When she thought she was expecting her eighth child, a woman gave birth to five babies.
- On February 12, Dominika Clarke, mother of seven, gave birth to five babies in Poland.
- They were born by caesarean section at 29 weeks.
- The phenomenon of quintuplets only concerns one birth in 52 million.
In Poland, Dominika Clarke and her husband live and raise seven children, aged between 10 months and 12 years old. Last year she got pregnant. After discovering this pregnancy, the couple thought of welcoming their eighth infant, but ultimately they will have to take care of twelve children. On February 12, the mother gave birth to quintuplets in a hospital in Krakow, in the south of the country.
One in 52 million chance of conceiving quintuplets
“We had planned to have an eighth child, but it turned out that there are many more”, she told reporters, alongside her British husband, Vince. She added that her pregnancy, after which she felt “better than expected”was a “miracle”. According to the hospital, where she was taken care of, the chances of conceiving quintuplets are 1 in 52 million. “As a mathematician, I like these kinds of statistics. We had more chances of winning the lottery than having such a slew” babies,” said Dominika Clarke.
The five babies are on life support
The quintuplets, specifically the three girls and two boys named Arianna Daisy, Charles Patrick, Elizabeth May, Evangeline Rose and Henry James, were born by caesarean section at 29 weeks. After birth, the toddlers needed respiratory support. “We hope to arrive at the joyous moment of their discharge from the hospital”, said Ryszard Lauterbach, the head of the neonatology department.
“Lucky to have had an amazing medical team looking after us”
This is not the first time that such a story has been told. In 2016, an Australian woman also gave birth to quintuplets. After having lived through three pregnancies, Kim Tucci thought of giving birth to a fourth infant. But in the end, she and her husband welcomed five babies: Tiffany, Penelope, Beatrix, Allie and Keith.
They were born “January 28 at just 30 weeks old”, she specified on her Facebook account, “Surprised by five”, followed by more than 280,000 people. “We are very lucky to have had an amazing medical team to look after us. Thank you for allowing me such an awesome delivery,” she wrote.
