Quintuplets are born once in 52 million births. What is conducive to multiple pregnancy and how does it happen?

Quintuplets occur on average once every 52 million pregnancies. Such happiness befell the 30-year-old girl from Gniezno, who on January 17 gave birth to Anastasia, Klara, Laura, Wiktoria and Maksymilian. “This is a very rare clinical situation,” says Dr. Maciej Sobkowski. Despite this, there have been several births of quintuplets in recent years. In fact, in 2019 in Poland there was an event on a global scale – sextuplets were born. How does multiple pregnancy develop and when can it happen?

  1. On January 18, 2021, quintuplets were born in the hospital in Poznań: four girls and a boy
  2. For several years, researchers have indicated that multiple pregnancies will occur much more often.
  3. Multiple pregnancies are favored by, inter alia, genetic factors, later age of pregnancy, infertility treatment
  4. Multiple pregnancies are always associated with a higher risk, which increases with the number of children
  5. More information on interesting information can be found on the Onet homepage.

Quintuplets were born in the hospital in Poznań

The birth of twins, and even triplets or even quadruplets, does not arouse such interest and sensation as it used to be. However, the news of more babies being born is swiftly circulating around the country. This was the case on January 18, when the hospital in Poznań informed about the birth of quintuplets – four girls and a boy.

– We have Anastasia, Klara, Laura, Wiktoria and Maksymilian in the neonatal clinic. Maksymilian is the heaviest, he had the greatest birth weight. The smallest is Anastazja, weighing less than 700 grams, said Dr. Maciej Sobkowski, director of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinical Hospital of the Medical University of Warsaw, a day later. K. Marcinkowski in Poznań.

According to the hospital, the little ones were born in the evening of January 18, in the 29th week of pregnancy. A total of 30 hospital workers were involved in the delivery, and the entire delivery was carried out within 15 minutes. Babies were born by caesarean section – natural childbirth was not taken into account at all. – It was a premature pregnancy, it is very premature birth and the trauma with such a large number of children would be greater and, of course, at risk of cesarean section. After all, there were 20 limbs in the abdomen – it was an amazing number – admitted prof. dr hab. Stefan Sajdak, deputy director of the clinic for treatment.

Dr. Sobkowski informed that the nearly 30-year-old mother was doing well, and the quintuplets were in a stable condition, although each of them required breathing support. Their condition is constantly monitored.

It was her first pregnancy. It is known that she had previously been treated for infertility, but conception was natural. Neonatologists will decide when the children will be able to return home.

Birth of five and six in Poland

– This is a very rare clinical situation; Looking at the statistics, there is a chance of 1 to 50 million that a woman will give birth to quintuplets – emphasized Dr. Maciej Sobkowski. Interestingly, it was not the first quintuplets’ birth at the Poznań clinic, but the third. The previous two took place in 2006 (three boys and two girls were born then – the children were born on the night of November 1st by Caesarean section) and in February 2 – Emilia, Kamila, Karol, Maja and Wiktoria were born.

A year later – in the spring of 2008, quintuplets from Kielce were born at the University Hospital in Krakow – only girls: Oliwka, Natalia, Julia, Maja and Karolina. Previously, quintuplets were delivered at the Krakow neonatology clinic in 2003. Two boys and three girls were born then. In 2001, quintuplets were also born at the Polish Mother’s Health Center in Łódź – four boys and a girl. Less than a year earlier, four girls and one boy were born in the same hospital.

The unusual birth was also written in the summer of 2019. On July 23, Marcelina, Marcin, Filip, Oliwier and Szymon were born in the Olsztyn commune in the Silesian Voivodeship.

The biggest stir, however, was caused by the first birth of sextuplets in Poland. On May 20, 2019, four girls were born at the University Hospital in Krakow: Zosia, Kaja, Malwina and Nela, and two boys: Filip and Tymon. The pregnancy was terminated at week 29 by caesarean section. The smallest of the children weighed 890 g, the largest about 1300 g. – This is the first birth of sextuplets in Poland and one of the few in the world – said prof. Ryszard Lauterbach, head of the Neonatology Department at the University Hospital in Krakow. According to estimates, sextuplets are born once in 4,7 billion pregnancies in the world! According to obstetricians, quintuplets occur once in 52 million births, quadruplets – once in over 614 thousand, triplets – once in over 7 thousand. A twin pregnancy happens on average every 85th mother.

In the case of pregnancy, it is worth checking the absorption of folic acid by the body. For this reason, we recommend its absorption test available on Medonet Market at an attractive price.

How does multiple pregnancy occur and what is conducive to it?

As obvious as it may seem, remember that multiple or multiple pregnancies mean the development of more than one embryo in the uterus at the same time. For several years, researchers have indicated that multiple pregnancies will occur much more often. What is conducive to the birth of twins, triplets or even quintuplets?

These are i.a. genetic factors. It is also known that if a woman has one multiple pregnancy, the likelihood of another is greater. The age of the mother also affects the likelihood of multiple pregnancies. Women in their thirties are generally more likely to become pregnant with multiple pregnancies. It is related to the hormonal balance, and more specifically, a higher level of FSH, which affects the course of the menstrual cycle and stimulates ovulation (an increase in the level of this hormone increases the likelihood that more than one egg will be released during one cycle).

In order to diagnose the causes of habitual miscarriages or failed IVF attempts, we recommend HLA-C genotyping – a mail-order test available on Medonet Market.

The chances of having multiple pregnancies also increase after fertility treatment. “Hormones that stimulate the ovaries cause more follicles to mature, which may result in polyovulation and fertilization of several eggs” – explains midwife Maria Lepucka on the feminasum.pl blog.

In these cases, we will be dealing with a multi-oval pregnancy. This means that each of the released eggs will be fertilized with one sperm. The genetic material of the resulting embryos will be different in this case – twins (or a greater number of children) will be similar to each other, just like siblings of the same parents coming from different pregnancies.

  1. Identical twins, i.e. monozygotic pregnancy

We can also deal with a monozygotic / monozygotic pregnancy. It happens when a single fertilized egg divides into two (or more) over time. The resulting embryos are then genetically identical and of the same sex. As the midwife emphasizes, one or both embryos may also divide – then a triplets or quadruple pregnancies will arise, respectively.

Finally, it is worth emphasizing that multiple pregnancies are always burdened with a higher risk, which increases with the number of children. Among the greatest threats are premature birth and the low birth weight of babies.

  1. If you are planning a pregnancy, do not forget to supplement with folic acid, which you can find on Medonet Market.

You may be interested in:

  1. How many weeks is pregnancy? Pregnancy calculator
  2. Pregnancy – what should you know about it? The most important questions about pregnancy symptoms, calendar and tests
  3. Pregnancy ultrasound – what is it about?

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