Berlin — A 65-year-old German woman, who already has 13 children, has given birth to quadruplets after undergoing an artificial insemination procedure in the Ukraine, RTL television reported early on Saturday.

Annegret Raunigk had three boys, named Dries, Bence and Fjonn, and one girl, Neeta, who were born premature at 26 weeks in a Berlin hospital, but have “good chances of surviving,” according to RTL.

“However, the babies, in comparison with a normal birth in the 40th week, aren’t completely developed, so eventual complications can’t be ruled out,” said the report.

Their mother lives in Berlin and is an English and Russian teacher who is close to retirement. In addition to her children, she is grandmother to seven.

RTL said the new arrivals make her the world’s oldest mother of quadruplets.

She became pregnant after undergoing several artificial insemination procedures in Ukraine, said RTL.

The channel has negotiated exclusive rights to the story and has followed the build-up to the births, although it says no filming was done in the hospital where the babies were born.

Raunigk made headlines in April when the German press first reported that her latest artificial insemination attempt had resulted in a quadruple pregnancy.

At the time, she said she decided to try to have another child because her youngest daughter, who is nine, wanted a little brother or sister, according to RTL.

The Bild am Sonntag tabloid quoted Raunigk, whose oldest daughter is 44, recalling that it was “a shock” when the doctors first broke the news to her that she was expecting quadruplets. “After the doctor discovered there were four, I had to give it some thought to begin with.”

But she did not consider reducing the number of embryos and said she had no reservations about the challenge facing her. — AFP

You Might Also Like

Comments