A 37 year old Polish mother of seven kids has successfully given birth to premature quintuplets, news agency AP reported quoting officials in the University Hospital in Krakow. The mother, Dominika Clarke, gave birth to two boys and three girls were born through cesarean section in the pregnancy’s 28th week.
The babies weighed between 710-1,400 grams. Given their premature birth the babies are doing fine and have been given breathing support.
The other siblings of the new born babies are aged between 10 months and 12 years, they also have two pairs of twins.
Feeling much better than I had expected, the mother told a news conference in Krakow.
“If you have a system, a calm approach and a positive attitude, then it is possible to have a really cool life with such a large bunch of children,” Clarke said.
A baby who is a part of the quintuplet is called a quint.
There are different types of quintuplets like fraternal, identical or even a combination of both. In fraternal the babies are born from five different egg/sperm combinations whereas in identical one fertilized egg splits into different embryos. There are several factors that help in multiple pregnancies, including assisted reproductive technology. Maternal age more than 30, history of multiple births i the family and a previous pregnancy with multiples increases the chances of multiple pregnancies.
The occurrence of quintuplets pregnancies and births of higher order is rare. Twins are the most common type of multiple pregnancy.
The most famous quintuplets are the Dionne quintuplets born in Canada in 1934. The sisters Annette, Émilie, Yvonne, Cécile, and Marie were immensely popular.
