According to the Guinness Book of Records, a Russian woman gave birth to the most children in the 18th century: she gave birth to 69 children in 30 years.

The Guinness Book of Records records that the most children were born in the 18th century by a Russian woman, about whom it is only known that she was the wife of the peasant Fyodor Vasiliev. Over 30 years, she gave birth 27 times: 16 pairs of twins, 7 triplets and 4 quadruplets. There are 69 children in total.

By the way, after the death of his first wife, Fyodor Vasiliev married again, and his second wife gave birth to 18 more children: six twins and two triplets. However, even this result does not allow us to consider Fyodor Vasilyev the most father of many children in history. But the record of the nameless peasant woman has not yet been broken.

There is probably not a single country where Mother's Day is not celebrated. It appeared in Russia relatively recently - it has been celebrated on the last Sunday of November since 1998, but it is gradually entering Russian homes. And this is wonderful: no matter how many good ones kind words No matter what we told our mothers, there would still be few of them.

Our information

The most unusual mothers

The mother who gave birth to the tiniest baby. Baby Mahajabina Sheikh at birth weighed 243.81 g with a height of 10 cm.

The oldest mother. Indian woman Rayo Devi Lohan gave birth for the first time at 70 years old.

Lina Medina became the youngest mother. The girl gave birth to a child when she was 5 years and 7 months old.

A mother who gave birth to eight children at one time. Nadia Denise Daoud-Suleman Gutierrez gave birth in 2009, and six more children were waiting for her at home.

The world record for the difference between births is set by Elizabeth Ann. She gave birth to her first child in 1956, when she was 19 years old, and her second son was born when her mother was already 60 years old. Thus, the difference was 41 years.

Illustration copyright Getty

Bearing and raising even one child is quite a labor-intensive 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 However, historical documents claim that a certain woman gave birth to as many as 69 children.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 capabilities? The correspondent is looking for answers to these questions

If the British tabloid press had existed in the 18th century, the story of the family of Russian peasant Fyodor Vasiliev would have caused a frenzy of excitement.

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

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

She gave birth, respectively, 27 times, for a total of 69 children.

One can only wonder how a modern newspaper editor would react to such prolificity, especially given the uproar surrounding the mother of octuplets, Nadia Suleman (nicknamed "Octomom" and giving birth to 14 children) and British family Radford (their 17 children became the subjects of a documentary television program).

So, is it actually possible to have more than 60 children?

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

"Something from the realm of fantasy. Just imagine, 69 children? Come on!" - says James Segars, director of the Division of Research in the Field of Reproduction and women's health Johns Hopkins University.

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

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

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

Illustration copyright Getty Image caption In Britain, only 1.5% of pregnancies are twins, and the probability of triplets is only 0.0003% of cases.

First, let's look at the mathematical part of the Vasilievs' story. Is it possible to have 27 pregnancies in the 40 years we are talking about?

At first there seems to be nothing contradictory about this common sense– especially considering that triplets and quadruplets are usually born at an earlier stage.

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

Let's make some rough calculations: 16 twins at 37 weeks; seven triplets at 32 weeks; four quadruplets of 30 weeks. It turns out that in total Vasilyeva was pregnant for 18 years out of 40. She had a craving for salty food - 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 constant readiness for childbearing over such a long period.

Typically, women have their first period around the age of 15: every 28 days, their ovaries release an egg—usually one.

Ovulation repeats until the supply of eggs in the ovaries is depleted during menopause, which occurs around age 51.

Illustration copyright Getty Image caption Most women cannot get pregnant after 45 years of age. Is there enough time to have 69 children?

However, a woman’s ability to conceive sharply decreases long before menopause.

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

A woman's aging leads to a reduction in the number and quality of eggs. In progress intrauterine development A female embryo can have up to seven million immature eggs, with about a million remaining at birth.

The ability to become pregnant decreases with each pregnancy, because each subsequent birth takes its toll on the body

U adult woman Only a few hundred thousand eggs are retained. Of these many cells found inside the follicles, approximately 400 reach maturity and participate in ovulation, providing their carrier with approximately 30 years of potential childbearing.

The last eggs that ovulate late in a woman's reproductive years are at much higher risk of mutations, genetic abnormalities, and other problems associated with aging.

Often, pregnancies involving such atypical eggs end spontaneously.

"Most women are unable to get pregnant after they reach 42-44 years of age," says James Segars. "However, sometimes this happens closer to 50 years of age."

Illustration copyright Getty Image caption At birth, women have only about a million eggs, and their number is constantly decreasing

Moreover, the ability to become 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 wet nurses - ovulation did not occur in her body. This natural method of birth control 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 did not have any problems with having new children.

Survive childbirth

And this is not all the difficulties associated with the birth of 69 babies.

Evolution has taken care of slowing down women’s “biological clocks,” because bearing and giving birth to a child is an extremely difficult task, which only becomes more difficult with age.

“The limits must be set by nature,” says Valerie Baker. “Pregnancy is the most stressful process a woman’s body will ever go through.”

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

The fact that childbirth is a burden for a woman gives the greatest reason to doubt the veracity of the story about 69 children - especially considering that it happened a couple of centuries ago in the Russian outback.

In developed countries, access to modern obstetric care (e.g. for medical reasons) caesarean section) reduced maternal mortality.

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

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. Perhaps in Vasilyeva it was especially pronounced?

In this regard, the assumption that Fyodor Vasilyev’s wife survived 27 births raises doubts.

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

“Every pregnancy at that time was complex, even if it was just one child,” says Jonathan Tilley of Northeastern University (USA), who is researching the use of oocyte stem cells for treatment. female infertility and other diseases (read about this below).

A bunch of backbiters

Another aspect that looks implausible in the Vasilievs’ story 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 sperm (the so-called fraternal twins), or one fertilized egg divides into two or more viable embryos, resulting in identical twins with identical genetic code.

Illustration copyright SPL Image caption Modern technologies fertilization is done theoretically possible birth an infinite number of children

In general, such situations happen extremely rarely. So, in 2012 in Britain, the chance of having 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 statistics from the Multiple Births Foundation.

Yes, the tendency to give birth to twins can indeed be hereditary, and in the wife of Fyodor Vasiliev it could be especially pronounced.

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

“Are there 16 twins alone? I would be very surprised,” Tilly comments.

Another alarm bell in the Vasilievs’ story: it is alleged that 67 of the 69 children born to them survived infancy.

In the 18th century, infant mortality was high even for children born as a result of singleton pregnancies, and reached alarming levels in the case of twins and so on - these children were usually premature and less healthy.

Now surrogate mothers can carry embryos from other parents, which potentially further increases 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!” - says Valerie Baker.

Segars echoes her: “You could go crazy! I can’t imagine what it was like to live in this house.”

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

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

Brave New World

So what is the actual limit? The answer to this question is not so simple, since the “natural” restrictions that apply to the offspring of an individual 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).

Illustration 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, surrogate mothers can now carry embryos from other parents, which potentially further increases the number of children in the family.

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

According to the last years According to research, inside women's ovaries there are “oocyte stem cells”, the proper stimulation of which could lead to the creation of an almost infinite number of eggs.

Jonathan Tilley and his colleagues collected information about these cells from creatures ranging from flies to monkeys.

In 2012, they reached 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 become mothers to hundreds or even thousands of children

Many doctors working in his field express doubts, but Jonathan Tilly is confident: there is a theoretical possibility of activating this mechanism in women.

He hopes to help women whose egg reserves have been depleted, including prematurely, such as due to cancer treatment.

If this hypothetical procedure were to actually be possible, one would imagine that fertility drugs would be used to hyperstimulate the ovaries, causing multiple follicles to mature and ovulate simultaneously.

These many eggs can be surgically removed and fertilized in vitro, and then surgically placed into the wombs of any number of surrogate mothers, whose task is to carry the embryos. Each could potentially give birth to two or more twins.

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

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

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 help eliminate infertility in those diagnosed with infertility.

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

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

When it comes to the idea that restrictions on female fertility might be lifted, everyone starts going crazy Jonathan Tilley

Conqueror (and some say serial rapist) Genghis Khan apparently fathered hundreds of children born 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 until very old age, and if you start early, the situation could develop like Genghis Khan," says Jonathan Tilly.

According to him, “male fertility is actually unlimited,” but based on what his research will give desired result, then “women’s too.”

If such a scenario does come true, the existence of mothers with countless children will create a sensation, perhaps even greater than the 69 Vasiliev children.

The question is: How would the public react to multiple fatherhood? If it's not so violent, is that fair?

“People take unlimited male fertility as a given - everyone knows we can do it,” Tilly explains. “But as soon as it comes to the idea that restrictions on female fertility might be lifted, everyone starts going crazy.”

The researcher believes that the issue needs to be put into perspective and the equality that women have deservedly fought for over the past few decades should also apply to issues of reproduction.

Tilly says this about this: “In fact, there should be no difference between the sexes.”

Record number of births

Elizabeth Greenhill, a resident of Great Britain, was included in the Guinness Book of Records for the most a large number of childbirth This woman gave birth 38 times. And only once did she have twins. Elizabeth died in 1681, leaving behind a “rich” inheritance in the form of 32 daughters and 7 sons.

Only another mother-heroine from Italy, Maddalena Granata, can compare with Elizabeth. During her life, she was pregnant 15 times and each time she gave birth to 3 children at once.

There are also cases in history multiple pregnancy, when one woman had 11 children at once. This happened at the end of the twentieth century in the USA and Bangladesh. In both cases, not a single child survived.

Record number of embryos
Unfortunately, in almost all cases of multiple pregnancies (more than 10 embryos), even if it comes to childbirth, the chances of survival for such babies are negligible. In 1971, in Italy, Dr. Gennaro Montanino performed an abortion on a 35-year-old woman, from whose uterus he removed 15 embryos! 5 of them were male, and 10 were female. The operation was carried out for a period of 4 months. After lengthy investigations, doctors came to the conclusion that such an anomaly had become side effect taking fertility pills.

That same year, a woman in Australia gave birth to 9 children - 5 boys and 4 girls. 2 boys were stillborn, the rest of the children lived no more than a week.

At various times in the mid-twentieth century, reports came from China, Brazil and Spain about the birth of 10 children at once. There is no information about whether the babies survived or not.

At the beginning of 2009, a resident of the United States, Nadya Suleiman, gave birth to eight children at once. The media gave her the nickname "Octomom". The weight of six boys and two girls ranged from 800 to 1400 g. All children are alive and well. It is noteworthy that the American woman was never married and already had six children before these births.

Largest number of children born to one woman
History knows a woman who gave birth to 69 children. The wife of a Russian peasant gave birth 27 times between 1725 and 1765. The woman gave birth to 4 children 4 times, 3 times 7 times and twins 16 times. All but two children survived.

Another fertile mother is Leontina Albina from Chile. She gave birth to 55 children, and the first 5 times 3 babies were born and only boys.

The most numerous father in history
For some reason, all records concerning children are tied to mothers. However, history also knows the father with many children - Yakov Kirillov. From his first marriage he had 57 children, and from his second - 15. In total, it turns out that the man became a father 72 times. For this, in 1755 he was presented to the court at the age of 60.

Record-breaking grandfather
Another man has set a kind of record in the field of childbirth. This is a modern resident of Novokuznetsk Alexey Shapovalov. He is called the richest grandfather in the world. Alexey has 11 sons and two daughters, who gave him a total of 117 grandchildren. They, in turn, have already managed to “reward” the grandfather with 33 great-grandchildren.

Guinness Book of Records

Motherhood

Largest number of children

The largest number of children born to one mother, according to official data, is 69. According to reports made in 1782, between 1725 and 1765. the wife of the Russian peasant Fyodor Vasiliev gave birth 27 times, giving birth to twins 16 times, triplets 7 times and twins 4 times. Of these, only 2 children died in infancy.

Of our contemporaries, the most prolific mother is considered to be Leontina Albina (or Alvina) from San Antonio, Chile, who in 1943-81. gave birth to 55 children. As a result of her first 5 pregnancies, she gave birth to triplets, all of them male.

Has given birth the most times

Elizabeth Greenhill of Abbots Langley, c., allegedly gave birth a record number of times - 38 times. Hertfordshire, UK. She had 39 children - 32 daughters and 7 sons - and died in 1681.

The oldest woman in labor

At the age of 63, Rosanna Dalla Corta of Viterbo, Italy, gave birth to a boy on July 18, 1994; Before this, she underwent treatment for infertility. According to a report from the University of Southern California, 63-year-old Arsely Keh also gave birth to a child in 1996.

Newborns

The heaviest newborn in a singleton pregnancy

The heaviest surviving newborn for whom official information is available weighed 10.2 kg. He was a boy born in 1955 to Carmelina Fedele from Aversa, Italy.

In the UK this century, the highest birth weight (7kg) was Guy Warwick Carr, born in 1992.

Lowest weight newborn in a singleton pregnancy

IN Medical center Loyola University Illinois, USA, June 27, 1989, according to official reports, a girl weighing only 281 was born as a result of premature birth.

Most premature baby

For 128 days ahead of schedule Brenda Gill gave birth to a son, James Gill, in Ottawa, Ontario Ave., Canada, on May 20, 1987. The newborn's weight was 624 g.

The longest intervals between births in multiple pregnancies

Peggy Lynn from Huntington, NY Pennsylvania! USA, gave birth to a girl, Hannah, on November 11, 1995, and the second of the twins, Eric, only 84 days later (February 2, 1996).

Longest separation between two twins

Iris Jones and Aro Campbell (b. 1914) met after 75 years of separation.

Multiple births

Siamese twins

Conjoined twins began to be called “Siamese” after Chang and Eng Bunkers were born conjoined at the sternum in the Maeklong region of Siam (Thailand) on May 11, 1811. They were married to Sarah and Adelaide Yates of State. North Carolina, USA, and had 10 and 12 children, respectively. They died in 1874, and with a difference of 3 hours.

The most extreme form of this phenomenon is a human being with two heads, four arms and two legs (dicephales tetrabrachius dipus). The only recorded case of this kind is Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapov, born in January 1950. in USSR.

First successful separation operation conjoined twins produced December 14, 1952 at Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, PC. Ohio, USA, Dr. Jacques S. Geller.

Largest number of multiple births in one family

Maddalena Granata from Italy (b. 1839) gave birth to triplets 15 times.

There is also information about birth on May 29, 1971 in Philadelphia, pcs. Pennsylvania, USA, and in May 1977 in Bagarhat, Bangladesh, 11 twins. In both cases, not a single child survived.

Centenarians

Oldest person (documented)

In Arles, France, 122-year-old Jeanne Louise Calmat, born February 21, 1875, died in August 1997. Today, the oldest person is Marie Louise Febron-Mailer, Quebec Ave., Canada, who is 116 years old.

Oldest twins

February 14, 1803 in Effington, pc. Eli Shadrack Phipps and John Meshack Phipps were born in Virginia, USA. Eli was the first to die at the age of 108. It was February 23, 1911.

Oldest triplets

Faith, Hope and Charity Cardwell were born in Elm Mott, Pc. Texas, USA, May 18, 1899 Faith was the first to die on October 2, 1994 at the age of 95.

Oldest quadruplets

Adolph, Anna Maria, Emma and Elizabeth Ottman were born May 5, 1912. in Munich, Germany. Adolf was the first to die on March 17, 1992 at the age of 79.

Descendants

Largest number of descendants

In countries where polygamy is legal, a person can have countless children. It is said that the Sultan of Morocco Moulay Ismail (1672-1727) had 525 sons and 342 daughters by 1703, and in 1721, when he was 49 years old, became the father of the 700th son.

On the day of his death at the age of 96 in October 1992, Samuel S. Maheth of Freiberg, Pc. Pennsylvania, USA, had a total of 824 living descendants: 11 children, 97 grandchildren, 634 great-grandchildren and 82 great-great-grandchildren.

Descendants spanning the largest number of generations

Augusta Bunge from piece. Wisconsin, USA, became a great-great-great-great-grandmother on January 21, 1989, at the age of 110, when her great-great-great-granddaughter gave birth to her son, Christopher John Bollig.

Largest number of living ancestors

At the time of her birth in 1982, Megan Sue Austin, Bar Harbor, Pc. Maine, USA, had 19 direct ascendants, which included a full set of grandparents, great-grandparents, and 5 great-great-grandparents.

Most fertile pregnancies

Dr. Gennaro Montanino, Rome, Italy, claims to have removed the embryos of 10 girls and 5 boys from the uterus of a 35-year-old woman who was 4 months pregnant in July 1971. This unique case 15-fertility was a consequence of taking fertility pills.

Geraldine Broadrick gave birth to 9 children - the largest number in one pregnancy - on June 13, 1971 in Sydney, Australia. 5 boys and 4 girls were born: 2 boys were stillborn, and none of the rest lived more than 6 days.

Cases of the birth of 10 twins (2 boys and 8 girls) are known from reports from Spain (1924), China (1936) and Brazil (April 1946).

Infectious diseases

“Ancient” diseases

Already in 1350 BC. In ancient Egypt, cases of leprosy were described.

Egyptian mummies preserved from the 20th dynasty (1250-1000 BC) showed traces of an infectious liver and kidney disease such as schistosomiasis (Tuberculosis Schistosomiasis).

The biblical Old Testament mentions plague and cholera.

“Newest” disease

At the very Lately an infectious disease has been discovered that is the new kind Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, leading to dementia. The disease is likely caused by a tiny piece of protein called a prion. It is transmitted to humans from cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE).

Most widespread disease

The most common infectious disease is the common cold - a disease of the upper respiratory tract. There are at least 40 different viruses (either transmitted through the air or through direct contact) that cause symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, sore throat, watery eyes, runny nose, headache, slight increase in temperature.

A rare disease

The rarest disease now is smallpox. In May 1978, the World Health Organization (WHO) had not recorded a single case of smallpox in the previous 6 months. The last fatal case of smallpox occurred in August 1978. A photographer working in a laboratory at the University of Birmingham, UK, was infected from a sample kept for research purposes.

The most dangerous diseases

A mortality rate of over 50% is observed with Lassa fever, an epidemic disease caused by a rare West African virus. Very high mortality was also observed with cercopithecus hemorrhagic fever (Marburg virus disease) and Ebola fever.

Since 1900, cholera has claimed approximately 20 million lives in India. During epidemic outbreaks, if left untreated, the mortality rate can reach 50%.

Less common is yellow fever, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes. It reportedly kills 10-90% of those affected.

The most dangerous malaria infection

Hardware and software for orthostatic tests

Intrauterine infection and immunity

Immunology of endometriosis

Features of oxalic acid metabolism in disorders of small intestinal digestion and absorption in children

On the diagnostic capabilities of analyzing the restored functions of the dependences of chronocardiographic parameters on changes in the patient’s condition

The largest number of children born to one mother, according to official data, is 69. According to reports made in 1782, between 1725 and 1765. the wife of the Russian peasant Fyodor Vasiliev gave birth 27 times, giving birth to twins 16 times, triplets 7 times and twins 4 times. Of these, only 2 children died in infancy.

Of our contemporaries, the most prolific mother is considered to be Leontina Albina (or Alvina) from San Antonio, Chile, who in 1943-81. gave birth to 55 children. As a result of her first 5 pregnancies, she gave birth to triplets, all of them male.

Has given birth the most times

Elizabeth Greenhill of Abbots Langley, c., allegedly gave birth a record number of times - 38 times. Hertfordshire, UK. She had 39 children - 32 daughters and 7 sons - and died in 1681.

Largest number of multiple births in one family

Maddalena Granata from Italy (b. 1839) gave birth to triplets 15 times.

There is also information about birth on May 29, 1971 in Philadelphia, pcs. Pennsylvania, USA, and in May 1977 in Bagarhat, Bangladesh, 11 twins. In both cases, not a single child survived.

Most fertile pregnancies

Dr. Gennaro Montanino, Rome, Italy, claims to have removed the embryos of 10 girls and 5 boys from the uterus of a 35-year-old woman who was 4 months pregnant in July 1971. This unique case of 15th pregnancy was the result of taking fertility pills.

Geraldine Broadrick gave birth to 9 children - the largest number in one pregnancy - on June 13, 1971 in Sydney, Australia. 5 boys and 4 girls were born: 2 boys were stillborn, and none of the rest lived more than 6 days.

Cases of the birth of 10 twins (2 boys and 8 girls) are known from reports from Spain (1924), China (1936) and Brazil (April 1946).

The father with many children

The most numerous father in the history of our country is considered to be the peasant of the village of Vvedensky, Yakov Kirillov, who in 1755, in connection with this, was presented to the court (he was then 60 years old). The peasant's first wife gave birth to 57 children: 4 times four, 7 times three, 9 times two and 2 times one. The second wife gave birth to 15 children. Thus, Yakov Kirillov had 72 children from two wives.