Mother of seven gives birth to quintuplets in Poland

A mother of seven successfully gave birth to quintuplets in Krakow, southern Poland, hospital officials said on Tuesday. 

The quintuplets’ mother, Dominika Clarke, 37, gave birth to two healthy boys and three girls through a cesarean section on Sunday at the University Hospital in Krakow. The five babies weighed between 1.5 and 3 pounds (710-1,400 grams).

Despite being born prematurely at 29 weeks, the doctors said the babies are doing fine. However, they were all put in incubators and given breaking support. 

"We hope that we can arrive at the joyful moment of discharging them from the hospital," said Ryszard Lauterbach, head of the neonatology department.

Clarke told reporters on Tuesday that she was doing “much better” than she had expected. 

"We were planning to have an eighth child but there turned out to be more," Clarke said, adding that the hospital told them that the odds of conceiving quintuplets were one in 52 million. 

"As a mathematician, I like these kinds of statistics," Clarke said. 

With the newest addition to the family, the Clarkes now have 12 children. The quintuplet’s siblings are aged between 10 months and 12 years, including two pairs of twins. 

"If you have a system, a calm approach, and a positive attitude, then it is possible to have a cool life with such a large bunch of children,” Clarke said.

The couple named their kids Elizabeth May, Evangeline Rose, Arianna Daisy, Charles Patrick, and Henry James