World record 69 children born to one woman. Going for a record: women who gave birth to the most children in the world. So is it possible to give birth to so many children and survive

According to the entries in the famous Guinness Book of Records, the most fruitful mother in the world was a Russian woman, the wife of Fyodor Vasilyev, a peasant who lived in Russia in the 18th century. He lived in the city of Shuya (now Ivanovo region) from 1707 to 1782. His first wife, whose name, unfortunately, has not been preserved in history, gave birth to 69 children. Among them were sixteen twins, seven triplets and even four quadruplets. All this happened in 1725-1765. In total, this superheroine mother has endured at least 27 births. 67 of her children survived. Russian women in those days were probably distinguished not only by good health. but also great patience. Living conditions in Shuya in the 18th century were relatively prosperous: weaving production was rapidly established in the vicinity, which allowed the merchants to have an income and not to live in poverty for the peasantry.

After the death of his first wife in 1765, Fedor remarried, and in his subsequent second marriage, six more twins and two triplets were born. That is, the second, also nameless, Vasiliev's wife bore him 18 more sons and daughters. In total, this Shuya peasant became the father of 87 children. Most likely, the gene of "large families" was transmitted precisely along his line, since when the wife changed, heredity for twins and triplets in the family was so happily preserved. Of the children from two marriages, Fyodor Vasilyev had 82 children who survived in infancy. This is truly an incredible and outstanding world record.

The story of this amazing fact was first published in the London magazine in 1783. Fyodor Vasiliev, who came to visit his relatives living in England, became a stunning sensation for British journalists. It must be assumed that this peasant was not a poor man if he had enough funds for such a very expensive trip from St. Petersburg to the British Isles, or he received very solid sponsorship. During this extraordinary journey, as mentioned in the annals of history, Fyodor Vasiliev was introduced to the Empress, who, for all her frugality, always knew how to be generous. Information about the voyage of a father with many children to the capital and the British Isles is almost verbatim reflected in the book by A.P. Bashutsky "Panorama of St. Petersburg", published in 1834.

Scientists-statisticians, assuming that if each of these 67 surviving children of Fyodor Vasiliev and his first wife had at least 2 children of his own, and this is a very low birth rate for those times when there were 4-7 children in families, then if you allow for a range of approximately 25 years between generations, you get an impressive figure: 70,000. It is precisely such a huge number of descendants of the Fedorov spouses that can exist now, in our time. This is quite real, if their amazing force of life, of course, has not been heavily affected by subsequent tragedies, wars and other misfortunes that have befallen the country and the whole world for three whole centuries.

Image copyright getty

Carrying and raising even one child is a rather laborious task. However, historical documents claim that a certain woman gave birth to as many as 69 children. Is it true? And will modern medicine be able to expand women's reproductive opportunities? The correspondent is looking for answers to these questions

If the British yellow press existed in the 18th century, the story of the family of the Russian peasant Fyodor Vasiliev would have caused her crazy excitement.

What's the matter? It is believed that Vasiliev's first wife, whose name history has not preserved, holds the world record for the number of children born.

According to a message sent to Moscow by the monks of the Nikolsky Monastery, between 1725 and 1765, Vasilyeva managed to give birth to 16 pairs of twins, give birth to triplets seven times, and quadruples four times.

She gave birth, respectively, 27 times, total - 69 children.

One can only wonder how a modern newspaper editor would have reacted to such fertility, especially given the uproar surrounding the mother of octuals, Nadia Suleman (nicknamed "Octomam" and father of 14 children) and the British Radford family (their 17 children were featured in a TV documentary).

So, is it possible in principle to give birth to more than 60 children?

A woman could theoretically mother more children than we ever thought possible.

"Something from the realm of fantasy. Well, imagine 69 children? Come on!" says James Segars, director of reproductive and women's health research at Johns Hopkins University.

I decided to take a closer look at this surprising (and, at first glance, dubious) statement by consulting reproduction experts.

I was hoping to find out what the physical limits were to the number of children a woman could have naturally.

Along the way, it was discovered that thanks to the achievements of modern science, a woman can theoretically become the mother of more children than we ever thought possible.

Image copyright getty Image caption In the UK only 1.5% of pregnancies are twins and only 0.0003% chance of triplets

First, let's deal with the mathematical part of the Vasiliev story. Are 27 pregnancies possible in the 40 years in question?

At first it seems that there is nothing contrary to common sense in this - especially considering that triplets and quadruplets are usually born at earlier dates.

It turns out that in total Vasilyeva was pregnant for 18 years.

Let's make approximate calculations: 16 twins for 37 weeks; seven triplets at 32 weeks; four quarters of 30 weeks. It turns out that in total Vasilyeva was pregnant for 18 years out of 40. She was drawn to salty things - and so on for a couple of decades.

Another question is whether this is possible in reality.

First of all, it is necessary to understand whether a woman is able to maintain a constant readiness for childbearing over such a long period.

As a rule, the first menstruation in women occurs around the age of 15: every 28 days, an egg is released from their ovaries - usually one.

Ovulation is repeated until the ovaries are depleted of eggs during menopause, which occurs around the age of 51.

Image copyright getty Image caption Most women cannot get pregnant after the age of 45. Is there enough time to give birth to 69 children?

However, a woman's ability to conceive decreases sharply long before the onset of menopause.

"The chance of getting pregnant for a 45-year-old woman is about 1% per month," says Valerie Baker, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Aging women leads to a decrease in the number and quality of eggs. In the process of intrauterine development, a female embryo can have up to seven million immature eggs, and about a million remain at birth.

The ability to get pregnant decreases with each pregnancy, because each subsequent birth affects the body

An adult woman retains only a few hundred thousand eggs. Of this many cells inside the follicles, approximately 400 reach maturity and participate in ovulation, providing their carrier with approximately 30 years of potential childbearing.

The last eggs, which ovulate at the end of a woman's reproductive years, are much more at risk for mutations, genetic abnormalities, and other problems associated with aging.

Often, pregnancies involving such atypical eggs end spontaneously.

“Most women are not able to get pregnant after they reach 42-44 years old,” says James Segars. “But sometimes it happens closer to 50 years.”

Image copyright getty Image caption Women only have about a million eggs at birth, and the number is steadily declining.

Moreover, the ability to get pregnant decreases with each pregnancy, because each subsequent birth affects the female reproductive system.

And if Vasilyeva breastfed her children - which is logical for a peasant woman who could not afford a nurse - ovulation did not occur in her body. This natural method of contraception would further reduce her chances of 69 pregnancies.

It turns out that Fedor and his wife were very lucky (or perhaps unlucky) that even after she reached 50 years old, she had no problems with having new children.

survive childbirth

And that's not all the difficulties associated with the birth of 69 babies.

Evolution has taken care of slowing down the female "biological clock", because bearing and giving birth to a child is an extremely difficult task, which only becomes more difficult with age.

"Restrictions must be set by nature itself," says Valerie Baker. "Pregnancy is the most stressful process a woman's body has ever gone through."

Image copyright SPL Image caption The birth of multiple twins or triplets could theoretically lead to a large number of children in the family, but the health risks are high.

How burdensome childbirth is for a woman gives the greatest reason to doubt the veracity of the story about 69 children - especially considering that the case was a couple of centuries ago in the Russian outback.

In developed countries, the availability of modern obstetric care (such as medically induced caesarean sections) has reduced maternal mortality.

In Britain, there are only eight deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes per 100,000 births during pregnancy or six weeks after it ends. These are the latest World Bank statistics.

Meanwhile, in one of the poorest countries on earth, Sierra Leone, the rate is 1,100 deaths per 100,000 births.

The tendency to have twins is usually hereditary. Maybe Vasilyeva expressed it especially brightly?

In this regard, the assumption that the wife of Fyodor Vasiliev survived 27 births is doubtful.

"Before, any pregnancy was a risk to the mother's life," explains Segars. With multiple births (for example, with the birth of a quadruple), the risk of serious life-threatening complications increases rapidly.

“Every pregnancy at that time was difficult, even if only one child was born,” says Jonathan Tilly of Northeastern University (USA), who is researching the use of oocyte stem cells to treat female infertility and other diseases (read more about this below).

A bunch of backbiters

Another aspect that looks implausible in the story of the Vasilievs is the possibility of multiple conceptions of two, three and four children at the same time.

There are two types of multiple pregnancies: either several eggs that leave the ovaries as a result of ovulation are successfully fertilized by spermatozoa (so-called fraternal twins), or one fertilized egg is divided into two or more viable embryos, resulting in identical twins with an identical genetic code.

Image copyright SPL Image caption Modern fertilization technologies make it theoretically possible to have an infinite number of children

In general, such situations are extremely rare. So, in 2012 in Britain, the chance of giving birth to twins was only 1.5% of all pregnancies, triplets - an insignificant three ten thousandths of a percent, and four or more babies were born three times out of 778,805 times. This is evidenced by the statistics of the Multiple Births Foundation.

Yes, the tendency to give birth to twins is indeed hereditary, and in Fyodor Vasiliev's wife it could be expressed especially clearly.

However, in general, the likelihood that Vasilyeva was somehow able to conceive and survive the birth of at least 16 twins looks microscopic.

"There are 16 twins alone? I would be very surprised," Tilly comments.

Another wake-up call in the history of the Vasilievs: it is claimed that 67 of the 69 children born by them survived infancy.

In the 18th century, infant mortality was high even for children born as a result of a single pregnancy, and reached alarming levels in the event of the birth of twins and so on - these children are usually premature and less healthy.

Now surrogate mothers can carry fetuses from other parents, potentially further increasing the number of children in the family

"Even if you had quadruplets today, I'm not sure they would all survive," says James Segars.

Finally, it is impossible to believe in the existence of a woman ready for such a life. "Just imagine how stressful it is!" Valerie Baker says

Segars echoes her: "You can go crazy! I can't imagine what it was like to live in this house."

If, nevertheless, this story is a true story, and not a legend, then the endless need to take care of children could be the decisive reason for the Vasilyevs' divorce, which followed after several decades of marriage.

Already an elderly man, Fyodor Vasiliev remarried, and his new wife allegedly gave birth to "only" 18 children. This is to the question of topics for the yellow press.

Brave new world

So what is the real limit? The answer to this question is not so simple, since the "natural" restrictions that apply to the offspring of a single woman can now be circumvented.

Firstly, the development of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), which appeared in the late 1970s, led to a surge in the birth rate of twins, triplets, and so on (Nadya Suleman used ART).

Image copyright SPL Image caption According to one researcher, there may someday be a way to activate a woman's ability to produce many times more eggs.

Secondly, now surrogate mothers can carry fetuses from other parents, potentially further increasing the number of children in the family.

And here's what scientists have recently found out: we probably greatly underestimate women's reproductive capabilities.

According to research in recent years, inside the female ovaries are "oocyte stem cells" that, if properly stimulated, could lead to the creation of an almost infinite number of eggs.

Jonathan Tilly and his colleagues have collected information about these cells from a variety of creatures - from flies to monkeys.

In 2012, they got to the stem cells of human oocytes. As it turned out, they do not contribute to the production of eggs, unlike similar animal cells. For female flies, this is a common way to produce new eggs.

In principle, women could mother hundreds or even thousands of children.

Many doctors working in his field express doubts, but Jonathan Tilly is sure that there is a theoretical possibility to activate this mechanism in women.

He hopes to help women whose egg reserves are depleted, including prematurely - for example, due to cancer treatment.

If this hypothetical procedure really turns out to be possible, the imagination paints the following picture: fertility drugs are used to hyperstimulate the ovaries, with numerous follicles simultaneously maturing and ovulating.

This multitude of eggs can be surgically retrieved and fertilized in vitro, and then surgically placed in the wombs of any number of surrogate mothers whose job it is to deliver the fetuses. Each of them can potentially give birth to two or more twins.

Image copyright SPL Image caption Men are capable of becoming fathers to hundreds of children. What if science gives women the same opportunity?

Thus, from a reproductive point of view, women could approach men, becoming mothers for hundreds or even thousands of children - leaving the achievements of Fyodor Vasiliev's wife far behind.

However, Tilly makes it clear that his research in no way suggests that women will be able to have thousands of children. He intends to contribute to the elimination of infertility in those who have been diagnosed with such a diagnosis.

However, the researcher hopes that scientific advances will help equalize the reproductive opportunities of men and women.

After all, males produce millions of sperm throughout their lives, so the only natural limit to their offspring is the presence (or absence) of ovulating partners.

As soon as it comes to the idea that restrictions on female fertility may be lifted, everyone starts to go crazy Jonathan Tilly

Conqueror (and, some believe, serial rapist) Genghis Khan apparently fathered hundreds of children across his vast Asian empire some 800 years ago. According to genetics, about 16 million people living today are his descendants.

"Theoretically, men can become fathers before very old age, and if you start early, the situation can develop according to the model of Genghis Khan," says Jonathan Tilly.

According to him, "male fertility is really unlimited," but if we assume that his research will give the desired result, then "and female too."

If such a scenario does materialize, the existence of mothers with countless children will create a sensation, perhaps even more than the 69 children of the Vasilievs.

The question is: how would the public react to multiple fatherhood? If not so violent, is it fair?

“People take unrestricted male fertility for granted—everyone knows we can do that,” Tilly explains. “But as soon as it comes to the idea that female fertility restrictions might be lifted, everyone starts going crazy.”

The researcher believes that the issue needs to be considered in the future, and the equality for which women have deservedly fought for the past few decades should also apply to reproduction issues.

About this Tilly says this: "In fact, there should be no difference between the sexes."

The exact name of this woman, alas, is unknown, although some sources suggest that her name was Valentina. According to the records of the village of Vasilyevskoye, Shuisky district, Valentina Vasilyeva gave birth 27 times, and at the same time she gave birth to twins 16 times, triplets seven times and quadruplets four times. Moreover, almost all of her children (67 out of 69) survived early infancy.

The record for the number of children born by one woman belongs to the first wife of Fyodor Vasiliev.

As the story goes, Fedor lived with Valentina while she could give birth to children, and when she lost this opportunity, being already an elderly person, he married a second time - and his new wife bore him 18 more children.

The main source of information about this history are the monastic records. From the records it follows that in 1782 Fedor Vasiliev was the father of 87 children. At that time, Fedor was already 75 years old, and of all the children, 82 survived.

In total, according to the records, Fyodor Vasiliev's wife gave birth 27 times.

Of course, despite the fact that this record is documented, it is not possible to verify the accuracy of this information. So, Adam Hadkhazi from the BBC service conducted an investigation and found out that Valentina Vasilyeva had to be pregnant for 18 years in order to give birth 27 times. At the same time, it is rather doubtful that she could give birth to two, three and even four children without any complications.

A 22-year-old Canadian woman is pregnant with quadruplets.

If we talk about what were the chances of a successful birth for a woman at the end of the 18th century, but the chances were small, even if it was a normal pregnancy with one child. Today's medicine allows premature babies to come out (and triplets and quadruplets are almost always born prematurely), but even today, any pregnancy and childbirth is a risk to a woman's health. What can we say about the health of a woman who survived 27 births in a Russian village of the 18th century?

Fedor Vasiliev was married twice and became the father of 87 children.

Of course, experts recognize the rare, perhaps even unique of its kind, the opportunity to repeatedly give birth to twins and triplets. But here another question arises - how did the peasant manage to feed such a horde of children, most of whom were the weather.

A Danish woman is pregnant with triplets.

One way or another, Vasilyeva's record is indeed included in the Guinness Book of Records, and it is very doubtful that someone could somehow "surpass" it without the intervention of genetic engineering in the near future. Another thing is parenthood. The fact of the paternity of Fedor Vasiliev 87 children, in principle, no one doubts. He is even compared to Genghis Khan, who became the father of several hundred children. To date, according to genetics, about 16 million inhabitants of various countries around the globe are considered to be his descendants.

The deceased was considered one of the most prolific mothers in the world. Official confirmation of the number of Palestinian children was not found, according to Khaleej Times.

ON THIS TOPIC

Note that in the Guinness Book of Records, the place of honor of a prolific mother is occupied by the wife of a Russian peasant Fyodor Vasiliev. In the XVIII century, she gave birth to her husband also 69 children. It is believed that a woman gave birth to twins 16 times and triplets seven times. Four times she was able to give birth to four babies at once.

It is noteworthy that Fyodor Vasiliev had 18 more children from his second marriage. Thus, he had 87 offspring, but this was not enough for him to set a male record.

Earlier it was reported that in the Chinese province of Hebei, a woman six days after the birth of her son gave birth to two more twin girls. All children were born underweight, so now they are in the intensive care unit.

According to the midwife who took delivery, the pregnant woman had dizygotic triplets - two children developed in their own intrauterine membrane, while the third was separate from them. The doctor noted that this is the first such case in her medical practice over the past 20 years.

19 children

Michelle Duggar is a celebrity. She gave birth to nine girls and ten boys, and named her children with J. She taught all of them at home - such a motley and crowded class turned out.

Michelle had several twins, but she gave birth on average once every 15 months. The Duggars have their own system of education and training. Children are united in small groups, which are called systems of comrades: older children help the younger ones do their homework and teach them about housekeeping.

Popular

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, her husband, raised the children religiously. At Christmas, instead of "Merry Christmas," they wished each other "Jesus' birthday." Michelle and Jim want their grandchildren to grow up as close to them as possible, and their children make love only in marriage. Many descendants already have children of their own.

https://www.instagram.com/duggarfam

"Octomama"

14 children

The sad story of Nadia Suliman, who is called an octoma. She is famous for the fact that in January 2009 she gave birth to eight children (octuplets)! After giving birth to six ... In the United States, this is the second time in history when eight children are born alive.

Despite the fact that Nadia had no job, no stable income, no family that could help her (she lived only on government assistance programs), she not only gave birth to eight children, she conceived them with the help of IVF, although at first did not admit it.

Nadia (real name Natalie) was born in California, she was the only child of Angela Suliman, a school teacher, and Edward Suliman, a restaurant owner in Iraq. Natalie was educated and worked in a psychiatric hospital for three years.

At 21, Natalie married Marco Gutierrez, but divorced him four years later. Marco admitted in an interview that the fault was that they could not have children. In 2001, Nadia gave birth to her first son through IVF, in 2002 - a daughter, three subsequent pregnancies gave her four more children.

Nadia's act caused a public outcry not only because of her irresponsible attitude towards the future of her children, but also because so many children would burden the taxpayers. Although Suliman repeated that she would be able to provide for the children and planned to get a master's degree, she never did. In September 1999, during a strike, she suffered a back injury and from 2002 to 2008 lived on disability benefits.

When she brought her babies home in 2009, she did not expect to face such aggression from the public: vandals tore the child seat out of her car, threatened her with violence.

Nadia many times got into scandalous and dubious situations: for example, at some point there were rumors that she starred in pornography. In various interviews, she either stated that she was “trying to be the perfect mother”, then she said that she “hates children” and they “disgust her”. In 2019, when the octuplets celebrated their 10th birthday, she said in an interview for the Australian program Sunday Night that although she was "totally young, dumb, irresponsible selfish", now she does not regret any of her children and says that " children are her life.

The first wife of Fyodor Vasiliev

69 children

Unfortunately, history has not preserved the name of this woman, only her husband. The peasant Fyodor Vasiliev lived from 1725 to 1765, and his first wife (who lived to the age of 76) bore him 69 children (16 pairs of twins, 7 triplets and 4 ... hmm ... "set" of twins of 4 children each). The most amazing thing is that 67 of them survived infancy.

Apparently, Fedor was to blame for everything, because his second wife bore him 18 children: 6 pairs of twins and two triplets. Information about the Vasiliev family is included in the Guinness Book of Records, but many are still skeptical about the veracity of this story. The first published information about them appeared in the British magazine The Gentleman's Magazine: it seems like one merchant from St. Petersburg told his relatives in England ... In general, yes, there are many doubts about this story.

"The Case of Gravat"

62 children

If there were twins in your family, then your chance to give birth to twins also increases - this is a hereditary trait. A peasant woman from Tuscany, who lived more than a hundred years ago, had a twin sister. And her mother is one of the triplets. It seems her fate was sealed.

Having married a man named Gravata, she gave birth to a daughter. One. An amazing thing. The Spaniard must have even felt relieved, but early. The daughter was followed by six (!) boys, whom she gave birth not in turn, but at one time.

Then four more boys and a couple of triplets. Four again. Then she had the opportunity to "rest" a little, when she then gave birth to several "single" children. At the end of her strange “career” (we are by no means ironic about the plight of this woman, who is very sorry), she gave birth to four boys.