German Woman, 65, Gives Birth to Surprise Quadruplets Is Now Mother of 17
For many people, 13 children would be more than enough. But not for Annegret Raunigk.
The 65-year-old German grandmother recently gave birth to quadruplets, making her the oldest woman ever to do so.
Annegret Raunigk, a single mother, gave birth to a girl – Neeta – and three boys – Dries, Bence and Fjonn . She gave birth to Quadruptlets after a pregnancy of just under 26 weeks – by C-section in a Berlin hospital. The newborns weighed between 1 pound, 7 ounces and 2 pounds, 2 ounces each.
Raunigk has had 13 children between the ages of 9 and 44, from five fathers.
She told the German newspaper Bild last month that she decided to get pregnant again because her 9-year-old daughter wanted a younger brother. She also has seven grandchildren.
“I myself think life with children is fantastic,” Raunigk said earlier this year. “You have to constantly rise to new challenges. And that probably keeps you young, too.”
The births make her the oldest mother of four grandchildren to date.
Raunigk’s pregnancy was the result of artificial insemination using both donated eggs and sperm.
Raunigk traveled abroad to have donated eggs fertilized and implanted – a procedure that is illegal in Germany.
When Raunigk first spoke about her pregnancy in April, she told the German newspaper Bild that she was not concerned about the possible health risks for a woman of her age.
“I simply assume that I will remain fit and healthy,” she told the newspaper at the time.
Source:people.com, nbcnews.com, edition.cnn.com , dailymail.co.uk
