naturally is interesting. In 2016, in Odessa, Oksana Kobeletskaya, at the age of 37, became the mother of five babies at the same time. This mother of many children throughout the pregnancy, doctors promised the birth of triplets.
Known cases of six and seven babies being born at the same time
To give birth to six children at the same time - is this possible with natural conception? It's hard to believe, but the human body is much more resilient than we used to think. Today, 14 gears live in the world. Many of these children were born as a result of natural conception. For the first time, the public learned about absolutely healthy six babies born by one mother at the same time in 1974.
Each family necessarily has its own largest number of children born at the same time. We used to be proud of relatives who gave birth to 2-4 children at the same time. But in the McCoy family, living in Iowa, in 1997, 7 babies were born at the same time. All children survived and are developing, but two of them have serious illnesses. Several more cases of semester birth are known. Such children appeared in 1998 with Khashi Mohammed Humair from Saudi Arabia. A similar case was recorded in Egypt, where Ghazali Ibrahim Omar, at the age of 27, also became the mother of seven babies at once. The woman claims that the pregnancy is natural, and she did not resort to artificial insemination.
Absolute records of motherhood
The first known case of the birth of eight babies at the same time was recorded in 1998. Nkem Chukwu, who lives in Texas, became happy. This case is unique in that the first baby was born and the remaining seven children were born only on the 20th of the same month. One of the eight babies died almost immediately after birth, and the rest reached adulthood. For many years, it was believed that 8 is the largest number of children born by one woman in one birth. In 2009, the most famous octuplets in the world were born. Their mother - Nadia Suliman - actively covers her unusual pregnancy and the process of raising babies in the media. To date, this case is the only one where all newborns survived. And yet, what is the largest number of children a woman gave birth to at one time? With this achievement in the field of motherhood, Maria Fernandez from India got into the Guinness Book of Records. At the age of 42, the woman gave birth to 11 boys. Natural childbirth took only 37 minutes, all babies are absolutely healthy.
How many children did the mother of many children have?
The largest number of children born by one woman during her life is 69. This record was set by a Russian woman, the wife of a peasant Fyodor Vasiliev in the 18th century. Between 1725 and 1765, twins were born to the heroine mother 16 times, triplets 7 times and quadruplets 4 times. Only two out of 69 babies died in infancy, all the rest grew and developed normally. The record set in the 18th year by the peasant woman Vasilyeva has not yet been broken. But there is in modern history and other interesting examples. For example, in Chile at the end of the 20th century, Leontina Apbina gave birth to only 55 children.
Unique cases related to pregnancy and childbirth
Not all records in the category of multiple pregnancies end with happy stories large families. In 1917, a case was recorded in Rome fifteen-fetal pregnancy. According to doctors, this phenomenon is a consequence of long-term treatment of female infertility. However, the record pregnancy was aborted. Recorded in world medical statistics and cases of simultaneous bearing of 9, 10 and even 11 children by one woman. In such situations, stillbirth is common and is high in the first days after delivery. To date, the largest number of children born by one woman in one pregnancy is 11. The Guinness Book of Records in this category includes the birth of Maria Fernandez, during which completely healthy and viable boys were born.
Friday, April 13 was a happy day for Marina Steklova and her husband. In this Novosibirsk family, four babies were born at once - three daughters and a son!
A boy and three girls were born by caesarean section in the Novosibirsk Perinatal Center (maternity hospital No. 4). For a 32-year-old mother, this pregnancy was the first, and the spouses did not resort to any measures to stimulate it.
“The first girl was born - weight 1,890, height 45 cm; the second was a boy - weight 2400, height 46 cm; then again a girl - weight 1930, height 47 cm; well, and the fourth girl again -1970 grams and 47 cm " Marina told reporters.
According to doctors, the children were born full-term and are quite healthy. Their mother's condition is also satisfactory, while everyone remains under medical supervision.
The couple got married just a year ago. Marina Steklova is a graduate of SGUP, she works for a cellular communications company. At the very first ultrasound, the expectant parents were told that they were having twins. On the second, they saw a third baby, and then a fourth.
"Yesterday, the news about the addition to the Steklov family was discussed at an operational meeting with the acting governor Novosibirsk region Andrey Travnikov.
“I congratulate my parents and relatives, grandparents, because it is a very joyful event. On the other hand, we understand what a heap of worries will now fall on a young family. Discuss what help is needed. And, of course, everything we can do must be done.”- said Travnikov. This order was given by Acting Deputy Governor Sergei Nelyubov and the Novosibirsk City Hall. Andrei Travnikov also instructed to provide organizational assistance to the family in preparing the necessary documents.
The help of the authorities, of course, will come in handy for the young family: now they live in a one-room apartment, bought with a mortgage.
1. woman set a record: she gave birth to four children in four minutesRecall that quadruplets have not been born in Novosibirsk for 6 years. In July 2012, our mother (Alena Becker) and her husband Alexander Terletsky became the parents of two sons and two daughters at once. The fifth baby is already growing up in their family!
In the city of Baltiysk, Kaliningrad region, four children were born in the Grakhovsky family at once - two girls and two boys. This is the first case in the history of the region, and the second in the country in the last three years. Mother of many children set a record by giving birth to quadruplets in four minutes. Sergey and Yulia always believed that a family should have two children. When the eldest daughter Nadezhda was 8 years old, they decided to have a second child. In the third month of pregnancy, an ultrasound scan showed that four newborns are expected to be born at once. The couple did not use the IVF method of artificial insemination, as nature decided.
2. An African woman gave birth to multi-colored children
35-year-old African Florence gave birth to two multi-colored children from a white husband from Germany. Experts say that children with such different external data are born in one case in a million. A woman became a mother for the first time, having given birth to two sons. One boy is dark-skinned, dark-eyed and black-haired. They named him Leo. And his brother - light-skinned, blue-eyed and black-haired will be called Ryan. Boys differ not only in skin color, but also in character. 
3. An Egyptian woman gave birth to septuplets
In Alexandria, a 27-year-old woman successfully gave birth to seven children. The births took place prematurely, and the babies - four boys and three girls - were placed in special incubators. During childbirth, the mother was made C-section received a blood transfusion. The birth of seven children at once from one mother is a rare event, although not unique. In 2007, an Algerian woman had such a birth, but one of the seven babies did not survive. In total, three cases were recorded in the world (not counting the above), when a mother gave a safe birth to seven babies 
4. The British gave birth to six children at once
In the UK, the first case of the birth of six children at the same time in the last 25 years has been registered. The happy owner of such offspring was a 31-year-old resident of Oxfordshire, Leakey Lam. The woman gave birth to four girls and two boys at once. The smallest baby weighs only 480 grams, while the largest is about 600. 
5. One hundred and third granddaughter was born to the Kuzbass grandfather-record holder
On the May holidays, the family of 73-year-old resident of Novokuznetsk Alexei Shapoval replenished with a newborn. The Kuzbass grandfather-record holder was born one hundred and third granddaughter. One hundred and third granddaughter became the 15th child in the family of the sixth son of Alexei Shapovalov. The grandfather-record holder has 117 descendants - 13 children, 103 grandchildren - 51 granddaughters and 52 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. According to Shchapoval, his family is a believer, sons and daughters have 10-15 children. He knows all the grandchildren by name, remembers who is from which son or daughter, but he does not always remember their birthdays and therefore checks them against a special notebook. Sometimes several birthdays fall on the same day. 
Source 6Athlete from Chile gave birth without knowing she was pregnant.
Olympic heavyweight athlete Elisabeth Poblete of Chile gave birth to a baby during training. She didn't even know she was pregnant. A 22-year-old Chilean woman, now living in Brazil, said that she did feel unwell for some time, but did not know the reasons. The baby was born three months premature ahead of schedule weighing 1.2 kg and 34 cm tall. Right from the gym, he and his new mother were taken to the hospital. Elisabeth Poblete took part in the Beijing Olympics and took 12th place. 
7. A woman gave birth to two sets of twins in one year.
A rare case occurred with a resident of the UK. She gave birth to two pairs of twins less than 12 months apart. Five years ago, a few days before her wedding, Hazel Bowden realized she was pregnant. The doctors told her that she would have twins. The babies were born on September 22nd. Soon Hazel began to take hormonal contraceptives, but four months after the birth of the children she became pregnant again. And this time she had twins. 
8. Identical triplets were born to New Yorkers Tom and Allison Penn. The boys weighing between 1.81 and 2.14 kg were named Logan, Eli and Colin. The chance of giving birth to identical triplets is one in 200 million. The couple have been trying to have children since getting married four years ago. The father of the triplets estimates that the children will need about 10,000 diapers a year. North Shore University has agreed to bear these costs for the first two years. 
