In an extraordinary occurrence, a 27-year-old woman from Pakistan, Zeenat Waheed, delivered sextuplets—four boys and two girls—at a hospital in Rawalpindi, as reported by Dawn. This remarkable event unfolded swiftly within a single hour on April 19.
Ms. Waheed was admitted to the hospital on Thursday evening due to labor pains. Following a meticulous operation, she gave birth to the sextuplets without any complications, as confirmed by Dr. Zafar. Both mother and babies are in robust health, each weighing less than two pounds. Dr. Farzana, the hospital’s medical superintendent, informed Dawn that although the newborns are currently under incubation, they are all in stable condition alongside their mother.
The hospital administration expressed their delight at the sextuplets’ arrival and assured that the family receives comprehensive medical support and amenities throughout their stay. Until they are fit to go home, the infants will continue to receive specialized care at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
Instances of such high-order multiple births are exceedingly rare, occurring approximately once in every 4.5 million pregnancies. Multiple pregnancies, characterized by the gestation of two or more fetuses simultaneously, can arise from either the division of a fertilized egg before implantation (resulting in identical twins) or the fertilization of separate eggs by different sperm (yielding fraternal twins), according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Pregnancies involving three or more fetuses are particularly uncommon and carry a higher risk of complications compared to single pregnancies. However, the incidence of multiple births has seen an uptick in recent years due to the increased use of fertility drugs and procedures like IVF, which augment the likelihood of multiple pregnancies by stimulating the ovaries to produce multiple eggs.
The birth of sextuplets is an exceedingly rare event, with the first documented surviving set born in South Africa in 1974.
Read More :
